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Foggy Morning

Posted by Gary on February 29, 2016 in Uncategorized

A dense fog forms overnight along the west coast of Florida. It lingers until late morning giving me an opportunity to snap a few photographs along the edge of Lake Tsala Apopka in Citrus County. It is a surreal landscape, quiet, misty, and subdued. The water laps gently along the shore. I hear the plop of a frog, frightened by my footsteps. It leaves small concentric circles in its wake. I hear splashes of water from beyond the fog, some from fish rising to eat an insect on the lakes surface, some from coots and gallinules swimming in the emergent plants that I can barely see. I sit on a bench taking in the calmness and peacefulness of the scene before me. It is good for my psyche and my overall health. Peace my friends!

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Parasitic Birds

Posted by Gary on February 26, 2016 in Birds of the Field and Forest

Brown-headed cowbirds came to my bird feeder yesterday. I am not a fan of this bird because it is responsible for the decline of many species of warblers.

Cow birds were once restricted to the prairies of the mid-west. Although cowbirds eat seeds, insects are a significant part of their diet. These bird followed the wandering herds of bison, eating the insects attracted to the large animals. If the cowbird was to stop to build a nest, the herd would have moved on and with it, an important source of food.  So over time, the only way this species survived was for the female to lay its eggs in the nests of other species of birds and let them raise their young.

Cowbird eggs hatch faster and the cowbird nestling is larger and grows more rapidly than the host species. So when a cowbird lays an egg in  a  warbler nest the cowbird hatchling grows larger and kicks out the warbler’s nestlings.

Most species do not recognize the foreign egg, however the yellow warbler, a beautiful yellow bird with red-brown streaks on its breast, does. It rebuilds a new nest on top of the eggs and starts again. A few other species also recognize the alien egg and will peck a hole in it.

Although it is easy to blame this bird for the decline of other species of birds, it is actually people who have fragmented the forest environment who paved the way for the cowbird to spread out from the prairie and here to Florida where they hang out at the numerous cattle ranches.

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Wintering Chipping Sparrows

Posted by Gary on February 21, 2016 in Birds of the Field and Forest

For me, seeing chipping sparrows in Florida in the middle of the winter is strange. That’s because when I lived in New York, the chipping sparrow was an indication of spring, not a sign of winter. Chipping sparrows  returned from their southern wintering grounds in March.  The sparrows  built flimsy stick nests in the white pine trees, raised young and at by the end of the summer, they were gone.

It is mid-February here in Florida and the chipping sparrows are in my back yard eating millet and other small seeds from the hanging bird feeder. Soon the chipping sparrows will be gone. The lengthening of the day will trigger the sparrows  to fly north to their nesting grounds. I cannot help but wonder if the individual sparrows at my feeders will be the ones that will appear in my old New York back yard.

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Looks Like a Duck, Acts Like a Duck, Swims with the Ducks, But It’s Not a Duck!

Posted by Gary on February 12, 2016 in Uncategorized
The slate gray body and white beak are characteristics of this species.
Coots are often seen in flocks.
Coots lack webbed feet. They have lobes around their toes that enable them to swim.
Out of the water, the coot looks like a chicken thus its nickname the moorhen.
Coots run on the water to become airborne.
American Coot on the shore of the Connetquot River on Long Island in NY.

This small slate gray duck-like bird with a white beak is often mistaken for a duck because it is seen in and around our waterways. But if you look closer at its feet when it walks out of the water you will see this bird lacks the webbed feet that ducks have. It is the America coot. The coot’s big feet have toes that are lobed and this that enables it to swim as well as any duck in the pond.

American coots inhabit our lakes and ponds throughout the U.S. I have seen it on the Connetquot River on Long Island, on an oasis in the Mojave Desert in Nevada and here on the lakes in Florida. Where you see one, you will see more, because they often travel in small flocks. Coots eat aquatic vegetation and insects, tadpoles and crayfish.

The next time you see what looks like a duck in a lake, don’t jump to the assumption that it is a duck. It could be one of the other water birds that live in the same waters.

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The Christmas Wreath Lichen

Posted by Gary on February 10, 2016 in Lichens

This is a common lichen here in Florida. It grows on the trunks of oaks, cypress and palm trees. Another common name for it is baton rouge lichen a French term for red stick.  Some tree trunks become so covered with this fiery red lichen that they look like large red sticks.

This species (Cyptothecia rubrocincta) is abundant along the Gulf Coast through  Mexico, and in the tropical areas of Central and South America. It also grows along the Atlantic Coast to North Carolina. If you live in any of these areas, look for it in your local woodlands. It is a hard lichen to miss if it is there.

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