At the start of the birding season, Venice Area Birding Association planners spend days meeting and creating a calendar of weekly field trips for the birding year. There are six of us, and it fair to say we’re a bit off the wall. We have a lot of fun, anyway. Anyone in our group of more than 60 members can lead and plan a birding expedition. Our birding trips (most of them, at least) are greatly dependent on good food. We research restaurants as well as birding sites. And of course we also want good birds. In the spring, Steve Freedman will be leading a three-day trip to the east coast. We decided to investigate the area of Fisheating Creek for a side trip on the way home. We decided to reconnoiter the area, so the six of us piled into Steve’s birding-mobile and took off for an adventure.

We always do road birding, calling out the sightings along the way. Deb Johnson was driving, and when she screeched to a stop, I knew it was for a good bird sighting. We all piled out to view the crested caracaras high up in the pine trees. In addition, one of the group spotted a pileated woodpecker. After snapping a few pictures, we all piled back into the van and headed for our destination.