February 2010

By midseason, I really start missing my friends from home, so its always a treat to see birding buds from up north. I look forward to seeing Eileen and Sue when they make their annual sojourn to Florida and as a bonus Linda was also here.  We got together and met at DuPuis Wildlife Management Area which is between all of our Florida home bases on yet another cool, cloudy morning.  We first went to the horse barn to see if we could nab the barn owl and find its day roosting spot. We were not successful at first but in our wanderings around the camp ground and barn, I did catch sight of one flying low out of the corner of my eye.  The hunt was on.  I then entered the barn to see if there was any evidence of owls and indeed there were pellets and white feathers.  Interesting thing about owl feathers. The shaft runs right down the middle of it to give owls that silent flight.  When I went into the barn, Eileen saw two owls flying out one the hay loft doors!  I missed them.  Both Linda and Sue had brief sightings of owls but they disappeared into the ether. Poof! It never ceases to amaze me how birds can hide so easily from our eyes.

In our search for the owls, we were pleasantly distracted by the flushing a whip poor will!  Talk about a bird that can melt into the environment!  Twice flushed. Twice vanished.  It has been ages since I’ve seen a whip poor will and two years since I’ve heard one, so it was a treat!  Further explorations netted us some warblers, gnatcatcher, common ground dove, meadowlark, and a raccoon family in a tree.

Raccoon babies

The bird bonanza was at the visitor center and about the parking lot.  Its my second “rule” of birding that the best birds are in the parking lot.  (Ask me sometime what the first rule is.)  We had nine warbler species, including the stunning yellow throated warbler, indigo bunting, painted bunting, ruby-crowned kinglet and a hermit thrush. 

“Give us a half hour Ma'am”

We then returned to the main part of the preserve to a hammock where I have often found barred owl, but we had no joy on that score.  We then drove down the main road toward the red-cockaded woodpecker cluster.  Our progress was halted by a crew working at a proscribed burn area taking down a tree that was leaning dangerously over the road.  The man with whom I spoke said they needed a half an hour to complete their work before we could pass towards the nesting site of the woodpeckers.  We amused ourselves by stumbling across an odd scene of a grave site of what we concluded were animals, though we created many different humorous scenarios.  Notice anything unusual about the marker?  Look at the death date. 

(hint: Try a backward “4”)

During the dry season are the proscribed burns that mimic the natural burn and regeneration cycle of many Florida habitats.  Winter is the normal dry season.  I have often come across this in my travels around Florida.  Small fires are intentionally set to burn the undergrowth as some plants need the heat to regenerate.  Passing one section of burned area, we observed several species of birds feeding on what I imagine to be, perhaps, opened seeds, fruits, dead bugs and crispy critters.  We had grackle, robin, woodpeckers, and blue jay picking and pecking through the recently and still smoking charred remains.  In a few years, I won’t remember what area of DuPuis was burned that’s how fast the burn will recover.  Oh, still no luck this season with seeing red-cockaded woodpecker.

Painted buntings.  Photo by Linda Sullivan.

A few days later, the Girls drove south to my turf to take photographs at Green Cay and Wakodahatchee.  At last, a beautiful day! I even had the top down on the car!  This being vacation week in Florida, both places were busy.  Our stroll was leisurely over the board walks, stopping to observe behavior, photograph, and chat.  Most numerous were coot and common moorhen.  We also had two sora.  At one of the chickee huts at Green Cay, we had male and female painted buntings.  We looked for the black throated grey warbler that was still popping up there but the parking lot where it has been seen was very quiet.  So much for my “rules!”  Nesting was continuing at Wakodahatchee and we had wonderful views of baby anhinga that were still all white and fluffy begging for food.  One of the big draws were the black-bellied whistling ducks who were all out on the dike between cells so their black bellies were noticeable.

Black-bellied whistling ducks

It's always bittersweet to say good bye to dear friends.  We had had such a wonderful time together, birding, chatting, taking pictures and creating new memories.  Don’t be too sad for me, though.  We have already started planning for next year.

Linda, Sue, Jody & Eileen at Wakodahatchee

Contact Jody at jlev545@gmail.com.