Birds and Other Nature Sightings

     My wife and I had use it or lose it airline credit, so we took a short trip to west Florida to visit family prior to the holidays.  Our first stop took us to Punta Gorda.  The small city is the county seat of Charlotte County and rests along Charlotte Harbor.  The area was hit hard by Hurricane Ian back in September.  Homes and property still under repair and piles of debris yet to be picked up are lingering signs of the hurricane’s impact. Christmas at Punta Gorda.   © S. Weiss We spent two days with my uncle, so all my birding would be incidental.  One can build a modest bird list by incidental birding in Florida just about any time of the year.  I was able to check off many of the typical Florida birds in the neighborhood where we stayed.  Osprey, pelicans, palm warblers and the whole family of herons, egrets and ibis that were in New Jersey not too long ago were plentiful in Punta Gorda.  Anhingas, rare in New Jersey, ...