Birds and Other Nature Sightings

     My wife and I continued our short holiday vacation by heading up to Wesley Chapel to visit my aunt and cousin.  Wesley Chapel is about 20 miles north of Tampa.  It lies between Land O’Lakes and Zephyrhills and is the most populated community in Pasco County.  It is an inland community, but one doesn’t have to walk far anywhere in Florida to find some water.  This was a family-first visit, so birding would mostly be incidental.  Like elsewhere on our short Florida vacation, birds like osprey, red-shouldered hawks, anhingas, ibis, egrets, herons and the like were not hard to find. Mottled duck (left) and anhinga (right).   © S. Weiss Unlike cormorants, which are similar in appearance, anhingas will soar hawk-like high in the sky. Strolling through my aunt’s neighborhood I found some ponds that hosted mottled ducks.  Mottled ducks look very similar to female mallards.  Of course, mallards and mottled ducks hybridize which can make...