Day 48: February 17 – Denizens of the Dump

Temperature mid-60’s, calm, light rain

       One of the less glamorous locations for birders to ply their trace are the sanitary landfills that dot our landscape.  Trash provides “tasty repasts” for many birds looking for an easy treat.  By far, the most commonly found species at these banquets are the gulls, vultures, blackbirds, and crows.  Occasionally, rarities among the gull population such as Glaucous, Iceland, or California will show up unexpectedly among the throng.  Finding these rare gulls in the crown of thousands of other gulls is the proverbial “needle in the haystack” challenge.  We scanned the masses for well over an hour and came up with a short glimpse of a pale whitish specimen of large proportions.  We conjectured that it was most probably a Glaucous all the way from the Arctic, but before we could really get a definitive look or even a faintest chance of an image being captured, one of the trucks servicing the dump roared by and scattered the entire assemblage.  We’ll never know for sure……

Gulls at Tomoka Landfill

       We did manage good looks at our national symbol, the Bald eagle.  Quite a few were seen and heard on and surrounding the hill locally referred to a “Mount Trashmore”.  It seems somewhat disheartening to have the bird that serves as the emblem of American pride and power scavenging the trash of humans.  Doesn’t seem to do the bird justice.  But, here he is.  I selected a more regal pose for the picture of the eagles at the dump that I’ll use for the blog today.  They deserves at least that much.

       After spending a couple of hours in the landfill, we decided to check out a more pristine environment, the shore of the Indian River at Kennedy Fishing Park in Edgewater.  Here we found resplendent Snowy egrets also feeding on the by-products of human activity.  Here, however, it was a kind gentleman who was confined to a wheelchair feeding his “adopted” snowy extra bait from his fishing exploits.  The bird was most appreciative as were we photographers.  A much more refined way to end the day’s outing to be sure.

Snowy egret