For our first warm weekend in a long time, we and all of the local bird life were out at Lake Seminole Park.

We think this is a merlin because of the size and color pattern on its breast. It was content to sit and watch us as we walked around its perch and back again.

On the north end of the park there is a short boardwalk into a shallow, lily covered nook of the lake. There are some well done signs explaining the differences between similar birds. This, we learned, is a coot, not a moorhen:

We were there in the late afternoon. The lighting for photography would be far better in the morning.