North meets South

   

Red-morph of the Eastern Screech owl

     We had a rather interesting day of birding on Tuesday, January 23rd.  We began as usual with our weekly Tuesday morning bird walk at the Indian River Lagoon Preserve in New Smyrna Beach.  Over the past several years, the group has been welcomed into the park by resident Eastern Screech Owls.  It is of particular interest that the pair is comprised of two color morphs.  While not set in stone, it does appear that the reddish owls are more likely to be seen in the southern regions of the owls' range while the grey are more common in the north.  Females also appear to be more prone to the reddish hue while males (as in other birds like the Northern harrier) tend towards the gray. The image here is of our Red morph screech.  We had over 30 species in our 2 hour walk around the preserve.  We found Palm &Yellow-rumped warblers which winter here as well as Common yellowthroat, Prairie and Black and White warblers which are not usually as common during the month of January down here.

Common eider

     So having had our first "North meets South" happening with the two differently hued owls, we went on to get a much more extreme example of birds from different latitudes being found in the southland.  Several miles from our hike this morning, we found a truly northern bird the Common eider swimming along the water's edge near the North Causeway across the Indian River.  It seems like one or two of these Canadian birds ends up down here on an annual basis lately with this being our latest visitor.  We found the bird as had been reported on eBird just south of the causeway drifting along with the current and in close enough to afford us some great looks and decent photo opportunities .

Florida manatee below Great blue heron

     From here, we headed west down to Blue Spring State Park where we hoped to find the Florida manatees.  The temperatures have been unseasonably cool for us in Central Florida this January, but the waters of Blue Spring remain at a fairly constant 72 degrees.  Since manatees need warmer waters to survive, they congregate here at the springs in large numbers during these cooler days.  If the water  in the rivers such as the St. John's where many of the manatees live drops down below 65 degrees, it can threaten the survival of these giant "sea cows".  The last few days have been warming up a bit, and it does not take the shallow rivers very long to heat up.  Several days ago, there were over 300 of the manatees in the relatively confined area of the springs, but today many have already headed out to their normal environs.  One hundred and fifty-seven were counted this morning by the park staff.  A much larger number of tourists flocked to the park today to view these gentle giants!

Carolina wren

      As we walked the boardwalk with friends John and Rosie, we encountered some nice birds up in the canopy.  Two Ruby-crowned kinglets actually flew by no more than three feet in front of us and landed in a live oak.  The trees here are just beginning to "leaf out" (a lot earlier here than back in New York where the leaves will just be starting to show when we arrive back home 3 months from now!)  Still, the flitting kinglets allowed me to get only one "documentary" level photograph.  The Carolina wren, however, was much more cooperative.  These birds are much more often heard than seen, so when this handsome bird perched close by, we were thrilled to be able to grab some nice pix.  Other birds showing up were the Northern cardinal, Blue-gray gnatcatcher, Palm warbler, and American robin.

Double-crested cormorant

     Our last shot of the day before heading home was a Double-crested cormorant which had perched above the manatee laden waters of the spring.  There are many fish in the spring and the manatee pose no threat as they are exclusively herbivores.  The birds which feed on the fish found in the spring such as these cormorants, egrets, herons, and osprey are regular visitors to the park whether the manatees are here or not.  All in all it was a very productive albeit long (10 hours) day of observing nature in this beautiful state which welcomes all visitors - be they human or avian.