Birding Myakka River State Park

Thursday I received a text message from the Sarasota Bird Alert telling local birders that a group of maybe 100 Roseate Spoonbills had been seen in a small wetland adjacent to the the Myakka River in the state park. With the Spoonbills was a multitude of Wood Storks, numerous other herons and egrets plus two American Avocets. And while all of these were being watched a juvenal American White Pelican was seen checking out the feeding frenzy. Needing both the Avocet and White Pelican for my Sarasota County list I was out the door before dawn headed to the park just southeast of Sarasota.

This basic information about Myakka River State Park is located on its website:

One of the oldest and largest state parks, Myakka protects one of the state´s most diverse natural areas. The Myakka River, designated as a Florida Wild and Scenic River, flows through 58 square miles of wetlands, prairies, hammocks, and pinelands. Visitors can enjoy wildlife viewing from a boardwalk that stretches out over the Upper Myakka Lake, then take to the treetops with a stroll along the canopy walkway. The park´s river and two lakes provide ample opportunities for boating, freshwater fishing, canoeing, and kayaking; a boat ramp provides access to Upper Myakka Lake. Hikers can explore trails that cross large expanses of rare Florida dry prairie.

The Myakka River had overflowed its banks on numerous occasions in September. However with the onset of the dry season (funny how we never really had a wet season this wet season) a small wetland adjacent to the river at the first bridge crossing had been cut off from the river. As the heat continued and the water diminised in area all sorts of fishes and frogs and larvae and other goodies that birds love to forage on were trapped in this constantly shriveling patch of wetland. To the birds it was an invitation to pig out.

Arriving at 8:05 this morning I was greeted with this scene:

There were at least 200 Wood Storks in the wetland each feeding feverishly. Many times I observed some intra-specific aggression between two or more foraging Ibises. And to think I had always viewed them as sanguine!

Next in abundance to the Wood Storks, perhaps numbering 150 or so were the Roseate Spoonbills.

Along with all of the tall pink and white birds was a cast of the usual herons and egrets expected here. It seemed like Tricolored Heron was second only to Snowy Egret in abundance.

As the sun heated the air burning off the heavy layer of fog that greeted me when I first arrived I was able to view the muddy shoreline of the wetland were there was a nice collection of shorebirds, the most beautiful of which being American Avocet, starkly beautiful in its black and white winter plumage.

Adjacent to the feeding frenzy in the pond was the requisite assemblage of American Alligators that are virtually guaranteed to be seen in the Myakka River. Today there were five monster gators chilled out in the water, perhaps hoping some itinerant bird watcher would come a little too close for a picture.

There was no alligator-on-human predation that I saw today, but I was able to witness some predation a bit later in the morning.

Leaving the feeding frenzy of herons egrets spoonbills and storks I moved further up the road passing through some exquisite forest.

Every time I am in Myakka River State Park I get this melancholy feeling looking at these forests thinking about how 100 years ago the entire countryside here looked like this. Untrammeled. Im place. Undisturbed. Wild. This is my image of what people are talking about when they say something is "Old Florida." This forest reminds me of what Florida is supposed to look like, not what it has become.

I saw or heard a nice assortment of passerines as I passed through the forest, eventually coming onto a flock of Black Vultures who were dining on what once was an Armadillo.

From the forest I drove north to the boardwalk known by everyone as the "Bird Walk." This boardwalk constructed out into the wetland at the edge of Upper Myakka Lake gives visitors an unparalleled opportunity to get a feel for the wetland and all the critters in it while still keeping their feet dry.

At the upper end of the birdwalk there is a wider area where you can set up a spotting scope and scan the wetland. I had hoped for American White Pelican here but had no such luck. There was, however, an abundance of other birds including hundreds of Blue-winged Teal, some Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks and no shortage of Mottled Ducks.

There were probably 25 to 30 American Alligators in view most of the time as they paddled around the edge of the lake looking for breakfast. One gator became exceptionally lucky as I watched.

Laying in the water disguising himself as a log, the gator's eyes must have widened as a juvenal Roseate Spoonbill slowly and methodically foraged its way toward what it thought was a log. The gator lay still until the spoonbill was about 1 inch closer than it should have been. Suddenly the gator leaped (well as much as a gator can leap) up catching the spoonbill not only 1) by surprise but 2) in his jaws 3) in the middle of the spoonbill's body. It was in an instant. Suddenly there was a flurry of feathers and the gator is next seen swimming away with breakfast in its jaws. Somewhere out there in the primordial soup of evolution old Charles Darwin is smiling right now thinking "damn, eugenics is such a beautiful thing." Could it still think, the spoonbill would be agreeing with him.

I saw and or heard 55 species in 2 1/2 hours at Myakka River State Park this morning. Not a half bad showing. Perhaps the overall "best" bird of the morning aside from the great show of feeding herons, was the Sedge Wren I found in the sedges (duh) adjacent to the Birdwalk.

The morning's list is reproduced here.

GREBES
Pied-billed Grebe

CORMORANTS
Double-crested Cormorant

ANHINGAS
Anhinga

HERONS EGRETS AND BITTERNS
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Tricolored Heron
Little Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
Cattle Egret

STORKS
Wood Stork

IBIS AND SPOONBILLS
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill

DUCKS GEESE AND SWANS
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler

NEW WORLD VULTURES
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture

OSPREY
Osprey

HAWKS EAGLES AND KITES
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk

RAILS GALLINULES AND COOTS
Common Moorhen

AVOCETS AND STILTS
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet

PLOVERS AND LAPWINGS
Killdeer

SANDPIPERS
Wilson's Snipe
Long-billed Dowitcher
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper

GULLS
Laughing Gull

PIGEONS AND DOVES
Mourning Dove

KINGFISHERS
Belted Kingfisher

WOODPECKERS
Red-bellied Woodpecker

TYRANT FLYCATCHERS
Eastern Phoebe

SWALLOWS
Tree Swallow

WRENS
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Sedge Wren
Marsh Wren

MOCKINGBIRDS AND THRASHERS
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird

CROWS JAYS AND MAGPIES
Fish Crow

NEW WORLD WARBLERS
Northern Parula
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Common Yellowthroat

BUNTINGS SPARROWS SEEDEATERS ALLIES
Savannah Sparrow

SALTATORS CARDINALS AND ALLIES
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting

TROUPIALS AND ALLIES
Red-winged Blackbird
Boat-tailed Grackle

What a GREAT Day!

At 11:02 a.m. this morning, President Barack Obama's entourage of marine helicopters (there were six of them) flew over my house on his way over to Arcadia to to dedicate a new solar energy facility. You can read about the visit here:

When I heard the copters coming I darted out on my lanai and saluted him. I even had a few tears streaming down my cheeks as he went by me - unfortunately about 500 feet up. Its funny how when I lived in Washington DC and heard Helicopter 1 flying around all the time I thought nothing of it...just another day in Washington. However today it was a big freaking thing hearing the same helicopter. Maybe now the difference is the guy sitting in there getting a ride.

Contrast that to June 22, 2001 when I was walking back from a meeting down town and I passed the South Lawn of the White House enroute to Main Interior to catch a shuttle bus back to our office.

As I passed the southwest corner of the White House, over by the Old Executive Office Building, I saw the gates open and lights started to flash. Out came an obvious Secret Service black suburban with blue lights flashing. Behind it came another SS suburban and behind it was the decoy limousine. The fourth vehicle in line was Dubya Bush's limousine.

I'm standing 30 feet from him as his limo darted out of the White House exit. As it did I looked in and there was old George Dubya looking back at me. Instinctively my right arm darted out and my right hand formed into a ball except for the middle finger of my hand that soon found itself fully extended - and pointed at Bush's face.

He saw me, I saw him, I didn't hurl and the Secret Service took my picture. Later that day I emailed Bush and asked him to credit me with the image in the picture. I never heard back from Dubya on that one.

That salute of Bush was necessary. Today's salute of a real leader was satisfying.

Even more satisfying was about two hours later when I was at the home of my Barack-hating Republican sister. As I was leaving her house Barack's entourage of helicopters flew over on its way back to Sarasota International Airport. I couldn't help but laugh at the irony of the greatest President since Jimmy Carter flying over the house of a Republican who thinks he's even lower on the totem pole than Rush Limbaugh. Sweet justice I would say.

Sarasota Blues Festival

Yesterday afternoon and evening I attended the 19th Annual Sarasota Blues Festival held at venerable old Ed Smith Stadium, home of my hapless Sarasota Reds.

I only made the last several hours of the show but what I heard was extremely good music. The highlight of the night was getting to listen to Little Feat rock on on the stage. You can read the Sarasota Herald-Tribune's take on the Blues Fest here.

I have never been much of a fan of Little Feat despite the group playing with Jimmy Buffett on a bunch of occasions, and Jimmy featuring the show "Feat at Five" every Sunday on Radio Margaritaville. That all changed last evening when we sat under a Florida moon and listened to them live. I am a convert now.

The crowd at the fest had a pretty good wine buzz going on by the time I left. However unlike at a Buffett concert almost all fest goers could sit up straight although there were several who were a lot more horizontal than vertical.

Snakebite!

This morning while pedaling along on a bike path adjacent to Honore Avenue I saw a Black Racer dash across the path in front of me. Maybe 100 feet further there was another Black Racer - only this one didn't dash so fast.

The second snake darted out of the vegetation at the side of the path and tried to cross directly in my path. When it did, I ran over the snake probably 1/4 of the way to its tail (I have never figured out where the body ends and tail begins on a snake). Regardless I ran over the snake. In the instant after I hit the snake it instinctively reached back to strike at whatever had just harmed it. In this case that would be me.

The snake bit me on the lower calf just above my left ankle. They have no fangs so it was just a slight bruise.

Because the snake stopped its movement long enough to bite me it was still in position to be run over again by my rear tire. And that is what happened.

Now feeling guilty, I got off my bike and went to check on the snake to make sure it was o.k. When I approached it, the snake darted off into the vegetation and I didn't see it again. I assume it was o.k. because it didn't stick around to answer questions.

The last time I was bitten by a snake was in June 1979 out in Lincoln County Nebraska. There I was collecting a plant to be added to the herbarium at the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center. When I put my shovel in the earth to begin extracting the plant I inadvertently upset a Prairie Rattlesnake that I didn't see snoozing in the shade of the plant.

The rattlesnake bit me in the same calf as this Black Racer and when it did I swung the shovel around and decimated the snake. It was the only snake I have ever killed.

I'll have to keep an eye out tomorrow when I am biking to see if either of the Black Racer's had returned to that bike path. I'll just have to make sure I don't run over any of them this time.

Cool Highway Sign

Drivers approaching the Celery Fields from the west on Palmer Road first see this cool highway sign when they arrive at the edge of the area. Apparently someone somewhere is proud of the Greater Sandhill Cranes that live in and near this wetland area.

When I first saw the sign I remembered back to March 1979 during my first sojourn along the Platte River in Nebraska. There we were studying the distribution of Sandhill Cranes along with a host of other aspects of the species' ecology. One morning while parked on the edge of the road looking at cranes a local resident pulled up behind my car, got out and walked to me. I was in a Fish and Wildlife Service vehicle with a Service emblem on the side of each door (we used to call them "targets" in those days).

Reaching my car the man asked me what I was doing. When I explained it to him he admonished me to start carrying a sidearm in my car for protection because of who I worked for because "you're trying to save those god damned cranes." Well, yes, we were.

Now some 30 years later that attitude no longer prevails along the Platte River where Sandhill Crane watching in March is the number one tourist attraction in Central Nebraska. Crane watching is now more popular than watching horse races at Fonner Park. The fact that crane watchers bring 10s of millions of dollars into the local economy each spring has a bit to do with the change in attitude.

I've not been a resident of Florida long enough to know the politics of cranes here. Apparently any animosity that may have existed in the past is gone because local government is putting up signs alerting people to the presence of this most noble of birds.

Song Sparrow - 200th Species for my Sarasota County List

Just returned a minute ago from a bone-chilling jaunt through the Celery Fields looking for any birds that may have arrived after yesterdays pronounced passage of a cold front. I was eating lunch at a beachside restaurant in Venice Florida when the front blew through yesterday about 2:00 p.m. As it passed I thought of Buffett's new song "Surfing in a Hurricane." The wind was ferocious and there were surfers offshore eating it all up.

But back to today. Right now the temperature is a near-freezing 58 degrees and the northeast wind is howling at 14 miles per hour. This would be a balmy July day in North Dakota but I'm not in freaking North Dakota any more!

I arrived at the Celery Fields about 9:00 a.m. and walked my now familiar circuitous route along the berms/dikes that surround several of the artificial wetlands there. Moving through some rank vegetation growing in one wetland basin I heard a familiar call note from a bit further north in Virginia and knew instantly that a Song Sparrow was in the neighborhood. After some vigorous pishing I got the bird to jump up out of the vegetation and give a presentable view from the stalk of some species of Scirpus (fluviatilis perhaps?).

Checking my records on getting home this was the 200th species I have recorded in Sarasota County. Not a bad county list. 197 of those 200 species have been recorded this year.

Song Sparrow was made famous many years ago by the research done on this species by Margaret Morse Nice, a housewife from Ohio who became caught up in the Song Sparrows in her yard. After some concerted effort on her part, Mrs Nice was approached by degreed ornithologists who sought out her extensive knowledge of bird biology and behavior.

Not long after finding the Song Sparrow, a pair of Swamp Sparrows started calling from a different wetland. They soon became species #201 for my Sarasota County list.

As for now I'm waiting until it warms up a bit so I can go put 16 miles on my bicycle. Hopefully this Arctic weather won't last much longer.

An Alive Opossum!

Yesterday evening while trundling down a trail at the Celery Fields, just after having three gorgeous Sandhill Cranes fly over me not 20 meters high, I came on to an Opossum stumbling down the grassy trail toward me. On seeing me the Opossum darted for nearby thicker vegetation, thereby ensuring that it was possibly going to live an hour longer - maybe more if it was really lucky!

So why is it that the simple observation of the only marsupial in North America worthy of a note on my blog?

As this range map

indicates, during my adult life, I have lived in the range of the Opossum all but the six years I lived in North Dakota. In all of those years and all of the traveling I did and poking around in forests that I did, and looking in other habitats that I did, I have not seen many alive Opossums. In fact, yesterday's animal at the Celery Fields was only the 14th living Opossum I have seen anywhere in my nearly 58 years!

Opossums appear to live dead along the side of highways more than any animal I know other than, maybe, Armadillos. And living in the south I have seen a zillion dead Opossums. There are two carcasses that I pedal by daily on my bicycle ride in Sarasota for instance. But to see a live one is a rarity.

When I lived on Oak Street in Grand Island Nebraska I had an Opossum there who for some reason used to like to run around on the roof of my garage. I could lay in bed at night and listen to it milling around on the roof. Eventually I started putting iceberg lettuce on the garage roof to attract the critter so I could watch him and maybe learn a bit about them. Then one night while I was watching the Opossum eat lettuce on my roof a Great Horned Owl stealthily flew in and snatched the Opossum and flew off with him, quickly converting him into a late evening dinner.

Their propensity for turning up dead was best illustrated by a graduate student at the University of Georgia who was trying to do her thesis research on Opossums while I was stationed on that campus. She eventually gave up trying to put radio transmitters on them and learn about their movements when 80 percent of her radio-tagged animals turned up dead from collisions with vehicles within 10 days of being tagged.

So, for me, it was a big freaking deal getting to see this alive Opossum. It was funny seeing it because the first thing I remembered when I identified the critter was John Hudson explaining in Mammalogy 408 nearly 40 years ago the dental formula of Didelphis virginianus and telling us that they have 52 teeth as opposed to our 32. Don't ask why I remembered that trivial bit of worthless information.

If you want to learn more about the biology of North America's only marsupial you can do so at this link.

Sarasota County's Celery Fields

Just southeast of Sarasota, between Fruitville and Palmer Roads there is a series of stormwater retention wetlands (PUBx) that are maintained by the county to store and manage excess water during the rainy season. When its not raining the wetlands stay around and produce some excellent waterbird habitat. The berms and surrounding uplands support an interesting collection of woody vegetation that likely supports a few wintering sparrows and similar species.

I found the Celery Fields last spring and birded them several times before it got to be too miserably hot. This afternoon I made a two hour stroll along the berms at the Celery Fields checking to see what was around for migrants and potential winter residents. Despite signs suggesting other residents the only non-bird creatures I found there were other humans.

My day list included 41 species of which five were new for my Sarasota County list. Those included Blue-winged Teal, Sora, American Coot (the venerable "Minnesota Mallard" to Wisconsinites), Marsh Wren and Chipping Sparrow. The fields seem to have a lot of potential for some great birding in the colder months ahead.

Included in the list were about 30 Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks

and maybe 20 Blue-winged Teal, the latter working their way down to the Caribbean and northern South America for the winter.

The best find of the day was the Limpkins, all nine of them, that I found while strolling around the wetlands.

My list for the day is below. I look forward to many other fruitful days checking the wetlands and the scrubby vegetation now that cold temperatures (70s) are about to arrive.

Anhinga

Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Tricolored Heron
Little Blue Heron
Snowy Egret

White Ibis
Glossy Ibis

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Mallard
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal

Turkey Vulture

Osprey

Sandhill Crane

Limpkin

Sora
American Coot

Black-necked Stilt

Killdeer

Greater Yellowlegs

Ring-billed Gull
Laughing Gull

Mourning Dove

Belted Kingfisher

Barn Swallow

Carolina Wren
Marsh Wren

Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Fish Crow

European Starling

Tennessee Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Palm Warbler
Common Yellowthroat

Chipping Sparrow

Red-winged Blackbird
Boat-tailed Grackle
Common Grackle

A Morning Filled With Migrants

After a nice soaking rain at about 4:00 this morning, the day dawned bright and humid. I was out about 6:15 this morning, an hour before sunrise, listening for migrants as they poured overhead. There is still a good movement of thrushes going on with Swainson's and Gray-cheeked Thrush leading the numbers. I also heard a few Verries and at least one Wood Thrush - owner of one of the most beautiful songs of any bird that nests in North America.

There were lots of warblers chipping and lots of Indigo Bunting's buzzing and at least 2 Bobolinks in the cacophony of early morning voices.

As the sun lightened things up enough to see rattlesnakes in the grass I started moving around the 3 acre wetland outside my condo that is ringed with woody vegetation. Between this habitat and the pine forest it borders I had a successful morning for finding migrant birds.

I picked up two species new to my Sarasota County list. First was Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. This denizen of boreal forests in the northern United States and adjacent Canada winters from southernmost Mexico south to Panama. It is one species that I don't have for the West Indies and unless this guy this morning is headed directly across the Gulf to the Yucatan, its likely going to be in Cuba or Jamaica or the Cayman Islands in a day or two. And I won't be there to count it.

My second new bird for Sarasota County was a beautiful male Yellow-throated Vireo. Common and widely distributed throughout the eastern United States and Canada, Yellow-throated Vireos winter from Mexico south to northern South America and in the western Caribbean. During the nesting season this bird is much more easily heard than seen by its distinctive voice that sounds like its saying "three-up, vireo" monotonously and continuously.

Of course the best bird of the morning was the Sandhill Crane I heard and then saw nerding around in my wetland no doubt looking for frog's to scare into submission. This, the most noble of birds, was why I hated to move from Nebraska long ago.

The morning's list includes:
Anhinga
Snowy Egret
Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks (fly overs)
Red-shouldered Hawk
Sandhill Crane
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Red-eyed Vireo
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Blue Jay
Fish Crow
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Wood Thrush
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Parula
Tennessee Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting
Bobolink
Boat-tailed Grackle

37 Species.

Not bad I would say for an hour of listening before sunrise and then 2 1/2 hours of walking around in a small patch of not-yet-destroyed South Florida. This afternoon I'm going to go work on my Manatee County list - probably at Lake Manatee State Park.

Not A Good Week If You Detest the State Just West of Wisconsin

For me, native born Wisconsinite who carries at least one gene (and hopefully many more) requiring me to detest the state on the other side of Wisconsin's western border (and whose name I refuse to utter), this has been one tough couple of days.

The bad news started Monday night when Brett Favre, traitorous former quarterback of the incomparable Green Bay Packers slithered into his new purple uniform, and beat the Packers in the stadium where those purple bastards play football. Favre wasn't even nice about it...the game was a rout.

Then to add insult to injury the following night (that would be last night), the baseball team from that same state across the St. Croix River from Wisconsin beat the Detroit Tigers and clinched the American League Central Division title.

These two incidents are bad enough on their own, but when they happen on back to back nights, with both incidents occurring in the same stadium, its simply too much to bear. Slashing my wrists might be the only alternative at this point.

There is a silver lining in all of this however.

First is the very real fact that the baseball team from that state west of the St. Croix River will begin its playoff bid this evening against the New York Yankees. The baseball team will have had zero days of rest compared to three for the Yankees. I'm tempted to support the Yankees in this endeavor but given how badly the Sarasota Reds performed this summer with me in the stands (their record was 11 wins and 39 losses with me watching) I'm afraid that supporting the Yankees might jinx them and ultimately help the baseball team from that state west of Wisconsin. Still I will hope against hope that the Yankees beat the bastards with or without my support.

The other good news is that on November 1, just a day after my birthday, the purple football team from that state on the other side of the St. Croix River will enter Lambeau Field, the most sacred ground in all of Wisconsin. There, the traitorous Favre will be jeered and booed by tens of thousands of Packer fans who would rather see him eviscerated than playing in an enemy football jersey. Maybe with luck someone will bean him with their cheesehead hat.

If recent stories and comments in the Green Bay newspaper are any indication, the traitorous Mr. Favre better hope that Green Bay crushes his purple football team on November 1.

Frigid Arctic Weather Settles Over Sarasota

Last night was the second night this fall that I have slept with my windows open. The official low temperature in Sarasota last night was 66 degrees F and I felt like I was freezing.

Its right now warmed up to a more livable 76 degrees and the forecast high for this afternoon is marginally pleasant 86.

I noticed yesterday while bicycling that it took me 11 miles of pedalling before I broke into a sweat. Most of this summer it took 11 seconds. It's definitely more dry out there and a hell of a lot cooler. Hopefully it wont cool off much more but that's just wishful thinking.

Right now there is a Gray Catbird making an unbelievable call outside of my lanai, and an Eastern Wood-Pewee just made an appearance in a Brazilian pepper bush. At least the frigid weather is good for driving migrants down from colder places.

I think I may need to break out the wool socks and shirts if this cold nonsense continues.