Week 15

14 Apr 2013, Orlando Wetlands and Seminole Ranch

 

A Brown Anole was showboating his dewlap at Orlando Wetlands Park.   

 

Karen, Pam and I biked from Orlando Wetlands to the Florida Trail and over to Seminole Ranch. In a marsh near the Saint Johns River, we came across this Eastern Glass Lizzard.

Enjoy your nature outings and introduce a friend to nature's wildlife and habitats.

13 Apr 2013, Black Bear Wilderness and Wilson's Landing

 

This Swallow-tailed Kite soaring above the Wekiva River at Wilson's Landing Park decided the soft fuzzy stuff can wait until later. "You can't build a nest without a solid foundation", his mate told him.

A racoon at Black Bear Wilderness begged me to take a picture. He didn't want the birds to get all the attention.

12 Apr 2013, Audubon Park and Merritt Island NWR

It is always interesting to go to a nature preserve for the first time.  Audubon Park in Volusia County is a small park and incorporates the Ledford Regional Surface Water Treatment Facility.  It has enough habitat diversification to attract a number of species.  Egrets, herons, Wilson's Snipe, Solitary Sandpipers, Black-necked Stilts, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Wild Turkey, Red-tailed Hawks, Great Crested Flycatcher and other species were seen today.

Walk carefully! ...

A Killdeer nest and four eggs were seen just a few feet from one of the main trails.  One has to wonder how many eggs are destroyed by walkers who never even knew they stepped on a nest.

UPDATE 16 Apr ... The eggs are gone.  If an animal had preyed upon them, it is likely the shells would be there.  More than likely, some low-life scumbag took the eggs.

After watching a Swallow-tailed Kite and two Red-tailed Hawks for a while, Eli Schaperow and I hit the road with Merritt Island NWR as the destination.  We made a short visit to C.S. Lee Park on the way and we counted 8 Bald Eagles, including one that looked to be a 4 year-old, two more sub adults and five adults.

An attractive male American Avocet in breeding plumage was seen on Blackpoint Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island NWR.  It would have been nice to see this beautiful bird with some good lighting but it was overcast the entire day. 

It was just a few weeks ago when I saw over 3000 American White Pelicans on Biolab Road at Merritt Island NWR.  Today, we saw just two.  I assume many have left the refuge for their summer home but if not, they did a great job of staying hidden since we did not see a single one on East and West Gator, Peacocks Pocket or on Wildlife Drive.

8 Apr 2013

[ Correction Update April 23 ... Thanks to Dave Fallow of Madison Wisconsin for catching my error about the below post ... it is not an Orange-crowned Warbler.  It is a Pine Warbler. ]

This bird loves Florida! I first noticed this Orange-crowned Warbler on March 27. 

For the next three days, I saw this bird in the exact same tree in Wekiwa Springs State Park.  I continued to see this bird every other day the following week.   On April 8, I again saw this bird in the same regular tree.  I suppose it was not passing through as a migrant but maybe wintered here.  I'm not sure when it is due to arrive home in its northern breeding grounds, but it sure seems to love hanging out in sunny Florida.

Three male Summer Tanagers were singing in Wekiwa Springs in locations that I saw them in 2012.

Addendum 23 Apr ...

 

Now, THIS is the Orange-crowned Warbler that I had been seeing so many days regularly in the same tree.  I was too confident that it would be there when I arrived and failed to look closely at the bird live and in the image I posted.   "Yep, there it is again" without even looking properly to ID it.  There is a small tail feather detail mark that IDs it is the same bird in many of the photos I have of it.  I told Dave that he won the "eagle eye award of the day" for catching the error. Thx, Dave.