Day 92: April 1st – One loop of the preserve

Sunny, low 80s, calm

       Kind of a late start as I head out well past the morning hours when I expect to see the most activity.  Given my time constraints of the day, I stick close to home and revisit one of my favorite little parks, Indian River Lagoon Preserve where I'm hoping some new influx of migrating warblers may have arrived.

       The “trail” around the park is actually a concrete walkway suitable for walking, biking, and wheelchair use.  It runs through a hardwood hammock and is all of perhaps a third of a mile in length.  Still, it is often productive in terms of songbirds, butterflies, reptiles, and assorted flora.  As soon as I set foot on the walkway, I heard light tapping from a woodpecker directly overhead.  It did not take long for me to find the source, a fine male Downy woodpecker.

     Now, a word of warning to those of you who are not use to the Florida woodlands.  There are nasty little insects called “Fire ants”.  When one of these little buggers bites you, it injects formic acid and the result is a sting that last for at least a few days if not longer.  Unfortunately, they often have swarmed all over your leg before you realize it and it can be downright uncomfortable for some time in the future.  While staring up into the canopy, looking for the subject of my next photo, I stepped onto a nest of these insects.  Fortunately, my blunder into the nest was short-lived and only a half dozen or so had begun their attack before I was able to sweep them away and get them out of my sock.  So, my first encounter with fire ants was enough to make me know that I don’t want a repeat performance, but brief enough not to do an awful lot of damage.

      Moving on, I had several nice butterflies to photograph while listening to the myriad of Carolina wrens hidden in among the palmettos.  The vast majority are Great southern whites, but I did find on Common buckeye to snap a shot of.

     Next of the list was a barren patch of sandy soil where a colony of fiddler crabs had taken refuge.  I’ve walked past this area dozens of times, but only today, when they were busy scurrying about, did I ever really notice them.  A couple of shots and they quickly became aware of my presence, sending down into their burrows. 

       And so, a short ½ hour walk produced birds, arthropods, and insects (some welcomed and some not so much).  I’ll be back at this site on Tuesday for our weekly morning birding excursion with the Marine Discovery Center.  When will those migrating warblers begin to appear?  Perhaps on Tuesday?