2013: Week 16 – “Two out of three ain’t bad….”

April 14^th – 20^th

       As we count down the days until our return to the Empire State, we still have some unfinished business down here in Florida in regards to unrecorded sightings.  Three glaring omissions on the year-list for us include the Bachman’s sparrow, the Red-cockaded woodpecker, and the Brown-headed nuthatch.  By this time last year, I had all three in the bag and had actually seen the nuthatch on several occasions.  With only a little over a week, it’s time to scramble to see if we can finally get these birds.

       One area nearby could possibly yield all three of these targets, so Joe T and I hop in his Prius early on Friday morning and head out to Christmas, Florida.  What a great name for an area known to give out some wonderful birds as presents to those who bird Orlando Wetlands, Hal Scott Preserve, and Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area.  We’re going to begin at Hal Scott, a sight known for all three of our quarry.

       Hal Scott has a pretty decent sized prairie of mostly palmetto and grasses.  The Bachman’s sparrow prefers mature pine forests with grassy understory.  The bird spends most of its time down in the grasses, popping up onto a low hanging pine branch occasionally to sing.  Unfortunately, much of this habitat across the southeast has been developed, and this sparrow has adopted to nesting in brushy open fields.  This is the habitat we are searching today.  The song of the Bachman’s is pretty much unmistakable, and at this time of year, the song is easily heard as the males begin staking out their nesting territory.  Our job was to hike through the vast fields and stop and listen every so often for the whistles.  Then, we carefully follow the song to its source and watch for the bird to pop up on a low branch.  That’s our photo-op. 

       

       Well, the birds were present as promised and we did find some handsome individuals singing throughout the prairie.  Finally, our first Bachman’s sparrow of the year.  Sadly, with habitat loss, the bird is becoming more rare and is believed to be declining in numbers.  Hopefully, the acquisition of more and more of the remaining prairies by local, state, and federal governments to protect these lands will help preserve the remaining stock.

       One down and two to go.  Next up, the Red-cockaded woodpecker.  This bird is known to nest in the Hal Scott Preserve.  To “guarantee” sightings, however, you have to be here at either sunup or sundown to see them leaving and returning to their nesting trees.  Like the Bachman’s sparrow, these birds prefer large tracts of mature pine forest to thrive.  Unlike the sparrow, however, they do not easily adapt to changing environmental conditions and have therefore seriously declined in number over the past years as their habitat has been removed and natural fire has been suppressed.  They are now considered an endangered species with less than 10,000 individuals remaining across the southeast.  The photo provided here is one I took several years ago since we did not have any luck finding any today.  Hopefully, next winter we will once again be privileged to catch a glimpse of this beautiful species.

 

Red-cockaded woodpecker (2010 archive)

       With no luck finding the woodpecker nor the nuthatch at Hal Scott, we moved onto the Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area several miles to the east.  The Brown-headed nuthatches have used this area as a breeding ground in the past, and we can only hope to find some of these little foragers.  Like our two previous targets, these birds love the pine forests, although they do not need the more extensive forests that the Red-cockaded woodpeckers require.   This little nuthatch is the least numerous of all our North American nuthatches, but still seems to be holding its own in the remaining pine forests of the southeast. 

 

Brown-headed nuthatch

      Once again, we had to walk through a considerable amount of acreage of sparsely vegetated pines stands before we finally heard the chatter of the nuthatches.  They are generally found in small groups or at least in pairs, so when you find one, you’ll find more.  As a group, their vocalizations make for quite a chorus, so when finally located, it is easy to follow the song to its source.  Up in the canopy and then working their way down the trunk in typical nuthatch inverted orientation, they provided us with nice views of our second target bird of the day.

       And so our day ended with one other notable sighting.  A shaft of light through the hardwood forest we passed through at Tosohatchee fell upon a strange couple….a Broad-headed skink and a Southeastern five-lined skink entwined as other skinks I have observed mating.  I seriously doubt that these skinks were that confused (although the Broad-head had the red face typical of breeding time).  Why these two were found together like this, I have no clue.  I glanced away for just a few seconds to make an adjustment to the camera settings and the five-line was gone.

 

       Well, we scored on two of our targets today and as Meatloaf sang out in one of his more popular hits…..”Two out of three ain’t bad”.  With one week left to try and get out for a final couple of final Florida birds before we head north along with our fellow avian migrants, we’ll see what few new species we can add to the year-list which now stands at 208.  Our goal is to reach 200 different birds by the time we return north, so that plateau has been reached and puts us on a good track in an attempt to get past 375 for 2013.  After returning to New York, our next major new territory to explore will be a July trip to North Dakota and the “potholes”.  We are looking forward to the next few months after three great birding months down here in the Sunshine State.