My carefully laid plans for spending the first weekend of October at the Florida theme parks hit a glitch when one member of the group landed a new job (yeah!) and had to fly down a day late. So with a day to kill, I thought it might be an opportunity to see some locations and birds that I hadn’t seen for some number of years.
Doing anything outdoors in the southeast in late sumer involves dealing with the weather. The flight in required a little dodging of thunderstorms, including this one over Savannah, Georgia.
The next morning I headed east from Orlando, towards the Atlantic coast. On the way, I made a stop at the Hal Scott Preserve in Orange County. I had never been there, but the brochures say it’s possible to see Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Brown-headed Nuthatch and other pinewoods species, and that was enough to get my attention.
The trails led through open pinelands with a carpet of saw palmettos.
Among the more common, widespread species who put in appearances were Brown Thrashers and Prairie Warblers.
A pair of Pine Warblers worked over the needled branches- the male still bright yellow, the female confusingly plain.
Some squeaky-toy sounds drew my attention to a small flock of Brown-headed Nuthatches, a southeastern specialty species that I seldom get to see.
Further on, around a bend I came across a group of three Common Ground Doves, a great rarity back on Long Island, but pretty easy to find here in the southern piney woods.
There were quite a few butterflies around, including this cooperative Common Buckeye.
I was lucky to have this Velvet Ant cross right in front of me. More a wasp than an ant, the “cow killer” delivers a very painful sting when handled!
Soon it was mid-morning and I left the pine woods for the east coast.
I planned to spend most of my time along the Black Point WIldlife Drive at Merritt Island, mainly because it affords quick, easy access to marshes that provide good photo ops. As it turned out, another change of travel plans meant I would have to drive up to Jacksonville that night, so I only had time for one pass around the refuge. Fortunately, the birds were pretty cooperative and I managed to find most of the herons on the first try. The road loops around a series of lagoons dotted with mangrove islands growing up out of shallow water.
The waters are rich in life, and many birds are on hand to take advantage of the abundant fish and crustaceans.
While I was there, Tricolored Herons (formerly Louisiana Herons) were the most conspicuous. Every open pool held several, and they adorned the tops of the mangrove stalks.
Their dark, slaty back, head and wings contrasts with the white belly. They have a thin white stripe down the throat which is usually marked with broad rusty streaks.
The more uniform coloration of the adult Little Blue Heron- slate blue all over- makes it easy to pick out. Unfortunately, during their first year of life, Little Blue Herons are white, leading to a lot of confusion when it comes to separating them from Snowy and Great Egrets!
Although Great Blue Herons are probably the most familiar bird in this group, I only saw a few when I drove the ponds. Soon, though, their numbers are bound to explode as northern birds arrive in Florida for the winter.
The prize for me,though was Reddish Egret. A southern specialty, I see them much less often than the other big waders. All the Reddish Egrets I saw at Merritt Island were dark phase birds, but in the keys and along parts of the Gulf Coast it’s easy to find the all white phase of this bird- just to add to the egret and Little Blue Heron confusion!
Snowy and Great Egrets were everywhere- here’s a Snowy showing the classic “yellow slippers” contrasting with the black legs.
White and Glossy Ibises, with their sharply downcurved bills hunt the same pools as the herons and egrets.
Anhingas are one of Florida’s landmark birds. They can be found on every canal and pond, often sitting like this with their wings hung out to dry.
Some of the pools were shallow enough to allow smaller birds to roost and feed. This flock of terns is mostly made up of Caspians, but included two Royals (leftmost and front center) and one Laughing Gull at the far right.
A few shorebirds were feeding nearby. Greater Yellowlegs and and this Western Willet are new arrivals from outside the area, but Black-necked Stilts breed nearby.
The more overgrown pools gave shelter to birds like Pied-billed Grebes and Common Gallinules.
Only a few small landbirds were around. Common Yellowthroats were , surprisingly, not that common.
At one of the viewing blinds I found this Golden Silk Spider attending a web that was about three feet across.
I had time for one little side- track out to the edge of the bay, where three Peregrine Falcons twisted and twirled around each other, probably part of a larger migration passing along the immediate coast. A nearby Osprey hunkered down and waited for them to pass by before taking flight.
Soon enough it was time to meet up with the others for a few days of theme parking. But even there, the birds are around if you just keep looking up.
Fortunately, I was there one week before Hurricane Matthew and only had to deal with the daily thunderstorms. Here’s hoping everyone came through OK, wildlife and people alike.