Brown Pelican

During our Sanibel Island sojourn, I made half-hearted attempts to photograph diving Brown Pelicans. I think the key to absolute success is to concentrate on a single species on any given day. In any case, here are my best results from 7 February 2018. Brown Pelican dive from heights of up to 20 meters. At the last second, the bird turns slightly to the left to avoid injuring its trachea and esophagus, which are located n the right side of the neck. The gular pouch fills with up to 10 liters of water. Air sacs keep the pelican from going under water, so prey is only taken near the surface. About 80% of the time the pelican’s dive is successful. Curiously few, if any, studies exist at total food intake. Captive birds require around half a kilo of fish per day (Shields 2014). 

The Laughing Gull in the final photo is kleptoparasite on the pelican. The gull is hoping for scraps from the pelican’s catch. In some studies, gulls were successful in their robbery about 15% of the time. Too bad I was slow about getting my camera in focus. A few seconds previously the gull perched on the pelican’s head.

Sanibel 4

Here are a few more of the cratures we saw during our visit to Sanibel Island. Gulf Fritillaries are a common southern species that wanders north in the summer. The black-ringed white spots in the fore-wing are indicative of this butterfly. They fly all year in frost-free regions. The larvae eat passion vines. We have seen them before in Key West and in southern Texas.

I did not recognize this Marl Pennant in the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge Bailey Tract. We saw this same species here during a March visit. This species is found along Atlantic and Gulf coastal areas, across Mexico, and south through the Caribbean to Belize and Venezuela (Paulson 2011). They are found in brackish and fresh water and often perch, like this one, on the tips of vegetation. Previous Marl Pennants sported a dark “W” marking on their sides. Perhaps this field mark becomes more apparent as the year progresses. Marl is a calcium carbonate or lime-rich mud; it is unclear if this substance is critical for this dragonfly.

Two ducks—a Mottled Duck and a Red-breasted Merganser. Mottled Ducks are found across Florida, but are otherwise coastal birds along the southeastern Atlantic and Gulf. They prefer freshwater ponds, so to see this one swimming in the Gulf was somewhat surprising. The merganser was less surprising. They winter along all the coasts of the United States, almost every Canadian shore, and those of northern Mexico. They breed across Canada and Alaska and migrate across the entire United State and Canada.

The next bird looks like a duck but, instead, is a Pied-billed Grebe. Its feet are not webbed, only each toe is. Unlike ducks, grebes lack tails. This grebe cruised close to the road in the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge.

A White Ibis in the surf. Ibis are normally marsh birds. Occasionally we saw ibis and herons feeding in the Gulf, were they must find an abundance of arthropods living in the sandy beach. 

Sanibel 3

Late during our two-week stay on Sanibel Island, we discovered the Bailey Homestead Wetlands. This area appeared to consist of a couple of water purification ponds.  Although the area seemed ideal, we saw very few dragonflies here. The birds, however, were remarkably tame. The first was a male anhinga. Anhingas are classified in the order Pelicaniformes, due to their webbed feet and throat pouches. Among the birds in that order, Anhingas are thought to be closest to cormorants. Among other unique features, Anhingas have only one carotid artery, nostrils with no outer openings in adults, and vestigial tongues (Frederick and Siegel-Causey 2000).

During a visit to the Bailey Homestead Wetland on 10 February 2017, I took this photo of a Cattle Egret. I have posted about this invasive bird elsewhere in this blog. Cattle Egrets appeared to be less common in Sanibel during this visit, but that status may have been due to the time of year. Elsewhere in Sanibel, on the Bailey Tract of the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, we came upon a Great Blue Heron in a very strange pose. Clearly this behavior was an attempt to lose heat. The day was one of the hottest of the year, with temperatures around 90 degrees. I had never seen anything like this before, but since I have seen photos of Great Blue Herons doing the same thing here in Minnesota.

Every day we beach-combed, seeing different birds on nearly every hike. This Black-bellied Plover perched on a large piece of driftwood, elevated above the beach. Black-bellied Plovers breed in the Arctic of the New and Old Worlds. In this hemisphere, they winter along most coasts of the United States and south along the South American coasts. In mixed shorebird flocks, Black-bellied Plovers act as sentinels. They are “wary and quick to give alarm calls” (Johnson and Conners 2010). 

Sanibel 2

The Bailey Tract is part of the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. The tract consists of several large ponds that are surrounded by marsh—perfect dragonfly habitat. We saw a few Odonata, the most interesting being these two saddlebacks. I believe they are different species. The first seems quite clearly to be a Red Saddlebags. I think the second is a Carolina Saddlebags. Differences between the two species are subtle, at least to humans. Look at the second to last abdominal segment. It should be red in a Red Saddlebags and black in a Carolina. I think this difference shows up in my photographs. I was surprised that Odonata Central concurred with my identifications.

Oddly, eBird questioned my identification of the following Bonaparte’s Gull. I am clearly correct. We saw three of them along the Sanibel beach. Perhaps in Florida this species is seldom seen except as single individuals. I am not sure. eMails questioning eBird identifications are generated automatically, so it is also possible that Bonaparte’s Gulls at Sanibel were mistakenly tagged as unexpected. I was glad to have photographs.

A common bird along the Sanibel beach—a Sandwich Tern. Note the yellow-tipped bill. You can see the oil gland on its rump that the bird uses for secretions to maintain its feathers. No problem with eBird with this report.

I reported the next tern as a Common. In this case eBird is probably correct in replying, “No, this bird, based on its head pattern, is a Forester’s Tern.” I thought that the black edges to the forewings are a classic field mark for Common Tern. On the other hand, winter-plumaged Common Terns should be black on the back of their head. So chalk up another advantage to using eBird—correcting mistaken identifications. Remember Pete Dunn’s adage that beginners occasionally misidentify birds; experts misidentify hundreds.

Finally, I was surprised that eBird did not flag my report of a pair of Wilson’s Plovers. I was expecting an email from them, so took this photograph. I thought these plovers showed up in Sanibel later the year. According to eBird, however, they are found all year in this region.

Sanibel Island 1

We stayed in Sanibel Island for the first two weeks of February 2018, walking the beach looking for seashells, searching the Bailey Tract (part of the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge) looking for dragonflies, and driving through the main refuge looking for birds. The next few posts report on some of the wildlife we found. Each species will be hot-linked to other accounts in this blog. The first of these birds was a nesting Pileated Woodpecker at the Bailey Tract. The crest seems inordinately long, but that might be typical of male birds.

We shared a condo with good friends. One morning we were greeted by a Red-shoulded Hawk, a common species in the area. You can see the reddish shoulders even on this young bird.

Beach walking was constantly entertaining. Erika searched for shells, while I looked for birds. Two of Erika’s fellow beachcombers kicked up this sandpiper flock. Most appear to be Sanderlings, common along the coasts of North and South America in the winter. A few Dunlin, another common species, were mixed in the flock, though I do not see one in the photo. The next picture is of a Dunlin.

The crows on the beach scavanged for scraps left by the beach-goers, human and bird. The crows were clearlyb smaller than normal American Crows—indeed they are Fish Crows. The best way to identify a Fish Crow, however, is npt by its size, but by its double-syllabed call. They say, “wonk-wonk.” The only trouble is that I have heard that call from a young crow here in Minnesota. This bird could have been a Fish Crow—they are expanding their range up the Mississippi drainage. So far they are not known to occur in our state. 

Venice, Florida

On 2 February 2018 we visited friends in Venice. Florida. Except for all the people, Venice seemed to be a pleasant retirement place. Our hosts’ backyard looked out on a small lake, complete with a Little Blue Heron. I continued my project of heron head portraits. As in previous posts, I have linked species names to other accounts with more information in them.

We also visited Caspersen Beach. This beach is famous for fossil shark teeth. We found none, but we did see Ruddy Turnstones (second photo) and Sanderlings (third photo). Both of these sandpipers breed in the high arctic and winter along the coasts of both hemispheres, south to southern Argentina, Africa, and Australia. Non-breeding juveniles of both species sometimes remain in South America during their first summer.

Shark Valley Visitor Center 3

On February 1, 2018, we drive from Florida City to Venice Florida. We stopped again at the Shark Valley Visitor Center in the Everglades. As before, we got closeup photographs of many birds that might otherwise be hard to approach. The first image is of a Black-crowned Night-Heron. The second is a sleeping Yellow-crowned Night-Heron. Both herons often feed at night, but also during the day. They ambush prey at the water’s edge, and take about anything they can spear, including fish, arthropods, amphibians, and small mammals.

Anhingas also fished along the Shark Valley wildlife loop. These birds are able to spear relatively large prey, flipping them up into the air, and swallowing them whole. You can see why a folk name for Anhinga is Snakebird.

Limpkins are wading birds similar to herons and cranes. We were surprised how common they were this year, since on previous trips they have been hard to find. Peterson and Fisher, in their epic book Wild America, compared the Limpkin’s call to a woman’s being strangled. I think it is louder and more raucous. Limpkins are also odd in that the eat almost nothing except for Apple Snails, which definitely limits their distribution.

During our first visit to Shark Valley, Turkey Vultures abounded. On this second trip, we found both Turkey and Black vultures. Both species have featherless heads, so that their plumage does not get messy while the birds consume roadkill delicacies. This photo is of a Black Vulture.

We saw only one dragonfly on this second visit, a Blue Dasher. These are abundant dragonflies across most of North America. They can usually be identified by their striped thoraxes The blue tail and eyes cinch identification of the males.

Anhinga Trail

We spent the afternoon of 31 January 2018 at the Anhinga Trail in the Everglades National Park. As I mentioned in my last post, we did not find much to photograph. Here is a sample of what we did find. The first photo is of a Purple Gallinule. This rail is found in the southeastern United States, parts of Mexico, and in Central America. Northern birds are migratory, southern ones tend to be resident. These gallinules often wander from their known breeding areas, as far as Europe and the Galapagos.

This Double-crested Cormorant appeared to be intent to nap. This bird may well have been asleep. Birds often sleep with one eye open—see, for example, my previous Brown Pelican post. Along the Anhinga Trail boardwalk, a Corn Snake slithered across our path. Corn Snakes are common across much of the southern United States. They grow to be quite long, so this one must be young. They spend most of their tie underground or under things. They are active during day and night They eat small mammals, birds, and reptiles (University of Georgia).

In the late afternoon, we continued own the road to the Pinelands nature trail. We met a couple searching for Florida Tree Snails. We searched and searched to see a snail. Later the couple pointed one out to us. After that, with a search image in place, we found about a dozen snails. These snails inhabit woodlands of southern Florida and Cuba. Populations suffer from deforestation. The snails come in a variety of colors and mostly eat lichens, fungi and algae on trees. The are hermaphrodites. Individuals have both sexes. After about three years, the mate in the late summer. They lay eggs at the base of trees. The eggs do not hatch until the next summer, when the young crawl up the trees (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Committee).

Lilypad Forktail

On 31 January 2018, we stopped by the Anhinga Trail in the Everglades National Park. Not much to report, either for birds or dragonflies. I did notice a damselfly on a lilypad under the boardwalk. No other Florida forktail sports such large blue spots on the back of its eyes. Note the curious crook at the end of the abdomen, perhaps being used for support on the surface of the pad. Both of these field marks indicate that this is a Lilypad Forktail.

No other North American dragonfly is so dependent on water lilies. The larvae cling to the bottoms of the lily pads. The adults perch on the tops. The species ranges from Florida to Maine, west to Michigan and Texas. 

Key Deer

On our way out of the Florida Keys, we unsuccessfully searched for dragonflies on Big Pine Key. The island was decimated by Hurricane Irma the previous fall.  Only about 950 Key Deer exist, mostly on Big Pine and No Name keys. Scientists are unsure how these tiny deer survive the winds and storm surge that accompanies hurricanes. Scientists had other things to worry about. Big Pine Key looked ripped apart five months later, but only 21 of the deer are known to have died from the storm.

These tiny deer succumb more frequently from being hit by cars, poached (dead or alive), parasitic screwworms often found in livestock, and global warming. If the Florida Keys go under water as a result of rising sea levels, the Key Deer are doomed. As it is, Big Pine and No Name Key are only some three feet above sea level. Warming is also destroying coral reefs, which results in the keys’ being even more vulneratble to hurricanes (Bittle 2017).