Spring Break Part II

Yesterday I posted about the first half of our trip to South Florida.  Today I'm posting about the Everglades.  Pam at Digging also spent some time in South Florida recently.  Check out here post from March 23 and March 22 (here and here).  She's prolific and a good photographer.  Her March 22 post deal with the Naples Botanical Garden.  We went there on a windy afternoon (so no photos, although Pam has some good ones) and were impressed with the variety of bromeliads but this is still a young garden and had little to inspire me in my small yard (large drifts of similar plants look great but are hard for me to plan in my limited space.  I'm much more of a plant collector than a garden designer).

We went to the Shark Valley entrance to the Everglades.  They have a tram that takes you out to a large gator hole and a tower you can climb to get a good look over the region.  The tram is narrated so if you don't know a lot about the local wildlife it's good.  I caught several errors in our guides spiel, though.  Nothing that the average person would catch or even care about.  Just me, A Rabid Biologist.  The tram trail is also accessible to bikes or pedestrians (it's about 15 miles round trip).  Again, if we had taken my different camera bag (my backpack bag) we might have been able to bike it but with all of my equipment (20 pounds worth) we were lazy and took the tram.  The big gator hole provided some great looks at big alligators (Alligator mississippiensis).

It also provided some close looks at Purple Gallinule (Porphyrula martinica).

That's amazing color, isn't it?  We've usually seen this bird disappearing into the vegetation but there were several Gallinule that allowed us good looks (and good photos!).  Those huge feet allow the Gallinule to walk on floating plants.

We also got looks at an Anhinga nest.  Here's an adult (Anhinga anhinga, a bird so unique they named it twice).

And here is a large and ungainly juvenile.  I'm not sure what to call this stage.  A brancher?  It isn't a fledgling yet but it has left the nest and is climbing around (clumsily) in the shrubs.

The canal in this area is artificial (like most South Florida channels) but lined with wildlife.  Like this turtle (possibly the common cooter Pseudemys floridana).

And, of course, more waders.  This is a Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea) that walked right past my tripod while hunting between the trail and the canal.  Lots of very close up shots.

We did make another stop at Big Cypress Bend but the photo opportunities were not as good and it was (again) the middle of the afternoon when photography and birding are at their worst.  Best part of this stop was spotting this wild bees nest.  It really was huge.

Yellow Crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violacea)

So those are the highlights of my Spring Break.  I came back to temperatures in the 30s and 40s and a prediction of rain for most of this week.  But there is stuff happening in the garden and the bad advice commercials are coming hot and heavy so soon I'll be back to posting about gardening again.

Spring Break Part I

I'm back from my week off.  This was Spring Break at the College where I teach so I, of course, went to Florida.  I wanted to get away from the cooler temperatures of New England so I went South for a week of Drunken Debauchery.  Don't believe me?  Darn.  You know me too well.  I went South for a week of bird watching and nature observing.  Sound more likely?

We've been to South Florida before so we had an idea of where we wanted to go.  Some of the best locations for wildlife viewing in the United States are located here.  Of course the US has very little in the way of Charismatic Megafauna (the big, easily viewed animals you think of when you think of Africa) so we go for the birds and South Florida does not disappoint.

This is a Roseate Spoonbill (Ajaia ajaia).  They are relatively elusive bright pink birds.  Notice the shape of the bill?  Turns out that the native pink bird of Florida is the Roseate Spoonbill and not the Flamingo.  It's unclear if any Flamingos are or have even occurred "naturally."  It's more likely they were all escapees fand their descendants) from captive populations.  So one large pink bird with an odd shaped bill that was brought in as captive birds is the iconic bird of Florida while another large pink bird with an odd shaped bill actually is native. 

We saw these at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island.  It's great for even the casual bird watcher.  There is a four mile scenic drive through a Mangrove Swamp that is filled with long legged wading birds and plenty of opportunity to stop and get out (or to walk or bike, something we don't do with all of my  heavy camera gear).

This Tricolor Heron (Egretta tricolor) posed very close to shore, catching small fish that came out of a culvert under the road where the water moved with the tides.

Here's a Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens).  This one was holding still.  These birds hunt by dancing.  They move rapidly through the water with wings spread.  It's a sight to behold but not easy to photograph.

Waders weren't the only things we spotted in the area.  This Hooded Warbler (Wilsonia citrina) was hunting insects along the shoreline.  How often do you see warblers on the beach?  Warblers are one of the later spring migrants since they are insect eaters.  Warblers are very colorful, sing beautifully, and are hard to spot in the treetops.

OK.  So not all Warblers are colorful and hang out in treetops.  This warbler is an Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapillus).  Ovenbirds spend a lot of time on the ground.  We saw this one under the feeders at Corkscrew Swamp Audubon Sanctuary.  This is another good birding location that is easy for the casual birder to enjoy.  

Corkscrew Swamp is a mixed habitat are with cypress swamp, pine forest and grassy fields.  

They feed the birds so many birds come right up to the visitors center area (including a painted bunting that I did not get good photos of).  This guy was under one of the feeders.  Raccoons (Procyon lotor) can become major pests when they get used to getting easy food from people.  The people at Corkscrew know this and are trying to figure out how to discourage the raccoon while still attracting ground feeding birds.  It's quite a challenge. 

Raccoon can carry several diseases that are transmissible to humans and pets.  If you have raccoons in your area don't leave pet food out overnight, secure your compost and try to get a raccoon resistant bird feeder or hang your feeder so it's hard for the raccoons to get to.

Corkscrew Swamp was also home to numerous Brown Anoles (Anolis sagrei), an invasive exotic species from Cuba and the Bahamas that is competing with our native Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis).  I was tempted to catch some up and bring them home but I didn't think I could catch enough to have a dent in their exploding population.

This big draw for us at Corkscrew were the Swallow-tail Kites (Elanoides forficatus).  There was a great view of a nest from the boardwalk.  You can see the flying kite carrying a stick.

The nest is in this photo behind the bird.  He was launching off the nest.  The sanctuary folks had a spotting scope set up so even if you didn't have your own binoculars you could get a good look at the nest.

One of the interesting things about the South Florida habitats is the prevalence of epiphytic plants.  There are lots of plants that grow on trees and even the power lines.  Here is a nice Tillandsia.  There were also ferns, bromeliads, and Spanish moss.  

Tillandsia Bloom

Epiphytes get the moisture and nutrients they need out of the air.  In cooler climates lichens and mosses can grow ephiphytically.

Whew.  There's a lot of stuff still to go.  Let's call this posting Part I and I'll post Part II tomorrow.  I still have laundry to catch up on, groceries, next week's lecture, checking out what happened in my garden this past week....