March 24th - 30th
The weather actually took a
turn in the wrong direction this week with temperatures dropping into the 30s
on a couple of nights. Low 60s was
the order of the day for much of the week and only in the past couple of days
did the north winds switch to the south and help warm temperatures back into
the 70s. The strong winds did not
help make it ideal birding conditions either. Rather than producing a hoped for fall-out, the winds served
to keep many of the smaller song birds hunkered down. But, this is Florida, and even on the worst days there are
birds to be photographed.
We began the week with a day
down at Merritt Island where we planned on checking out the Hammock in hopes of
warblers and then searching for shorebirds along a 10 plus mile stretch of dirt
road known as Peacock’s Pocket. As
we entered into the National Wildlife Reserve, we were treated to a special
view of a mother Great-horned owl and her chick welcoming the new day. It was special to share the sunrise
with these two….after all, this is what they wake up to each morning!
When we made it down to the
hammock ( a relatively higher area of deep humus soils and hardwood trees) and
found it eerily quiet except for the sounds of the north winds rustling through
the treetops. Eventually, we found
a few butterflies flitting along low to the ground in an effort to stay out of
the wind. The best view was of the
Giant swallowtail, the first I’ve seen this year. A number of Florida whites and a Zebra longwing were also
seen, but precious few birds.
It was obvious that we would
not be finding the hoped-for warblers, and so we headed out to Peacock’s
Pocket. We found a good many avocets
working the flats, apparently oblivious to the strong winds. Indeed, as we struggled to keep our
scopes upright, the avocets simply busied themselves with the task of picking
up their breakfast in the shallow pools.
One bird not so unaware of the
winds was this osprey. Rather than
its usual perch high atop a tree, it was content to sit in a lower sapling and
try to keep in the calmer air. One
look at its tousled head feathers indicated that it was not doing a very good
job at it.
The highlight of the morning (other than our sunrise with the owls) was
finding a sand bar with a variety of Florida specialties all together. Along a 20 foot stretch of dry land out
in the lagoon were avocets, Marbled godwit, Black-necked stilt, and Willets. Why all these birds decided to move in together on this one
sandbar only the birds will know.
Later in the week, we visited
Mead Gardens in Winter Park, FL.
It was another chase as the not-so-common Rufous hummingbird had been
seen on numerous occasions frequenting the nectar feeder at the butterfly
garden. We did find a
Yellow-throated vireo as well a female Indigo bunting (both first of the year
birds), but failed in our attempt to see the hummer. Our hopes were raised when one hummingbird did come in to
feed, but alas it was the more common Ruby-throated. The trees surrounding the butterfly garden did indeed
provide us with nice looks at Black and white warblers and Northern parulas,
and as we watched these birds we saw a pair of Cooper’s hawks chase off a
Red-shoulder. We later found that
the Cooper’s were nesting in the area and had a nice photo-op of one of the
pair near its nest.
The other nice sighting of the
day was our first Viceroy butterfly of the year. We were grateful for the sunny skies, but once again
the winds kept many of the birds at bay.
One little Carolina wren found sanctuary in among the shrubs and was
briefly seen singing his “tea-kettle, tea-kettle, tea-kettle” song.
Finally, a sad note. As I was getting ready to sit down and
write this week’s blog, I took a quick look out the back deck overlooking the
beach and found a large sea turtle had died and had washed ashore. It’s back was encrusted with barnicles
and seaweed and was probably quite old.
This week, a humpback whale and a bottle-nose dolphin also washed ashore
on the beach to our north. State
biologists took the carcasses away for necropsy to determine the cause of
death. There’s an old saying about
how the sea gives and the sea takes away.
Sorry to see it, but it is nature’s way.
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