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Sarasota News Leader December 21, 2012 Page 64 the years, the feral Mallard Duck males have been aggressively mating (to put it politely) with our resident Florida Mottled Duck females, spawning ducks called the Mallard Hybrid. And guess what the Mallard Hybrid looks like to a novice birder ��� a Florida Mottled duck! Uh oh! Oops! I bragged too soon. The pervasive haze makes it a fishing heyday for feathered fish-eaters; no dark shadows warning and scaring off the fish. The Magnificent Frigatebirds arrive. Check. Sharks and dolphins take advantage of this temporary camouflage and drive schools of fish into panicked flight and Yesterday was a clear, sunny day, and the flash the pelagic birds ��� Brown Pelicans, Laughing of red on an American Redstart���s wing was as and Herring Gulls and hosts of various Terns obvious as the buttercup-yellow on the Yel- ��� join in the hunt and feast. Check. Check! low-Throated Warbler. Blue Jays, Cardinals, All five of our south Siesta Key Osprey are and Mourning Doves depleted bird feeders. sighted (phew!) and the Red-Shouldered This morning, the fog rolled in and the tem- Hawk enjoys his hunt in our sand dunes ��� perature dipped considerably; the migrant no ���bunny wabbits��� forewarned of his sudden Passerines are hunkered down ��� gray blobs deadly swoop. Checks also for the two rare in the dark shadows of the tree crown cano- Reddish Egrets on our beach, the elegant Tripies. The only sign of life at the bird feeder is colored Heron (whom Audubon called ���Our a flea-infested tree rat (i.e., gray squirrel), and Lady of the Waters���) at the pond and the Comthe power lines are black and bare against the mon Loon in the lagoon. Check! pale sky. The newbies barely distinguish the Great Blue Heron at the end of their pier from It is a good thing we birds are playing Hide a piling. and Seek and not chess! Mother Nature has given us avians a huge ad- The Siesta Key Audubon team leader is none vantage in this game. Go, Birds, go! other than Rick Greenspun. You know him Bird No. 8