Springing Into Action at Turkey Creek Sanctuary

With Spring starting to get under way in Florida, I thought it was a good morning to check in on the Turkey Creek Sanctuary and see what was going on. Bird migration is still some weeks away, so I wasn’t expecting an influx of warblers or anything. The morning started off a little cool and foggy in spots. Here’s the view from the Sand Pine Trail as the Sun was burning off some mist.

sand-pine-trail — *Plenty of sand, pines and it’s a trail!*

The first birds I heard after getting on the trail were Northern Cardinals and Carolina Wrens. These species are usually the staple of Turkey Creek Sanctuary, though as I’ve previously discussed, the cardinals have been down in numbers of late. There was a pretty strong contingent this particular morning, though. It amazes me how well hidden Northern Cardinals can be, given how brightly colored they are, but both the males and females tend to stay low in the brush, occasionally popping up into a pine tree. When one does venture into the open, even a far way off, it’s unmistakable.

Throughout the sanctuary the Winter and year-round residents were active and vocal, as the longer days help gear them up for the Spring. A large number of the Blue-gray Gnatcatchers were singing their soft, bubbly songs in between bouts of their nasal call-notes.

singing--gnatcatcher — *A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher in “full song.” This is probably the longest I’ve seen one hold still (a total of about 15 seconds!).*

Commonly, other birds (like vireos or warblers) associate with gnatcatchers, so I paid close attention to any other movements in the canopy. I had heard Northern Parulas singing, so I knew they were around. The Northern Parulas that I saw were quite active and in either the canopy or the thick brush. There were males, already with their breeding colors, and females foraging.

leaping-parula — *Things were really hopping at the Sanctuary!*

Deciduous trees in Florida do lose their leave every Autumn, though there’s no real period with bright red and gold colors like there is further north. By February they are beginning to leaf-out, and by the time the migrant songbirds start arriving in March, there’s plenty of canopy for them to hide in.

leaves — *It’s easy being green. For a tree.*

The understory and ground cover has been growing in as well. Ferns figure in fairly prominently in the habitats adjacent to Turkey Creek. Away from dumpsters and trashcans, raccoons forage on the forest floor looking for bugs, nuts and anything else edible.

Racoons are perhaps an ultimate victim of human development. They are intelligent and highly adaptable, which has made them pests in some places, as they scavenge for food and find places to live that don’t always agree with human settlement. But that adaptability has made them survivors, (despite us infecting their population with rabies) and we should at least admire them for that while taking humane measures to keep them out of harms (peoples’) way.

Butterflies have been an almost constant all Winter where I’ve looked, and this day was no exception. The majority of the species I saw this time were the Zebra Longwings, which are Florida’s official state butterflies. Here, you can see where they get their name.

z-longwing — *“Am I black with white stripes, or white with black stripes?”*

I walked out to the canal and weir, and there was a small collection of herons nearby, as well as some Mottled Ducks. This drake was standing alone on the edge of the canal, his bright yellow bill and recently refreshed plumage should make him a striking figure and a good catch for the lady-ducks!

Back in the Sanctuary, as the morning progressed, more birds were foraging in the middle layers of the woods, including White-eyed Vireos and some warblers. Soon, more vireo species will be moving in, as the wintering Blue-headed Vireos move out. White-eyed Vireos are resident all year, though.

Black-and-white warblers are also Winter residents in Florida, and the time of year just before migration finds them gleaning bugs from tree bark as they prepare to fly north. They tend to be a little less shy, too. You can find them associating with vireos and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, as I did. I couldn’t remember what their song was like, and had intended to quietly play it on my phone, but had the volume up louder than I expected. This resulted in this bird flying down to eye level to scold me.

b-w-warbler — *A displeased Black-and-white Warbler glared at me after giving me an earful for playing a bogus song.*

Yellow-throated Warblers also hang around all year, and the Space Coast is near the southern limit of their breeding range. You can usually find some hanging around during the summer, but they generally stay out of sight. I often find them on the underside of palm fronds, like this, eating insects and spiders. It’s easier to see their brilliant yellow throats when they are up in the canopy.

The Sanctuary was certainly coming alive with the longer days and hopes of warmer weather ahead. Only time will tell how this year’s migration will go, but the amount of activity among the resident birds was perhaps an encouraging sign that the ecosystem is healthy enough to support the migrants, should they stop by this year.

Here’s the list of identified species for the morning, mostly in order of first encounter:

Carolina Wren
Purple Martin
Gray Catbird
Northern Cardinal
Red-bellied Woodpecker
White-eyed Vireo
Northern Parula
Black-and-white Warbler
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Fish Crow
American Robin
Eastern Phoebe
Downy Woodpecker
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
White Ibis
Tree Swallow
Blue Jay
Cattle Egret
Little Blue Heron
Green Heron
Mottled Duck
Anhinga
Common Gallinule
Great Blue Heron
Red-shouldered Hawk (♫)
Brown Thrasher
Yellow-throated Warbler
American Goldfinch
Mourning Dove

I finished the morning with a couple of satisfying things. One was finally confirming to myself that there are American Goldfinches in the Sanctuary (I’ve heard snippets of their calls now and again) by seeing a winter female (I believe). I also noticed some trail maintenance near the canal and Harris radio tower, making access to the weir a little easier. The trail leading from the canoe deck to McKinnon’s Way was also clearer, making access to that area of the park much easier. Much thanks goes to the volunteers for that!

Outtakes from Minnesota and Wisconsin

Outtakes from Duluth, MN and Superior, WI. Click to enlarge.

Black-capped Chickadee playing peek-a-boo (actually, rubbing seed oils off its beak).
Gray Jay after filling up on peanut butter.
Red Squirrel being cute.
Pine Siskins having breakfast
Common Redpoll peering down.
Downy Woodpecker eating ice for water (it was 15°F).
Mallard drake paddling in icy waters.
Large ice sculpture, days before its unfortunate collapse. Read more here.

[Edited to add: Ice sculpture is being rebuilt! Read here.]

Viera Wetlands, Take Two!

I met with my friend Camille on Sunday to have a look at the Viera Wetlands (Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands at Viera, formally). Camille has been a conservationist and wildlife watcher for a long time, but birding as a dedicated activity is new for her, with all the excitement and wonder it comes with. She’s already upgraded her camera and lens to get the kinds of photographs she wants. The two of us had a fun morning, with some new “lifers” for her. It was a privilege to be able to show her some aspects of birds and birding that are new to her.

It’s mid-February in Florida, and that means Spring! Many of the waterfowl have already begun moving out of their wintering spots, herons and egrets are building nests and mating, and Sandhill Cranes are making arrangements for eggs and babies.

Some birds, like male Great Blue Herons will fly to the margins of the Wetlands and pluck branches or even small saplings, fly to the nest site, and present the object to their mates. Each species has its own rituals and methods for preparing for the next generation.

gbh-stick — *This Great Blue Heron male seemed quite pleased with his stick selection.*

Another sure sign of Florida spring is the dispersal of waterfowl. Although the number and density of duck species was down this year in the Wetlands, there has been a clear exodus. We saw a handful of Blue-winged Teals and a small group of Ring-necked Ducks in the western ponds, but that was it. Even the coots are starting to move out and separate. There was still one large raft of coots in one pond, but the other larger congregations seem to have gone. The Common Gallinules were a little less conspicuous than usual, although this rather large individual really caught our eye. I speculated it might be a gravid (with eggs) female, but I can’t be sure, because even its head seemed larger. It was clearly at least 50% larger than the other adult gallinules in its vicinity. We did not see the Purple Gallinule that’s been reported in the past few weeks (though Camille did see during the prior weekend).

huge-gallinule — *Everything about this Common Gallinule seemed big.*

We saw both species of bitterns, too. The first American Bittern was in no mood for photo-ops and stayed well hidden in a clump of vegetation. In fact, it was quite impressive that a bird the size of an American Bittern could be that well concealed. If the volunteer who spotted it hadn’t alerted anyone to it while it was still more in the open, I don’t know if anyone would have noticed it, and it was only 10 feet away.

But in one area that Camille has said Least Bitterns have been in consistently, we saw an adult creep out between the reeds. Least Bitterns prefer to climb through vegetation rather than fly, though while raising chicks they will make brief forays into the open. Least Bitterns are the smallest of the herons, not much bigger than many song birds.

least-bittern2 — If you look closely, you can see the Least Bittern’s relatively large feet and toes which it is using to easily grasp the reeds. Like most herons, Least Bitterns wait patiently at the edge of the water for a prey item to get in striking range.

Quite a few immature Pied-billed Grebes were present, along with adults in various stages of molting into their breeding plumage. Pied-billed Grebes lack the more gaudy breeding plumage some of their cousins have, but they do perform ritualistic dances and displays during mating season. They will do pirouettes, dives and even submerged swimming races!

2-grebes — *The younger bird, in the back, still has a relatively thin bill, while the adult in the foreground is sporting the “pied bill” that gives the species its common name.*

We could hear a lot of Palm Warblers and other small call notes along the outer edge of the road, but it was surprisingly difficult to see any of these birds in the thick underbrush and palm branches. At one point, we both saw a warbler that stood out because of its lack of tail-bobbing. Luckily, I got a descent enough shot of it to confirm later in the evening that it was Pine Warbler.

pine — *This isn’t a glamor shot, I know, but more representative of what you’re likely to see when birding.*

While trying to get good views of the warbler, some bright colored movement caught my eye in some lower branches. Sitting in the sun was a lime-green little bird. In my binoculars the shade of green was almost shocking in its intensity. As my mind went through the usual identification characteristics (size, overall shape, bill shape, etc.) a description my Peterson Guide had to knock at the back of my head a few times before it clicked. There are no bright green North American birds except for Painted Buntings; specifically immature males and mature females are described as “electric green above” fading to an olive or yellowish below. I’ve seen female Painted Buntings at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge Visitors’ Center, and while clearly green, I would never venture to call it “electric green.” This bird, however, was brilliant green. I don’t know if it was a fresh plumaged female or an immature male, but it was stunning.

painted2 — *It’s hard to explain how much more vibrant this bird looked in the binoculars vs. what the camera captured, but you can see that this bird is GREEN.*

Another difference between this bird and the buntings at the feeder at MINWR is that this bird was “puffed out” due to the relatively cool morning (it was in the 40s when we started). Bird shape and apparent size can change a lot depending on what the bird is doing with it feathers, be it for display, warmth or alarm.

In addition to the several Great Blue Heron nests, there were a few Limpkins chasing each other around in what was either a territorial dispute or an attempt to impress a female. One would fly away and land on top of a dead palm tree only to be chased off to another. This was going on constantly with the Limpkins calling out their strange wailing calls.

wind-blown-limpkin — *A wind-blown Limpkin prepares for an incoming challenger to chase him off his pedestal.*

I assumed this quietly resting Limpkin was the female, resting quietly and seeming to ignore the raucous goings on over her head.

We could also hear Sandhill Cranes calling, mostly in pairs, from various parts of the adjacent ranch properties. The cranes will begin nesting very soon, including the mated pair that hangs out near the building I work in. They successfully raised one chick last year (they lost one) after losing both their chicks the year before, likely due to traffic collisions on the busy road nearby.

Herons and egrets are getting their breeding plumage, too. In addition to head plumes and aigrettes (the shaggy, pointed feathers, sometimes called lancets), many egret and heron species develop bright colored lores (the area between the eyes, below the forehead). In Great Egrets this is usually lime green, and their bills, which have become dull over the winter, become bright yellow.

great-egret — *This Great Egret’s bill and lores are transforming to the brighter colors of the breeding season.*

We had a couple of other interesting encounters. A Crested Caracara buzzed over our heads while we were watching a well concealed American Bittern. Later, an adult Bald Eagle stopped awhile on the top of a dead Cabbage Palm. I know there are nesting eagles in the general area, so presumably this is one of the resident adults.

*Dramatically back-lit eagle poses dramatically.*

In one of the dead trees on the way toward the exit, I saw this arrangement of birds. Maybe it was convenience, or the hope of a fallen morsel on the starling’s part. I’d like to think they adopted the starling into their family and love him as their own.

one-of-these-things — *A peculiar family of Double-crested Cormorants?*

Before leaving the Wetlands for a quick (and uneventful) stop at the Moccasin Island Tract, we saw an American Bittern walking the edge of one of the cells, occasionally walking into obscuring brush and reeds, then coming out again with just a slightly wary concern about all the humans watching and taking photographs.

am-bittern — *American Bitterns are normally secretive and prefer to keep hidden. Spring time (hormones!) tend to make some species a bit bolder and conspicuous for a time.*

My species list for the morning in no real particular order:

Tree Swallow
Wilson’s Snipe
Sandhill Crane
Great Egret
Great Blue Heron
Cattle Egret
American Coot
Common Gallinule
Tri-colored Heron
Common Grackle
Boat-taiiled Grackle
Red-winged Blackbird
Hooded Merganser
Ring-necked Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Harrier
Belted Kingfisher
Eastern Phoebe
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Pied-billed Grebe
Palm Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Eastern Meadowlark (♫)
Carolina Wren (♫)
American Robin
Pine Warbler
Painted Bunting
Limpkin
Anhinga
Double-crested Cormorant
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Crested Caracara
American Bittern
Least Bittern
Green Heron
Bald Eagle
Forster’s Tern
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Little Blue Heron
Bonaparte’s Gull
Herring Gull
Loggerhead Shrike
European Starling
Killdeer
Northern Mockingbird
Osprey

I’ll note that by mid-morning, the wind had really picked up, likely grounding some species and making others hard to locate by sound. The birds most prominently perched by the end of the morning were Anhingas and Double-crested Cormorants, who seemed to take the gusts in stride (and probably using them to help dry their feathers after a dive and swim, looking for Sunday Brunch).

It was a nice change of pace, and it’s hard not to get excited with a new birder along. I’ve known Camille for a long time now, and I’m sure if she puts her mind to it, she’ll go a long way with birding or any wildlife observations she chooses to pursue.

In The Neighborhood

This young Red-shouldered Hawk was doing some hunting in our backyard today!

SCBWF 2015 : January 26 : Pelagic Birding Boat Trip

The 18th Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival ended as it usually does with an all day pelagic tour on the Atlantic Ocean, east of Ponce Inlet. After a day of calm and sunny weather, another cold front whisked through the Space Coast and threats of gale force winds and high seas left the trip in doubt. The captain of the boat, The Pastime Princess, determined that if we stayed relatively close to shore, we’d be spared most of the high seas and some of the wind. It was decided that we’d head north, parallel to the coast, and see what we could see. It was just too treacherous out on the water much further out.

This change in plan meant that many of the birds we might see – shearwaters, skuas, etc. – would be blown out to sea. But in return we ended up with a few surprises we might otherwise have missed.

Each year we are hopeful that we might see Northern Right Whales, since the waters off north Florida are part of their calving area. We had some hints of them last year, but nothing definite. This year, we definitely had whales, but it turns out one of them at least was a Humpback Whale! The others were likely a species of beaked whale. We had numerous spouts and even some flukes shown when the whales dove.

The wind was brutal, so I tried to stay on the side of the boat most protected, which was sometimes a challenge as the captain turned the boat to get closer to either a whale or a group of birds. If what we were looking at was into the wind or on the windward side, it was tough to keep the binoculars or camera still. The seas, surprisingly, were not that rough close to shore. We only had a few incidents where the boat pitched enough to have to really hold on.

Our goal was to find some shrimp boats. The shrimp boats have thousands of following birds waiting for the nets to be brought up so they can grab what they can. We came upon several boats in the course of the day.

To entice the birds away to an “easy meal”, one of our boat’s mates would ladle chum – in this case a mixture of popcorn, fish and fish oil – over the back of the boat. As you can imagine, the chum smells horrible, so it’s best to be careful near the stern while someone’s chumming.

While the view our the front of the boat looked like this:

The view at the stern of the boat looked more like this:

lots-o-birds-close — *“Mine! Mine! Mine-mine! Mine!”*

Besides the numerous gulls, we saw thousands of Northern Gannets in the course of the day. It takes 4 years for gannets to achieve adult plumage, and we saw all 4 stages in about equal numbers. Gannets dive straight down into the water to grab fish, their streamlined bodies ideally suited to the task. They are also graceful flyers, with long wings allowing them to glide great distances to find food with minimal effort.

gannet-at-dawn — *Northern Gannet at dawn, showing nearly full adult plumage.*

Brown Pelicans also followed our boat and took advantage of our chum. Normally these pelicans dive for fish (unlike their cousins, the American White Pelicans, who sit at the surface and scoop up fish). I learned that unlike the gannets and other diving birds, which dive straight in, Brown Pelicans turn their bodies and head at the last second before striking the surface, minimizing the shock to their necks. This may be an adaptation to compensate for their large heads and bills in proportion to their bodies.

Gulls have adapted to be opportunistic predators and scavengers. They rush in to grab whatever they can as soon as possible. This is why gulls are often present in large numbers at garbage dumps. Sometimes they bite off more than they can chew (metaphorically – most birds cannot chew).

gull-with-something-in-bill — *I don’t think this Laughing Gull knows or cares that it probably cannot swallow this fish head.*

Whenever there are gulls feeding, you’re sure to find jaegers. Jaegers are swift-flying predatory seabirds that chase other birds to get them to either drop or regurgitate their food. We had jaegers (both Parasitic and Pomarine species) throughout the day, though I personally only identified a handful of Parasitic Jaegers. I had a hard enough time trying to get my binoculars on these birds, never mind my camera, so kudos to those that got some great jaeger shots this trip!

Eventually we turned out of the wind and headed back to the inlet and to port. Another fun pelagic trip in the books, and I am really looking forward to doing it all over again!

The species list might look a bit thin to some, but I’m glad for each and every species and individual bird we saw this year.

Northern Gannet
Double-crested Cormorant
Brown Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Cattle Egret
White Ibis
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Black-bellied Plover
Piping Plover
Greater Yellowlegs
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Parasitic Jaeger
Bonaparte’s Gull
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Iceland Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Forster’s Tern
Royal Tern
Black Skimmer
Belted Kingfisher

In all, I had a lovely time at the festival this year. I met some new people, learned new things and most importantly saw a variety and number of birds I’ll be thinking and talking about all year.

SCBWF 2015 : January 25 : Marl Bed Flats and Lake Jesup : MINWR II

Now that my winter break is over, and I am back in sunny Florida, it’s time to pick up where we left off with the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival.

On Sunday, the 25th, I had my only repeat field trip from last year (besides the pelagic trip). The trip leader this year was Corey Finger (co-owner of the 10,000 Birds blog). I stayed in touch with Corey mostly through Facebook after last year’s field trip, and I had hoped to be able to spend at least a lunch or something with him this year, but as hectic as these festivals are, we weren’t able to make that happen. Corey is, of course, a fine birder and excellent photographer.

Another difference between last year and this year is the amount of rain we had here in east central Florida. This made the Marl Bed Flats very muddy and meant we were situated much further away from the wetlands and thus less able to pick out interesting shorebirds or other action going on closer to the lake. Also, the increased water didn’t allow the thicker ground cover to grow that sparrows prefer, so we had very few sparrows this year compared to last.

We had some decent spotting scope views of some birds, but most stayed fairly well out of my camera’s effective range. This Red-tailed Hawk was close enough to get a photo, though.

By far the most numerous bird species that morning were the American Robins. Robins migrate into Florida from adjacent southern states, and set up in woods and scrub in enormous flocks. In winter, these robins are much more gregarious (hanging out together) and out of sight than in spring and summer, when they are a main-stay of many suburban yards. There was a constant stream of them flying overhead all morning. Our best estimate was over 2,000 birds.

We saw a handful of Savannah Sparrrows, but most of the small birds were Palm Warblers. Since most were of the “Western” or gray variety, it was often the tell-tale bobbing tail that gave away the identification of the bird.

*The Palm Warblers were happy to skitter around in the thick grasses. You can see how non-descript the “Western” form is.*

We walked along some more wooded areas on our way out of the Flats and encountered some more upland birds, including Blue-headed Vireos, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

From the Flats, we drove around the lake to Lake Jesup Park to see what birds were hanging around. Last year we flushed a pair of Great Horned Owls from the nearby Live Oaks, and we heard reports that they were present, but we never saw one; however, a woman on the trip and myself both heard a distant day-calling Great Horned Owl, but we were unable to locate it.

Beyond the boat access inlet were Bonaparte’s Gulls and some herons. Bonaparte’s Gulls are small, hooded gulls in summer. In winter they have a distinctive “ear” patch. That patch, along with their size and proportions, are diagnostic identifiers. They swim more buoyantly than most gulls and are as graceful in the air as any tern.

After some searching about, we did get some Black-and-white Warblers and other warbler species. Corey and a few others saw a Prairie Warbler, but I was unable to verify the ID for myself.

Species list (eBird order – Thanks, Corey!):

Wood Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Pied-billed Grebe
Wood Stork
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tri-colored Heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Red-shouldered Hawk
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Bonaparte’s Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Forster’s Tern
Common Ground Dove
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
American Kestrel
Eastern Phoebe
Loggerhead Shrike
Blue Headed Vireo
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Tufted Titmouse
Carolina Wren (♫)
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Black-and-white Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Palm Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Savannah Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark (♫)
Boat-tailed Grackle

On the way back to Titusville, I decided to try once again for the Long-tailed Duck near Parrish Park. The wind had died down considerably from previous days, and the sky was clear. I first searched along the north side of the bridge, and saw two birds swimming that looked very grebe-like.

My first Horned Grebes were swimming and diving together. Based on the size difference, I assume this is a mated pair. Horned Grebes look much different in summer than in winter, but are quite handsome birds either way.

An older gentleman approached me and asked if I was looking for the Long-tailed Duck. Of course, I was, and he told me a couple had pointed out to him that it was on the south side of the bridge, close in with a small group of scaups. And there it was, a 1st-year winter male Long-tailed Duck. This is a rare bird for Florida (though not exceedingly so), and after two days of looking, it was nice to finally see him. [Edit 2015 Feb 17: Some observers have identified this as a winter female, but based on the information I have, I’m sticking with the first year winter male ID unless someone has something else that’s more definitive.]

long-tailed-duck-7 — *I’m glad I ducked under the bridge to find this bird. Otherwise I might have gone quackers wondering where it was*.

After watching both the grebes and the Long-tailed Duck for a while, I decided to do Blackpoint Wildlife Drive again now that the weather was calm. I was hoping more duck species would be out in numbers, and perhaps a few more shorebirds.

There were some wading birds a little more accessible than previous days, and there were more Northern Pintails in the open water, too. I heard that some Redheads and Ruddy Ducks were seen by some people, but I couldn’t find them. There were still some distant large mixed rafts of American Coots with Ring-necked Ducks, Blue-winged Teals and other ducks that could have been hiding these birds. The pintails and shovelers were more active and about, with several in flight at any give time.

pintail-flight-MINWR — *Northern Pintail cleared for landing.*

As the sun began getting low, I stopped at the MINWR Visitors’ Center and did finally see a single female Painted Bunting at their feeder, and then it was time to go home and get some rest for the final adventure of the Festival: the pelagic boat trip.

Birds seen at MINWR:

Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Tri-colred Heron
Little Blue Heron
Great Blue Heron
Reddish Egret
Belted Kingfisher
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Killdeer
Dunlin
American Coot
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Caspian Tern
Royal Tern
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Roseate Spoonbill
American White Pelican
Northern Pintail
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
American Wigeon
Pied-billed Grebe
Wood Stork
American Avocet
Palm Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
House Wren
Painted Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Boat-tailed Grackle
Mourning Dove

Winter Break

I spent the past several days in northern Minnesota with Laura Erickson for Superb Owl Sunday. We spent most of the time tracking down my “wish list” of northern species I might otherwise not get to see. We drove around the Duluth and Superior area after I arrived on Friday, then up to the Sax-Zim Bog on Saturday. On Sunday we spent some time in the Superior National Forest before heading back into and around town to see what might be around. Finally, on Monday we did a final round of Duluth and Superior, Wisconsin for any last lifers or rarities we could find. We went to one area on Friday that’s had a Common Eider hanging around with some Mallard and Black Ducks. This is a northwestern variety and not expected in Duluth. There were also quite a number of Common Goldeneyes. My camera had some issues acclimating to the cold at first, so I lost some shots, but the ducks were pretty accommodating.

eider-sneaks-in — *Some Common Goldeneyes and a bit of a photo-bomb from a Common Eider. This is the only surviving shot of the eider I have due to a camera malfunction.*

While we were about to leave a gull flew in that looked suspiciously like a Thayer’s Gull. Thayer’s Gulls are tricky to tell apart from Herring Gulls (with which they were once considered conspecific). Laura and I scrutinized her photos of the bird at home that night and finally decided we could not confirm it as Thayer’s. But we were to have our satisfaction before the end of my trip. We then stopped by a neighborhood feeder to try for another rarity, a Golden Crowned Sparrow, but had no luck, though we did see my first Black-capped Chickadees in decades. We then drove out to find Snowy and Hawk Owls. We finally did find a Snowy near the airport in Superior. It appeared to be a young female, based on the markings. You can see in the photo below she has a smudge on her left side. This was done by a bander to help keep track of her (and other banded birds) so she isn’t trapped again. She was gorgeous.

snowy owl — *“You can bet owl be keeping my eyes on you.”*

We drove around some more but never did see a Hawk Owl, before heading to Laura’s home. On Saturday, at the Sax-Zim Bog, we were hoping for more owls and Boreal Chickadees as well as Sharp-tailed Grouse. Our very first bird of the day at the bog was a Great Gray Owl! It didn’t stay in the tree very long, and it was a far look, but I was excited. The day got better as we made the rounds to various feeder stations that residents have set up around the bog. I finally got to see Common Redpolls, as well as Pine Siskins. Common Redpolls and Pine Siskins like to pal around together in flocks ranging from a dozen or so to more than one hundred.

common-redpoll-feeder — *With their jaunty red beret-caps and goatees, redpolls look like little beatniks.*

pine-siskin — *Pine Siskin using its longish, tweezer-like bill to pull seeds from a feeder.*

I had my first Gray Jays at the same feeder station where we were hoping for Boreal Chickadees. The jays love peanut butter and were stuffing it by the beak-full. Peanut butter is a good winter food at feeding stations in winter. It has a good amount of protein and fat, and the cold temperatures keep it from going rancid too quickly (although in really cold weather it will eventually freeze).

There is a persistent misconception that peanut butter is bad or dangerous for birds, but this is just a myth. Even the Black-capped Chickadees were into the peanut butter.

chickadee-peanut-butter — *This chickadee said, “Chicka-dee-dee-om-nom-nom!”*

I managed to get good looks at both Pine and Evening Grosbeaks. I’ve seen Evening Grosbeaks before, but Pine Grosbeaks are a life bird for me. They are very photogenic, but my camera continued to have issues, so the Pine Grosbeak photos did not properly write to my SD card. Here’s a handsome Evening Grosbeak, though.

We started Superb Owl Sunday by driving north into the Superior National Forest. Elevation increases from the lake as you head north, and the temperature dropped from the positive single digits in Duluth to the negative single digits. Laura’s car has an external temperature sensor and it bottomed out at -9 degrees Fahrenheit. There was still at least a hour before sunrise, so the temperature likely dropped further, but it seems the sensor got stuck at -9. I later learned that nearby areas had temperatures in the negative teens that morning, so it’s likely we were at least that cold. The cold wasn’t that much of a problem for me, despite having lived in Florida for 12 years. I grew up in southern New England, and have experienced temperatures nearly that cold on occasion, and I dressed with appropriate layers. The real problem is the wind. In single digit or below temperatures, as long as I was out of the wind it was tolerable for a while. But any time there was a strong breeze or cutting wind, even temperatures in the high teens became unbearable after a few minutes. On the drive into the Forest, we were hoping for Spruce Grouse, and we did get one on the road just after sunrise. It was the only grouse I positively identified for the whole trip (and the first since New Hampshire some 20 years ago). Laura got some photographs (one is shown below) with some good lighting, though vibrations from the car made it a bit fuzzy.

Click to enlarge. We saw hundreds more redpolls and siskins as we worked our way north, scattering flocks from the sides of the road. Laura explained to me that redpolls survive the cold nights in part by having esophageal pouches in which they store seeds overnight, digesting and maintaining their metabolism until sunrise. This is a different strategy than other birds use, including torpor or huddling together.

redpoll-male — *A male Common Redpoll keeps look-out while a larger group of mostly females (and Pine Siskins) pick at gravel particles below.*

We had some Hoary Redpolls mixed in as well. It’s hard to tell a Hoary Redpoll from a Common Redpoll at a distance, and we had thought we’d seen a few prior to Sunday, but we finally got some good looks at a few this time. Many of the birds along the roadside were feeding, not on seeds but on pieces of grit and gravel. Birds have no teeth and cannot grind the relatively tough seeds they eat without some help. They ingest grit which works to break down the seeds for digestion. For some birds, they even derive minerals they need from the grit breaking down. The plowed roadsides we were driving past were ideal grit sources as the plows and vehicles kick up ground up stone and gravel onto the snow banks.

crossbill 2 — *Even though this image is quite noisy, I wanted to show both the interestingly crossed bill that gives this bird its name, and how the bird was picking up grit from the snow.*

Of the two possible species of crossbill, I got my life view of the Red Crossbill as a group was foraging on the roadside. As we pulled over, just the male came back down out of the trees to continue his grit collection. He was exceedingly patient and accommodating for us as we moved in closer to get some nice photographs, despite the dim lighting.

crossbill 1 — *A male Red Crossbill patiently goes about his business.*

We drove around the area for most of the morning, hoping for owls and grouse, but not really seeing much. We had pockets here and there of Black-capped Chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches as well as flocks of up to 70 Common Redpolls and Pine Siskins. We even got a glimpse of a Bald Eagle on our way down and out of the Forest. The Bald Eagles I saw were much larger and imposing than the ones I am used to seeing in Florida. This makes sense, of course, in that in general larger bodies are better adapted for cold weather. In fact, many of the animals in this area that also occur in Florida are larger, both in terms of basic size, and in the amount of fat reserves they have. We saw a small group of White-tailed Deer cross the road at one point, and it was striking how rounded and tall they looked compared to the deer in Florida. Even the birds will carry more fat and have a much larger number and density of feathers. It took me the entire weekend to finally get proficient and telling the crows and ravens apart (particularly at a moderate distance while not flying) because the crows looked so large. Eventually we headed back toward Duluth and toward an area we had scoped out the previous day that was reported to have a regularly visiting Northern Hawk Owl. As it was Superb Owl Sunday we wanted our best shot at finding at least one owl. As we approached the location, sure enough, there it was!

hawk-owl — *A truly superb Northern Hawk Owl.*

These owls are very tolerant of humans and it allowed us to take many photos and long binocular looks while it looked around and down at us, seemingly unconcerned about anything we were doing. Hawk owls are generally diurnal, and in aspect and behavior that can be almost kestrel-like. It was a really good way to end Superb Owl Sunday.

hawk-owl2 — *“Well, hello there… did you come all this way just to see little old* me?”

During my last day in Minnesota we revisited a couple of spots from Friday, hoping to find either Bohemian Waxwings, more owls or anything we might “luck into,” as Laura says. We were hoping to find Rough-legged Hawks, but they remained frustratingly absent. At the middle school in Superior we saw a half-dozen or so Snow Buntings! Last year while looking for a Western Tanager near Lake Apopka (Lust Road) I was surprised by a winter American Goldfinch that, in my over-eagerness, I thought was a Snow Bunting (last winter we had a Snowy Owl in Jacksonville and Snow Buntings reported there and elsewhere, so it wasn’t that big of a stretch). Since then I was really hoping I might see one, finally there they were.

We pulled into Barker’s Island park in Superior to see if the Common Eider was still there (she was not) and watched a group of Mallards, Black Ducks and Common Goldeneyes swim and dive. I noticed that some of the Mallards were considerably larger than others. Laura explained that those with a larger percentage of domestic duck genes are bigger than those with more “wild” ancestors.

The goldeneyes are small diving ducks, so they were looking for whatever they might find under water.

goldeneye-diving — *Diving Common Goldeneye.*

At our last stop, Canal Park, there was a group of gulls sitting on the cement piers. At one point they all took to the sky, and we got a good look at one with decidedly restricted black wing-tips. We had our Thayer’s Gull after all, and I had at least one lifer for each day! Despite the disappointment in losing some of my photographs due to either a malfunctioning SD card or the cold, I had a tremendously great time in and around Duluth. Laura and her family were generous and kind in sharing their home with me. I got to watch both The Big Year (extended cut, with John Cleese!) and A Birder’s Guide to Everything with Laura, and several McGuyver episodes, too! Thank you Laura, Russ, Helen and Tommy.

Cold Storage

My recounting of the 2015 SCBWF will be on ice for a few days as I tromp across the Duluth, Minnesota area with Laura Erickson for Superb Owl Weekend. Blogging will resume next week.

P.S. we already saw a Common Eider and Snowy Owl, so we’re off to a great start.

P.P.S It’s so cold….. 😉

SCBWF 2015 : January 24 : Zellwood & Lake Apopka

Day three of my Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival adventure was squally, rainy and cold (at least by Florida standards). We had a good string of seasonably warm and sunny days leading up to the festival, and the weather basically held until the 23rd, when the wind began to pick up. But the next morning was a bit problematic for our trip to Lake Apopka. We had a few stops along the lake’s restoration areas, but remained huddled near the bus, as a windbreak. These areas were once farmland that the St. Johns River Water Management District purchased to undo years of harm agricultural runoff and other environmental hazards had done to the lake.

As we were leaving the area of the pump house not far from Lust Road, the bus got stuck in some mud. We had been looking for a previously identified White-faced Ibis (unusual for central Florida), and had not been able to find it. As we waited for a person to come and use a nearby bulldozer to pull the bus out, we all scanned the grasses and willows again, and finally someone spotted it in their digiscope! It can be very hard to pick out a White-faced Ibis from a Glossy Ibis, especially in the winter, unless you can get a good look at its eye and lores. So it was fortunate we got stuck, otherwise we would have missed out on a rare bird.

I wasn’t able to take much in the way of photographs due to the weather and bad timing, which is unfortunate. Despite the howling winds, we still managed to see (as a group) over 80 species of birds. We were hoping to see the Groove-billed Anis and Vermillion Flycatchers that have been wintering over at the lake, but the wind likely kept them grounded and out of sight.

spanish-moss — One of the few decent photographs I managed to take. I sometimes forget how exotic all this Spanish Moss must look like to people wholly unfamiliar with it. It’s really quite dramatic and ubiquitous here in Florida.

For me, personally, it was very gratifying to get my first verified Orange-crowned Warbler later in the day in a flooded area of young trees and brush near the North Shore Restoration Area.

Again, not so good for photographs, but we netted a great bunch of birds anyway.

Here’s my personal list of birds, in the order of the checklist provided on the field trip:

Black-bellied Whistling Duck
Gadwall (FOY)
American Wigeon
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal (FOY)
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup
Common Goldeneye *
Hooded Merganser
Wild Turkey
Pied-billed Grebe
Wood Stork
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Little Blue Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night Heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
White-faced Ibis *
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk (FOY)
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Sora
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Wilson’s Snipe
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Mourning Dove
Common Ground Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Florida Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Tree Swallow
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Black-and-white Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Palm Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Savannah Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle

After getting back to EFSC but before heading home, I once again tried to find the Long-tailed Duck near Parrish Park, but the winds were still really screaming (over 30mph) and there were very few birds out on the water.

SCBWF 2015 : January 23 : Salt Lake WMA : Nighttime EFS

Salt Lake WMA/Seminole Ranch CA

My second day at the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival started at the Salt Lake Wildlife Management Area. The weather forecast called for increasing winds in the afternoon, but the morning started off calm enough. The weather was seasonable, which was a good change from the record cold for last year’s festival.

On the lake shore at the start of the day we had some good views of American Coots, Common Gallinules and a couple of Purple Gallinules. The Purple Gallinues were very active, running across the lilly pads and other vegetation like mad chickens with huge floppy feet. I’d managed to miss this bird species all of last year, so it felt nice to see them and watch their antics.

sunstruck — *Sunrise at Salt Lake WMA .*

The winds did start to pick up, which likely affected our attempts to see any sparrows. We crossed into the Seminole Ranch Conservation area, where we did see a pair of Sandhill Cranes getting their nest started. As I’ve mentioned before, spring in Florida starts in February. Many resident birds are picking nest sites and gathering material. Some are already mating and will have eggs before too long. Some of the scrub vegetation have already begun to bud and leaf out, and more of that will happen in earnest before the end of February. There was also a female Bald Eagle sitting on a large nest, her head showing up bright white against the dark branches.

*These cranes were getting their nest area started. One of our trip leaders said this is the first pair to do so in a long time in this part of the management area.*

List of species seen at Salt Lake WMA (in order of the checklist):

Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Blue-winged Teal
Bald Eagle
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
American Kestrel
Purple Gallinule
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Caspian Tern
Mourning Dove
Barred Owl (♫)
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
White-eyed Vireo (♫)
Tree Swallow
Carolina Wren (♫)
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Gray Catbird (♫)
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Pine Warbler
Palm Warbler
Common Yellowthroat (♫)
Eastern Towhee (♫)
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Boat-tailed Grackle

I’d like to take some space here to thank Kim and Billy Bump from Mississippi for sharing some conversation and birding knowledge with me. They were so friendly and sharing, which made the trip even more worthwhile. As a closet introvert, group outings use up a lot of my energy, but people like the Bumps help me recharge and stay positive.

Blackpoint Drive

I used the break between the Salt Lake WMA trip to go to Blackpoint Drive on the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (MINWR). I last visited there at the end of December when the ducks and shorebirds were still arriving for their winter quarters. The wind was starting to pick up and the first several viewing areas had almost no wildlife visible from the road. A bit further down on the left, a scattering of American Avocets were wading, belly deep, while sweeping their upturned bills through the water.

avocet-wind2 — *An American Avocet leaning into the wind.*

Beyond the areas the avocets were feeding in, on the right side of the road, larger groups of American Coots, various duck species and some other shorebirds were in higher numbers. The first group consisted of mostly coots and Northern Shovelers. The shovelers are usually in a wide array of plumage variations, depending on the age and gender of the duck.

shovelers — *Quite a positive group of ducks (3 up and 1 down).*

The next group of ducks were quite a distance across the water, but seemed to consist of some Ring-necked Ducks and Northern Pintails, trying to blend into the massive numbers of American Coots. In this loosely congregated raft of birds there was a solitary male Northern Shoveler trying to blend in.

I exited Blackpoint Drive after passing a few more view points with distant ducks and shorebirds. Toward the exit is one area that usually has American Wigeons, and they were toward the far end. There had been reports of at least one American-Eurasian Wigeon hybrid, but even when a Northern Harrier flushed the birds out and closer to me, I could not see if any of those particular birds were hybrids. For viewing like this a spotting scope is probably the best tool of the trade, but any decent scope is well beyond my budget right now, but I was keenly aware of my 8×42’s limitations.

Intermission

After a quick stop by the MINWR’s visitors’ center to see if any Painted Buntings were at the feeders (no, too windy), I stopped at Parrish Park to try to find the Long-tailed Duck that has been all the talk on the birding e-mail lists. The wind at this point was really gusting, and the only birds at the park were some grounded Ring-billed Gulls and Ruddy Turnstones, staying out of the wind behind concrete walls at the boat ramp.

bored-gull — *“Oh, the millionth birder looking for a Long-tailed Duck… how…*yawn* .. exciting….”*

I spent some time after that hanging around at the Festival HQ and met up with Dave Goodwin at the Florida Ornithological Union booth. Dave’s a great guy and leads the Central Florida Specialities trip each year, and he was telling me about how great of a trip it was this year. I’m going to join the FOU this year and try to make it to their meetings and get some different perspectives on birding and ornithology. It’ll be quite a step for a Lonely Birder like me, but I’m going to give it a go.

Nocturnal Nature Hike at Enchanted Forest Sanctuary

When I saw there were two nighttime hikes at this year’s festival, I was very excited. The previoius night’s adventure had me anticipating more good things, especially since the second night hike was at the Enchanted Forest Sanctuary (EFS). The trip leaders were quite knowledgeable on the parks ecology and nighttime activities. We spotted and identified several animal tracks, including mice, rabbits, armadillos, tortoises and perhaps even an coyote! I learned that if you hold your flashlight in the right place, nearest your center of vision, you get eyeshine back from anything that has a tapetum lucidum, including spiders! You can see spider eyes glinting from over 50 feet away. I had heard of spider eye-shine before, but never how to see it properly.

We only had a brief audio encounter with an Eastern Screech Owl, but the highlight was the brief glimpse, through a night-vision camera, of a Southern Flying Squirrel! They are small and very quick, and the trip leaders said that in many places there is a higher density and population of flying squirrels than Gray Squirrels.

I saw a few other instances of eyeshine in the trees and brush, but nothing we could identify. Still, it was a beautiful night and seeing EFS at night was a real treat and a fitting end to a long but pleasant day of birding and nature.

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