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). 

Baltimore Checkerspot

On the exceedingly hot morning of 29 June 2018, Erika and I took an early stroll in the Carleton College Arboretum. Although part of the college, this area is actually in Dakota County a bit north of Northfield. We stumbled upon a different butterfly, which we easily identified as a Baltimore Checkerspot. This butterfly ranges across much of northeastern North America, west to eastern Minnesota. This species was once local and scarce, but is now becoming more common as its larvae are introduced in an attempt to control English Plantain. The butterfly is named because it sports the colors of Lord Baltimore, much like the oriole of the same name (Kaufman).

Key West Wildlife 2

A flock of Black Skimmers watched the cruise ships disembark on the Key West dock. Skimmers are odd birds with long, lower mandibles. They skim the water surface with their mandibles, which snap shut when they hit small fish. Skimmers were once placed in their own family, but they are generally considered to be closely related to gulls and terns, and within that family of birds.

Green Iguanas are adept at changing colors, depending on their mood or need for camouflage.  They are an invasive species brought into the United States via the pet trade. They can cause considerable environmental damage. We found them everywhere in Key West, even watching from the rooftops for the cruise ships’ arrival.

Common Ground Doves are found across much of the southern tier of the United States, south well into South America. They are our smallest dove. The species tends to be sedentary, although some wander north in the summer. If you see a ground dove in a northern state, however, the possibility that it is escaped from captivity is always a possibility,

We have seen Roseate Skimmers in southern Texas and in Costa Rica. The Costa Rican dragonfly was captive, making this free-flying individual the first wild male Roseate Skimmer we’ve seen. One reason this species enjoys such a wide range is that it is tolerant of a wide range of habitats.

Key West Wildlife 1

We stayed in Key West for a little over a week, 22-31 January 2017. My next few blog posts report on some of the non-human wildlife we photographed. The pictures are, more or less, in chronological order, at least by day. The first is a Brown Anole, scurrying around the French bakery where we often enjoyed lunch. Also at the bakery, a Palm warbler watched us eat, although its culinary interests probably lie entirely with arthropods in the grass.

We found an American Coot at the Key West Botanical Garden. I was interested if the coot sported a red patch on its forehead.  A completely white patch would indicate a Caribbean Coot, which was once believed to be a separate species. Red and white-fronted coots breed with each other randomly where their ranges overlap. Furthermore, white-fronted birds rarely occur across much of North America. The two coot types are now thought to be color morphs without taxonomic implications.

We also found a young Purple Gallinule at the Key West Botanical Garden. One of the joys of eBird is that the app notes the status of the birds you try to report. Rare ones require comments from you and vetting by local experts. In the old days, travelers like we would not know if we were reporting rare birds. Indeed, I have not idea why Purple Gallinules are considered rare in the Keys. Once alerted, however, I made an extra effort to photograph the bird. A few days later our record was accepted by eBird.

A flock of Willets loafed on a rock in the ocean. Willets breed in prairies in the Upper Midwest and winter along the coasts of the United States south through northern South America. A second race breeds along the Atlantic coast of North America. The two populations differ in both average plumage, structure and calls. Willets in the Bahamas are year-round residents. I am not sure which race these Willets might be. Western birds tend to be larger than eastern populations. To me, the Willets in this photo appear to be relatively short-billed.