Serendipity

Sometimes when I go birding and carry all my camera equipment with me, I see nothing! At least that's how it seems more often than not. If I don't take my camera though, I'll have all manner of awesome birds and critters jumping around right in front of me. It's as if they know I'm camera-less.  Today, however, was not one of those days. I carried my camera with me, for a walk around Lake Lafayette, but I wasn't all that bothered whether I saw anything to be honest, I just wanted some fresh air, a bit of piece and a sprinkling of serenity. Mission accomplished, except for the birds and critters that obviously thought I didn't have my camera, particularly the snakes. It was a very serendipitous morning.

Mississippi Kite hunting dragonflies

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks - my first, in Leon County, of this species for five years

hunting Osprey

stay close to your momma baby Moorhens!

Green Heron

Wood Ducks

Eastern Rat Snake - Gray Form

Banded Water Snake

Florida Cottonmouth a.k.a Water Moccasin

Cottonmouths and Banded Water Snakes are often confused. Easiest way to tell them apart at a glance is by looking at the head pattern. A Banded Water Snake has dark vertical stripes on its lower jaw and lacks the broad dark stripe, exhibited by a Cottonmouth, that starts at the eye and extends beyond the head. Cottonmouth's have that classic viper shape to their head but Banded Water Snakes will flatten their head to make themselves look like Cottonmouths! Clever huh? A Banded Water Snake, at least in my experience, will never rear back its head and open its mouth wide. Cottonmouths do this when threatened and if you should happen to see one do this, then you'll see why they are called Cottonmouths. If you do see one do this, I highly recommend standing out of their reach and admiring them from a distance!

This particular Cottonmouth was fairly small, no more than 2 foot long, and had no interest in making my acquaintance. I am just grateful he slowed down a little, as he crossed the trail, to allow this photograph. The northern race of Cottonmouth is much darker than the Florida race, which is orange-ish and is sometimes confused with the Copperhead. We get both races of Cottonmouth here in North Florida, but the Florida race is much more common.

Cottonmouths get a bad rap from a lot of people but they're just making a living like the rest of us. They won't bother you, if you don't bother them.

Bucket List # 6 - Lek dancing

The Andean Cock-of-the-rock is one of those tropical species that captured my attention on the goggle box during a documentary. James Currie recently visited Ecuador on his Birding Adventures TV show and covered a cock-of-the-rock Lek at Angel Paz's antpitta farm. 

They really are a cool looking bird! They belong to the Cotinga family and can be found in the cloud forests along the Andes mountain range, typically between 1500 and 7500 feet. Ecuador is perhaps the best country to see this species as there are now several eco lodges that have active Leks on their property. The males perform a very elaborate courtship display, to attract females. I used to do that down at the local disco but it didn't work very well, probably because I'd had to much ale and I can't dance worth a crap!

Andean Cock-of-the rock

There are two forms of cocks of the rock, a red form like the one above and an orange form. There are many reasons to visit Ecuador and the cock-of-the-rock is perhaps the main reason for me. Can't wait to visit Angel Paz's antpitta farm one day and watch the males lekking. The lek was covered during James Currie's show Birding Adventures, the link to which is below the you tube clip of a pair of lekking males.

Birding Adventures

Park Life

Took some pictures at work this week, nuff said!

Eastern Cottontail, known locally as Wabbit!

Suwannee Cooter laying eggs in dem woods

hen Wild Turkey

and her youngster

Purple Gallinule on Lake Overstreet

Black Vulture

It's not vorsprung durch technik yer know? And it ain't about you joggers who go round and round and round and...PARK LIFE

From The Library - Heinrich Gatke

Heinrich Gatke - 1814 to 1897

One of the first places I ever remember going birding at, was Hilbre Island, which is located at the mouth of the Dee Estuary in North-west England. My Dad started visiting the bird observatory on the island in the 1970's and dragged me along. One of the founding members, John Gittins, became a long term friend of our family, and he often told us great stories about far off places that were great for birds. The German island of Heligoland was mentioned, and a man by the name of Heinrich Gatke. Gatke was a pioneer of European ornithology and studied bird migration on Heligoland during the latter half of the 1800's. I remember dad telling me that John received a copy of Gatke's book, Birds of Heligoland, which he was delighted with. I often spoke about the book with other birding friends, who told me how rare, and what an amazing study of migration it was. I began a long quest to procure a copy for my collection. C'mon man you don't collect old bird books? I do! I love 'em! They remind me of an age when we hadn't quite fucked up the earth yet, and a majority of bird populations were probably not declining at alarming rates! A friend and I often console each other about being born 500 hundred years too late! Imagine what your country was like for birding 500 years ago. I bet it was mega. I definitely wouldn't be seeing Flying Rats (Feral Pigeons) on my way up Thomasville Road and I wouldn't need LSD to see my life Ivory-billed Woodpecker! Bachman's Warblers, Passenger Pigeons, Carolina Parakeets and Whooping Cranes were probably easy to see. Fallouts on the barrier islands probably seemed like infestations and the skies were blackened by all the migrating hawks. Anyway I digress as usual!

Birds of Heligoland is a fantastic book. I own a copy now, bought a few years ago thanks to eBay. I got it for a fair price from somebody who obviously wasn't a birder. They were delighted by my long ass email that thanked them a million times over for selling me the book. I'd tried buying it several times before over in England, where many birders seek a copy for their collection.

It was published in 1895, which makes it a fairly old book. I love reading it and have done so many times over. Here is an extract for those who aren't as fortunate as I to own a copy. See if you can guess what species Gatke is describing. 

"I must, in conclusion, introduce under a separate group another warbler new to Europe, which could not well have been included in one of the preceding groups. In its own native country this bird belongs to a family very well supplied with members. Audubon enumerates no less than twenty-four species as belonging to it. An example of this bird, was shot here on 19th of November 1858 by a boy with a blow-pipe [must have been an effing good shot]. The bird in question is a fine old male in perfectly fresh well preserved plumage, and represents the only instance of the occurrence of the species on this side of the Atlantic.

The beautiful and attractive plumage of this bird is marked as follows: The crown, back and rump are of a beautiful pure and brilliant olivaceous green; the forehead, a very broad eye-streak, and the sides of the face down to the neck are of a beautiful pure and rich yellow colour; the lores and ear coverts are blackish intermixed with yellow; the foreneck and upper breast are of a uniform deep velvety black, this color being continues downward in tow broad stripes along the white sides. The breast, belly and under-tail coverts are of a very pure bluish grey, the same color forming the borders of the black feathers of the wings and tail; in the posterior flight feathers this grey passes into a greyish white, and forms two pure white very striking bands on the tips of the greater and lesser wing coverts. The two outer pairs of tail feathers are white, their outer webs being black towards the tip, and the black colour extending upwards along the outer side of the shaft in the form of a narrow sharply defined stripe; in the next pair of tail feathers the white colour persists only in the form of a large white spot on the inner web, and the three central pairs are entirely black. In my example, which was shot in autumn, the feathers of the foreneck have broad yellowish white edges which partially hide the black ground colour.

In size this bird resembles a somewhat slender Wood Wren. Its measurements are as follows: Total length, 4.64 ins. (118 mm.); length of wing, 3.19 in. (81 mm.); length of tail, 1.92 in. (49 mm.); length of tail uncovered by wing, .59 in. (15 mm.). The bill is strong, and measures .39 in. (10 mm.), and the tarsus .71 in. (18 mm.).

In the construction of the wing this species differs from its European relatives in that the first flight feathers are not more or less aborted, but in conjunction with the next feathers from the points of the wings: the relations being as follows: Second and third flight feathers of equal length, fourth .04 in. (1 mm.) shorter, and the first .04 in. (1 mm.) shorter than the fourth. The tail is squarely truncate, the outer pair of feathers being scarcely perceptibly shorter than the rest.

Audubon says in regard to the distribution of this species: Numerous from Texas to Newfoundland."

Did you guess right? Click here to see answer!

Here is another extract, which describes perfectly the miracle of bird migration.

"Any one who, on dark, starless autumn nights, has heard the babel of voices of these hundreds of thousands and even millions of birds traveling past him overhead, in one fixed direction and in undiminishing numbers for the length of whole months, without the help of any guiding mark discernible by human eye, cannot fail to be led, by the supreme grandeur of this phenomenon recurring regularly at each solstice with the same unerring precision as the planets in their courses."

I would have liked to have met Heinrich Gatke, but that won't be possible unless the time machine I am building in the boat shed actually works (I said actually, ha!). Between now and my maiden time travel voyage, I'll have to make do with reading Birds of Heligoland, my all-time favorite book. Get a copy if you can, and love it!

Heinrich Gatke - it was clearly a slow day on the island of Heligoland when this picture was taken!

Heligoland

There is still an active bird observatory on the island today. One day I'll overcome my deep fear of Germany and visit the island. C'mon man they bombed our chippy!

Heligoland Bird Observatory

More shorebird pics

Finally had the chance to edit the rest of my shorebird pictures from last week's trip to Bald Point.

Semipalmated Sandpipers (all above) - you can see the web between this birds toes.

Marbled Godwit, Short-billed Dowitchers & a Sanderling

Red Knot and Short-billed Dowitchers

Sanderling in alternate plumage, note head not fully molted

this Sanderling has completely molted into alternate plumage

Sanderling molting from basic into alternate plumage

Ruddy Turnstone and Sanderling

Dunlin

Dunlin are really cool birds and one of my favorite shorebirds. There are several races of Dunlin around the world and here in Florida we typically see the hudsonia race. Hudsonia are larger and longer billed than the European Dunlin I was used to seeing back home, and approach Curlew Sandpiper in size and in bill length. A male hudsonia can have a bill as long as 36 millimeters, and females as long as 39 millimeters. Dunlin of the European races arctica and schinzii, have bill lengths between 26 and 28 millimeters for males, and 29 and 31 millimeters for females. Quite a difference! A male Curlew Sandpiper has a bill length of 36 millimeters and a female measures 40. At first glance a Curlew Sandpiper, particularly in basic or juvenile plumage, would be easier to identify in Europe than here in the United States, especially if in the company of Dunlin.

I often wonder whether Curlew Sandpipers are overlooked here in Florida, especially in the fall. It's a very rare species in Florida. New Jersey is perhaps the best state to see one as they seem to show up on a an annual basis, typically in May. In 2005, I was fortunate enough to see 2! Crippling birds in alternate plumage!

Curlew Sandpiper - New Jersey spring 2005

Kingbirds Kick Ass!

Eastern Kingbirds are the Chuck Norris of songbirds! One of the I love about them is that they don't take any shit from anything. Crows, hawks, people, cats and others beware, because if you wander into an Eastern Kingbirds territory, you might get attacked! Last night while watching the Seminoles take a beating from Clemson, I saw a pair giving a crow a helluva beating, as it flew over the baseball stadium. One day I saw one literally riding the back of a Red-tailed Hawk, beating the buteo relentlessly on the neck! A Feral Cat was chased out of a tree and best of all was watching two people run across a parking lot, pursued by a territorial EAKI! Absolute bad asses! Maisie and I watched a pair yesterday morning, as they caught flies and collected nest material. We weren't stupid enough to go search for the nest they were building! A bunch of European Starlings were stupid enough, and were subsequently set upon and driven away. Yeah, drive out those Europeans!

Eastern Kingbird - Southwood, May 2011

I really don't know if the other kingbird species are as territorially aggressive, but they are still really cool birds. We also have Gray Kingbirds nesting along the coast in Florida, and I've been trying to get a decent shot of one for years. Still trying! We get Western Kingbirds during migration and many also winter in the sunshine state, typically from Orlando southwards, but sometimes further north. I've seen many WEKI's in our area, but the one that graced the Waverly Hills area a few years ago showed brilliantly, and allowed me to get some above average digiscope shots.

Western Kingbird - Tallahassee, January 2007

Best Birding Days # 3 - October 8th, 1999

October 8th 1999 was a great birding day. I didn't want it to end. It was my first ever day on the famous Scilly Isles and I saw a bunch of lifers to boot. The day began early in the morning as Mark, Jenny and I arose at dark o'clock to make our morning flight from St Just in Cornwall to St Mary's, the largest of the Scilly Isles. Mark had arranged for us to stay at Watermill Cottage on the NE end of the island. We were justifiably psyched for the trip because several mega's had already been found on the islands, all of which were British lifers for us all.

Our small prop plane landed, we jumped off, grabbed our bags and acquired a taxi to take us to Watermill. Taxi drivers are well accustomed to twitching twitchers, and it didn't take us long to get there. Mark and I jumped out of the minivan, threw our bags in the front garden (much to Jenny's annoyance) and ran off up the road, heading for Green Farm. The lane, and then track, that ran by the farm afforded us a view  of the Great Ganilly area. Great Ganilly is basically a bunch of large limestone rocks sitting off one of the other islands. Bryher I think. The bird we were seeking was Britain's first accepted Short-toed Eagle. A fairly widespread bird in the southern half of mainland Europe, but a mega in Blighty! The bird obliged and was seen flying around being tailed and mobbed by corvids, mostly Ravens. Lifer # 1 in the bag and it wasn't even 9am yet!

scanned from my notebook.

From there it was a mad dash back to the cottage and another taxi down to the quay for a boat ride. The boat took us over to St. Agnes, one of the smaller but birdiest of the island chain. Two siberian species were our targets; a White's Thrush on St Agnes, and a Siberian Thrush on Gugh, which is connected to St Agnes by a tidal sand bar. Siberian Thrush was the rarer of the two, so we headed there and no sooner had we arrived the bird appeared, in flight, right on cue! Serendipitous, or what? It was like a blueberry with wings and stripes! We watched it in flight several times and even saw it perched, very briefly but very well. A crippling bird and one I'll never forget. Sibe's Thrushes don't show up in Britain that often, and when they do they typically show up in far off places that are logistically difficult to reach on the day they're found. Most of the time these birds don't hang around for more than a day, so having the opportunity to twitch one might be a once in a lifetime deal. This deal was sewn up before lunchtime.

Seeing the White's Thrush was not nearly as easy, and given the location where it was frequenting and the number of birders present (hundreds to a thousand) that shouldn't be so surprising. A secretive bird by nature, in an area not easily accessible for birding. We basically formed rank and file along a narrow lane, and looked longingly into a field surrounded on all sides by thick, tall hedgerows. The bird came out on the edge of the field but just as it did, this total utter wanker stepped right in front of me. It was worse than standing on the Kop at Anfield as Ian Rush raced in on goal! I managed to see the birds rear end as it hopped back into the hedgerow and that was the only look I got during our 8 day stay. It became more obliging in the evenings, but despite trying the bird never did give me conclusive and tickable views. One day I'll reconnect with the other two-thirds of a  White's Thrush, so I can count it for my list!

Compensation came in the form of a Radde's Warbler, another Siberian species. Fantastic views were had and at short range. It would be the first of four I'd eventually see that week. A Red-breasted Flycatcher also showed well on St Agnes, padding the list nicely.

St Mary's Airfield was next, and our first American species of the trip, an Upland Sandpiper. Ridiculously close views were obtained, as it fed in complete oblivion in front of a large admiring crowd. Lifer # 4 of the day. A short walk took us to a Short-toed Lark, another Continental European species. It showed very well at close range also. My fifth and final British lifer of an incredible day. 

taken from google images

The rest our trip just kept getting better and better! October 1999, will long be remembered as one of the best rare bird autumns, the Isles of Scilly had ever witnessed. Yellow-billed Cuckoo, a second Upland Sandpiper, Black-crowned Night Heron, Tawny Pipit, Veery (Day twitched to Cornwall), Blue Rock Thrush, 3 more Radde's Warblers (I found one), Richard's Pipit, Yellow-browed Warbler, Red-backed Shrike and a Wryneck were the highlights. We also had 4 Monarch butterfly's! In Cornwall, on my way back to college, I saw Chimney Swift and a Red-flanked Bluetail. It was probably the best 10 days of birding I've ever had in Britain and it all started on October 8th.

The Isles of Scilly are a very special place and probably my dream place to live. The scenery, the birding, the friendly atmosphere and the pasties all combine to make it one of those places you'll never forget you have been. Can't wait to return there one day.

St Mary's Harbor taken from google images

Refuge and the Point

Got up early this morning and spent 8 hours birding at St. Marks NWR and Bald Point State Park. I had a hunch that there might be a Connecticut Warbler at the refuge, particularly as they have been showing up all over the peninsula this past few days. 3 hours staring into bird less bushes later I failed to find my state Connecticut but it wasn't for the lack of trying. I did however, have a terrific day!

I stopped by Old Plank Road and carefully stepped around the empty beer bottles and McDonald's paper bags on a short trail by the sulfur spring. I heard a Kentucky Warbler singing, but didn't want to venture too far from my truck in case a Skunk Ape was abroad! An Acadian Flycatcher sang explosively but refused to cooperate for the camera. Yearning for a more picturesque birding location, I left Old Plank Rd post haste. Prothonotary Warbler, Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Acadian Flycatcher greeted me at the twin bridges. Further down the road I saw Purple Gallinule, Least Bittern, Orchard Oriole and Green Heron. Tower Pond and Mounds Pool 3 beckoned. 

The height between High and Low tide was slight, which meant lots of shorebirds at both locations. Diversity was low again unfortunately, but virtually all the birds present were in alternate plumage. Semipalmated Sandpipers were fussing at each other, and Black-bellied Plovers called anxiously. A pair of Wilson's Plovers took exception to the spotty Spotted Sandpiper that ventured inside their territory. Who knew they were so fierce? 2 Pectoral Sandpipers flew in and bathed.

As usual of late, there were several Gull-billed Terns present on Tower Poo, and later on in the morning they went to feed on Picnic Pond, allowing picture taking ops.

Gull-billed Terns

I checked out Mounds Pool 3 and counted the shorebirds there, and spotted a Veery in the hammock on the way. There were a lot of Tricolored Herons present.

Tricolored Heron

Some of the Semiplamated Sandpipers looked fat, reminding me of banding 'em  in New Jersey 6 years ago. They look like little gray balls with beaks when they've piled on the ounces and can look very different structurally at this time of year!

a fat Semipalmated Sandpiper

same bird with a Dunlin for size comparison

Total shorebird counts for Tower Pool and Mounds 3 were as follows

Dunlin 156

Semipalmated Sandpiper 89

Wilson's Plover 2

Black-bellied Plover 12

Semipalmated Plover 14

Whimbrel 1

Short-billed Dowitcher 25

Spotted Sandpiper 3

Greater Yellowlegs 5

Lesser Yellowlegs 1

Pectoral Sandpiper 2

Least Sandpiper 1

Willet 11

Black-necked Stilt 4

On the way back to the parking lot I came across a singing warbler, which had me baffled for a while, but after several brief views and some hard thinking I came to the conclusion that it was a Hooded Warbler, singing some variation of its typical song! A Common Yellowthroat came to check me out while I was trying to pish out the fore mentioned parulidae.

Common Yellowthroat (male)

Not much doing down at the lighthouse, so I headed for the Subway on US-98 and then to Bald Point for high tide. The moon has been full the last few nights, and that usually triggers the Horseshoe Crabs to swim ashore and lay their eggs. Hungry shorebirds heading for the Arctic depend on these eggs, in order to fill up their fuel tanks for the long journey ahead. When this happens it's quite easy, with patience and commando style crawling, to get close to the feeding frenzy and click away. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. I had a blast!

Ruddy Turnstone

Sanderling

Western Willet

Dunlin

Red Knot, Sanderling, Short-billed Dowitcher and Dunlin

Red Knot, Short-billed Dowitcher, Dunlin, Sanderling and Ruddy Turnstone

Sanderlings feast on eggs!

Wilson's Plover (male)

For me the highlight of the day was finding a color-flagged Red Knot. Red Knot PJ7. I submitted the details online and received the following information.

PJ7 was captured and banded on 5th November 2008 at South Lido Beach in SW Florida. He/she has been re-sighted 8 times since then (including today). It seems to like wintering on Longboat Key, where it has been spotted 5 times over 2 years. On 16th May last year it was re-sighted on Cooks Beach, New Jersey. Cool stuff!

If you spot a shorebird or gull with a color band, please report your sighting. You can use the following website.

http://www.bandedbirds.org/

Shorebird numbers (approximates) for Bald Point as follows

Red Knot 75
Semipalmated Sandpiper 250
Sanderling 200
Dunlin 100
Short-billed Dowitcher 50
Marbled Godwit 1
Black-bellied Plover 10
Ruddy Turnstone 100
Willet 10
Spotted Sandpiper 1

I also had 21 American Oystercatcher on a boat dock at Alligator Point and 6 Marbled Godwit at Mashes Sands.