Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtails and other butterflies must visit hummingbird feeders all the time. Its just I have never witnessed this behavior.  This individual fed long enough, on 12 June 2018, for me to run find my camera and take this photograph. Here is a link to what I have previously written about this species.

Corkscrew Swamp 2

A few more birds (and one raccoon) from our 20 January 2018 visit to Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. The first is of Cattle Egrets. These birds are natives of Africa and may have crossed the South Atlantic on their own. Cattle egrets began expanding their range in the late 1800s. They were first seeen in North America in the 1950s. Their range is still growing and they can be found in almost every US state.

The second image is an odd one of a Blue-headed Vireo. I can not explain the brown body. I think it should be greenish. I suspect the red crown patch may be a pine needle adhered to the bird’s head.

Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are common year-round visitors to Florida. Northern birds join them in the winter. This species is monogamous, with males contributing to nest construction, incubation, and feeding the young. This female had just launched itself into the air.

A baby only a mother Anhinga could love. In southern Florida, Anhingas may nest at any time of the year. And, finally, a Raccoon in the bushes under the Corkscrew Sanctuary boardwalk. Raccoons seen out in the daylight should always be avoided due to the possibility of rabies.

Corkscrew Swamp 1

The Audubon Society’s Corkscrew Swam Sanctuary is another site we try not to miss when we visit Florida. The $14.00 entrance fee may seem expensive. We always carry our Audubon membership cards for a $4.00 discount. In any event, the money is for a good cause and their 2.5 mile cypress swamp boardwalk is invariably interesting. Further, none of our several visits to the sanctuary have been exactly the same. The location is southwest of Fort Myers. We visited on 20 January 2018. (My intention in these Florida Road-trip posts is to often combine species on which I have previously written about in this blog.)

Painted Buntings often visit feeders at the sanctuary headquarters and at a feeder along the boardwalk. These beautiful birds are threatened across much of their range. Aside from loss of habitat to development, there is an illegal trade in caged Painted Buntings, from the southeastern United States to Cuba and Mexico. Birds cost from $50 to $100, with bright males going for $200. Trappers can take up to 200 males in single weekends (BirdWatching 2016). eBird no longer plots the exact location of Painting Bunting sightings.

Also at the feeders are Indigo Buntings. These buntings winter in southern Florida and from Mexico to northern Panama and also Cuba and the Greater Antilles. They breed across most of eastern North America, including southeastern Canada.

Erika took this rocking photograph of a White-eyed Vireo. These birds breed in eastern North America, but not as far north as Indigo Buntings. The vireos winter along the American Southeast, Cuba, the Greater Antilles, and eastern Mexico. Because of their love of shrubbery and undergrowth, they are more often heard than seen. Their call is a loud “chick’-a-per-weeoo-chick’” that is often heard before the singing bird is seen (Peterson). This link is to an older version of A Field Guide to the Birds, which is a good place to see written interpretations of bird song.

Seeing Red-shouldered Hawks is easy at Corkscrew Sanctuary. As I have previously posted, Florida Red-shouldered Hawks are smaller and paler than northern birds. This raptor is another inhabitant of eastern North America, wintering further south and into northeastern Mexico. Curiously, this hawk is resident along the California coast, south into Baja California.

Finally we encountered a dragonfly—a Halloween Pennant. These dragonflies have a large range, and may be particularly common in Florida. We often see them in Minnesota. Their coloration may mimic poisonous butterflies. See my previous posts on the species, for example 7 August 2015.

Monk Parakeet

We photographed a Monk Parakeet perched atop a field light pole at the Pelican Blvd. Baseball Fields in Ft Myers, Florida, on 19 January 2018. Monk Parakeets are naturally found in southern South America, north to southern Brazil and Bolivia. They are popular pets—97% of pet parrots from South America are this species— and often escape. Furthermore, being the only parrot that does not nest in cavities (using large, stick nests instead and maintaining the nests all year), they tolerate cold weather. Free-flying Monk Parakeets were first found in the United States in the 1960s. They are now found in many cities in the US and in Europe and Israel.

This parrot prefers urban areas and are difficult to control. Although the nests can cause power failures or fires as the birds nest on powerlines or transformers, people often resist efforts to reduce flock numbers. Early fears of Monk Parakeets’ causing crop damage have not materialized. Statistics and other information for this blog are from Burgio et al. (2016).

Florida Burrowing Owl

A highlight of our Florida trip was finding Burrowing Owls on 19 January 2018. Burrowing Owls were not new for us; we’ve seen plenty in South Dakota and elsewhere. But the Florida owls are far from other populations. I have wanted to see them in case DNA research establishes them as a separate species. Certianly little or no genetic flow exists between Florida and Western populations.

So I looked up Florida Burrowing Owl sightings in the BirdsEye bird finding app. The app announced that Burrowing Owls had been recently seen at the Pelican Blvd. Baseball Fields, right in the middle of Fort Myers. OK. The locadtion was not far out of our way. We arrived, and all we found were baseball fields. No surprise there, I suppose. We surveysed te area with our binoculars. On the outskirts of the fields were white crosses. Below each cross lay a Burrowing Owl nest. The owls paid little attention to us. We flushed none while taking these photos.

Florida Burrowing Owls are also unique in their eye color. Apparently due to low populations, recessive eye color genes are often expressed in Florida birds. Instead of being yellow, ksome Florida birds have marbled, black and yellow irises. We did not find any strikingly colored irises in our birds, but a few were somewhat mottled.

St Marks National Wildlife Refuge

When we are in the vicinity, we always visit St Marks National Wildlife Refuge in the Florida panhandle. Our 18 January 2018 stop was dampened by cold weather—no chance for dragonflies. We did photograph two male ducks, a Canvasback (left) and a Redhead (right). Note the “ski-slope” bill of the Canvasback. I also got a chance to try to photograph a Belted Kingfisher. It flew as I took pictures, and the flying image came out the best.

Seventeen Degrees in Mississippi

On the morning of 17 January 2018, the temperature was a frosty 17 degrees F in Meridian, Mississippi. We checked visited the Bonita Lake city park, where we have seen interesting birds in the past. The park was gated on this visit. We were able to drive a few hundred feet into the park before we had to turn around. Many birds fed on the ground, like this Northern Mockingbird (above) and Brown Thrasher (below). Both sepcies are ground feeders, but the nearby bushes clear held no attraction.

Next we saw a Tufted Titmouse, a bird more often seen in vegetation.

Finally, we happened upon a large flock of Pine Siskins. The siskins fed in a Sweet Gum tree. Pine Siskins are northern species used to the bone-chilling temperatures we enjoyed that morning.

Flag-tailed Spinyleg

You can see the leg spines from which this dragonfly derives its name. Flag-tailed Spinylegs are often common and can be seen perched along lake shores and vegetation, exactly the habitat I found this one along Grapevine Lake near Flower Mound, Texas, on 20 July 2017. This individual flew out over the lake before briefly returning to its original perch. The species ranges from northeastern Mexico north to Michigan and West Virginia.

Swift Setwing

Although the afternoon was unmercifully hot, on 19 July 2017, I strolled in a small, Flower Mound, Texas, city park. Running through the park were several small, overgrown streams and ponds. I photographed a couple of dozen Swift Setwings along the water edges.

This habitat is perfect for Swift Setwings. They often perch with their wings pointed downward and their abdomens held above their bodies. They perch on tall grasses, sticks, and weeds. They are the most widespread North American setwing, found from Mexico across the piedmont of the United States to Tennessee and Virginia. Their range appears to be expanding (Odonata Central).

Aztec Dancer

During our brief visit to Flower Mound, Texas, on 19 July 2017, between our hotel and the kids’ home, Erika and I took a short hike in Knob Hills Bike Trail. The trail runs a short distance from Denton Creek, which drains into Grapevine Lake. Surprisingly, we did not see any dragonflies. As we were leaving, traversing a rocky hillside above the creek, I noticed a pretty, blue Aztec Dancer.

Aztec Dancers are found from eastern Texas north to Kansas and west through the American Southwest to California. They also range south into Mexico. Paulson (2009) writes that these dancers are often found around streams, but also in open, bushy riparian borders—more or less the habitat in which we found them.