There are Red-shouldered Hawks everywhere you turn here in our central Florida neighborhood. They’re perching in our front tree, they’re frightening feeder birds in our back yard, and they’re calling from treetops on every sleepy street each time we go out. I snapped some photos of this youngster who happened to be perched on the wire across from our house the other day. So far, I can’t get enough of them. I hope you like them, too! 🙂
Back in October, I visited Big Tree Park in Longwood, along with Arthur’s family. It was a short visit; we went to see The Senator, a cypress tree estimated to be around 3,500 years old, and its younger compatriot, Lady Liberty.
In between viewing the trees and being eaten alive by mosquitoes, I spied a Gopher Tortoise walking beside the boardwalk among the rich, wet vegetation. It seemed a strange place to find a tortoise. I then noticed a man and his daughter talking to the animal, wishing it well. I asked them about the tortoise and the man told me that they had just rescued it from a busy highway. They always brought rescue ‘turtles’ to Big Tree Park, and set them free by the little pool of water where I first saw the tortoise.
The Gopher Tortoise, before it scooted out of sight (photo by Ineke de Wolf)
I don’t know enough about Gopher Tortoises, but I know a little. The main thing I know is that they live in dry habitats, not swampy forests, not in the kind of wet place where cypress trees thrive. About turtles I know this bit of conventional wisdom regarding rescue – if you help one that’s crossing a road, bring it to the side it was heading towards. By all means, if possible, leave it be, or leave it close to where you found it.
I don’t know exactly where this family found their tortoise, only that it was by a very busy road or highway. Big Tree Park has some standing water and marshy habitat. In my ignorance it does seem like a fair place to release land turtles that are not tortoises (so Eastern Box Turtles) that have been found in unsafe places.
I watched the tortoise truck away from the boardwalk and disappear, and I wished it well. I hope it found a suitable place to be what it is. Then I went and had a talk with the father and his daughter and their turtle rescue habits. I explained that all turtles are not the same, except that they should all be left alone as much as possible. I told them that they had brought a tortoise to unsuitable habitat… for future reference. I don’t know if I made a difference, but I had to try.
In November I added 12 new species to my modest Gemini Springs list over six different complete checklists, including Pied-billed Grebe, American Coot, and American Robin. I also added 8 species to my 2011 BIGBY list, reaching my goal of 75 species with Killdeer on November 28. I missed visiting the park for over a week mid-month (I was out of town) and I could notice there were quite a few new arrivals that flew in during my absence. It’s fun to follow the changes in the park (and to fill in those blanks on the Gemini Springs eBird list). 🙂
tiny mushrooms; November 1 2011
Harvest Festival decor; November 5 2011
Red-bellied Woodpecker and Spanish Moss; November 5 2011
Eastern Gray Squirrel; November 5 2011
Cormorants in the fog; November 7 2011
White Ibis; November 7 2011
Florida Mound (?) flowers; November 7 2011
Eastern Box Turtle; November 7 2011
Northern Mockingbird; November 7 2011
American Coots; November 23 2011
American Coots; November 23 2011
Beautyberry sp; November 23 2011
Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk; November 23 2011
Palm Warbler; November 23 2011
Perching place; November 23 2011
Pied-billed Grebe; November 23 2011
Yellow-rumped Warbler watches the blogger; November 23 2011
Here are my favorite search terms that brought visitors to this site during November 2011. This is part of an ongoing monthly series on blog search terms.
Last month there were a bunch of search terms that just made me laugh out loud.
* owls with mohawks – really!?
* shirts about having a lisp – I don’t have any, but maybe I should design some?
* gift ideas for women who like to sleep – another niche I have yet to explore.
* thermal spaghetti tank – contradictory much?
* pigeon in prison – for public defecation? stealing bread? loitering?
* who was poor sam peabody – hopefully the searcher got his/her answer!
* owl drawings for kids that are colored – is that the best way to phrase your search?
One day I found the term florida small birds in my stats; the next day a different person searched for big birds of florida. Another day, another user: bird size comparison chart. Conclusion: focus more on bird size in future posts.
I love that someone searched for what are the official colors of bird banding and what are the official symbol of bird banding. Oh, I wish there was an answer for that! Think of all the shirts I could design! 😉
To the person searching for funny birding outfits – wrong site, buddy!
I wonder if an egyptian griffin hummingbird would be cute?
Most intriguing search term of the month: wesley the owl movie…
Funniest search result: whoever searched for ivory-billed woodpecker graph of extinction somehow ended up here!
Finally, to the person searching is annual bald eagle watch at starved rock fun?: YES, it is. When you go, be sure to look for juvenile eagles wearing bling!
The other day at Gemini Springs I watched a pair of Pied-billed Grebes swimming around the fishing pier. During a period in which they were swimming on the surface for a long period, I took a video of the little water birds, setting my camera on the pier railing. After I started recording, an Osprey flew close over where I was standing, and I lifted up my binoculars to watch it hunting.
It wasn’t until I got home that I noticed the camera captured two interesting moments with the grebes. First, right at the start of the video, one of the grebes cast a pellet!
Birds cast pellets which consist of undigested materials. I bet a lot of birders are familiar with owls regurgitating pellets; dissecting pellets is a popular educational activity for school kids and anyone can actually purchase owl pellets online for this purpose. But owls are not the only birds that cast pellets after meals. Kingfishers, corvids, herons, swallows, shorebirds and others all cast pellets of varying sizes. The pellet cast by the grebe seems quite large in proportion to the bird when I think about the size of pellets cast by Barn, Great Horned, and Barred Owls, American Kestrels, and Red-tailed Hawks (the species pellets with which I am somewhat familiar).
The other behavior I caught on video was the second grebe doing a submarine move – appearing to submerge in place, rather than a more typical flamboyant diving movement. I’ve never seen this behavior before, but it’s apparently quite normal, judging from the Google results when searching grebe submarine.
Since I was watching the Osprey while my camera shot the grebes, I didn’t get to see either of these interesting moments with my own eyes. Thank you, camera! I will pay extra attention to the grebes who seem to be settling in at Gemini Springs for the winter, and hopefully I’ll see some interesting behavior like this. Who knows?!
Arthur and I had a quiet morning paddle at Blue Spring State Park on Thanksgiving Day. The warm spring is very popular with swimmers, though it’s recently been closed to human-type swimmers for the season because of these guys.
All three manatee photos were taken November 21st
Walking to the river with our kayaks, the first bird we saw was a Red-shouldered Hawk perched above the dock. A good start to the day.
Our short trip began at the canoe put-in next to the St. Johns River Cruises pier. We paddled against the slow-moving northward flow of the river, and struggled a bit in windy conditions.
There was a big American Alligator across the river from the dock.
We took our first right to stay with the original flow of the St. Johns (going straight would have taken us through a part of the river that was straightened during the riverboat boom).
Another right took us to Snake Creek, a naturally winding path that would have lead us to Hontoon Island, if we had that much paddlin’ in us.
It was quiet, but we were not alone.
On the way back, we had a peek at the place where the spring run meets the St. Johns. We were hoping to see manatees. No joy, though there were several Double-crested Cormorants perched at the end of the run.
As we headed back to shore, we spied a Black Vulture having a drink.
Several of his friends were waiting in the trees above us.
We had a great morning out and just may have started a brand new Thanksgiving tradition. Belated best wishes to my blog readers – I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful!
November 23, 2011 – I’m updating this post to sincerely THANK ALL OF MY FRIENDS AND READERS who voted for FCWR in the recent Chase Community Giving Campaign on Facebook which ended Tuesday, November 22nd. The vote was close at the end and FCWR got a huge push of support when they really needed it! In the final ranking they ended up at #77 and will receive much-needed funding of $25,000. Thank you, thank you, thank you! – Amy
Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation is participating in the Chase Community Giving Campaign on Facebook which ends in just under two hours. Charities in the top 100 at the end of voting will receive $25,000 of funding, but FCWR has slipped out of the top 100. Please take just a moment to help the animals and vote for Flint Creek in this campaign. When you vote, the button says “VOTE AND SHARE” but you are NOT required to share anything on your Facebook wall. Please vote, please share, please help the animals.
This post originally appeared on Birdorable
If you’re on Facebook or you know someone who is, please consider supporting our favorite wildlife rehabber, Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation, with a vote in the Chase Community Giving Campaign. Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation is a private, not-for-profit organization in the Chicago area treating over 3,400 animals annually! The vote is completely free and gives Flint Creek the chance to get funding from $25,000 to $250,000, depending on where they end up in the final vote.
Voting just takes a moment!
Visit the Chase Community Giving application and vote for FCWR!
Flint Creek recently released a pair of orphaned Bald Eagles back to the wild after raising them to independence so be sure to check out their Facebook page and look for photos of that fantastic event.
Some of you may know that we (Arthur and Amy) volunteered with FCWR and that this all-volunteer wildlife rescue organization means a lot to both of us. Your support would be greatly appreciated and remember, it doesn’t cost anything! Please vote if you’re on Facebook and share the word with your family and friends, too. Voting ends November 22nd.
For more information about Flint Creek check out their website or Facebook page.
Thank you!
On Sunday, a grey and windy day, I drove up to the Illinois Beach State Park Hawk Watch. I wanted to visit with some friends there, but I have to admit there was another draw – a female Mountain Bluebird had been seen around the pavilion fairly regularly since November 9th.
When I pulled up I started fiddling with my binoculars and camera. I was still fumbling with my stuff as I started walking up to the pavilion – only to be greeted by Paul Sweet and Karen Lund, cameras in hand, pointing them in my general direction. Apparently the Mountain Bluebird arrived about the same time I did. I dropped everything to watch this lovely lost lady and snap some pictures. Life bird #575!
On Saturday Arthur attended an event at a raptor / rehabilitation center back home in central Florida. While I continue my Illinois visit, Arthur was kind enough to write up what he saw there. Thanks for this, my first blog guest post, honey!
While my wife Amy was off to see the release by Flint Creek of the two Mooseheart Eagles at Starved Rock State Park in Illinois, I drove over to Apopka to check out the annual Owl Fest at the Avian Reconditioning Center. The ARC is open to the public every Saturday from 10am to 4pm (see our visit in September), but the annual Fall Owl Fest is its largest event.
I got there just after 10am and it wasn’t very crowded yet, but the parking lot quickly filled up. There was live music, activities for kids, green-living exhibits and product vendors, but what drew the most attention was, of course, the pavilion with live owls and birds of prey. ARC’s resident Education Ambassadors were on display on perches and gloves, showing off their beautiful feathers. Among the many birds were two Bald Eagles, a Barred Owl, Kestrel, Swallow-tailed Kite and two Barn Owls.
In September we got to see ARC co-founder Scott McCorkle fly a pair of Harris’s Hawks. At Saturday’s event he flew a Peregrine Falcon named Cora. The bird first flew around in circles over the excited crowd. Then the falconer took out a corded lure and swung it around and around for the bird to chase. It was very cool to see the falcon swoop by at lightning speed.
You can visit arc4raptors.org to learn more about the organization.
Saturday was magical.
The first eaglet flies free!
Two beautiful young Bald Eagles were released at Starved Rock State Park on a perfect fall day.
So many people came to share the day with Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation.
A short program started at 11AM and when I walked out with Darwin I was amazed at the huge crowd, the bird paparazzi, all the positive energy.
Media and fans have been posting photos, videos, and beautiful tributes on FCWR’s Facebook page and elsewhere on the web. The coverage has been phenomenal. The following list is just a handful:
Chicago Tribune blog: bald eagles gone wild
Chicago Tribune video: Rescued eagles released at Starved Rock
Daily Herald: Eaglets rescued at Mooseheart released at Starved Rock
Sun-Times: Mooseheart’s eaglets return to the wild
Kane County Chronicle: Mooseheart eagles take flight at Starved Rock
St. Charles Patch: Up and Away: Mooseheart Eaglets Soar …
Flickr: Returned to the wild!
Blog: Mooseheart Eagles … First Flight Toward Their New Home
Facebook album (FCWR): Mooseheart Eagles’ Release Day
Facebook album: Mooseheart Eaglet Release and More
Facebook album: Eagle Release
My Facebook album: Bald Eagle Release
Transporting the eaglets to Plum Island for the release; Phil & Scott photograph the crowd
The crowd waits for the eaglet release
The releases on Plum Island were spectacular. The birds flew strong and the crowd was mesmerized.
The release of the first eaglet
The release of the second eaglet
The program afterwards drew another huge crowd. Journey was a star and everyone was amazed by his story, and by his beauty.
Journey and Dawn
My heart was completely full of love from being with so many friends, old and new, feathered and otherwise. It was truly a magical day. If only Arthur was here with me, it would have been absolutely perfect.
Pip, Bill and Kim
Kotori and Frank
If you are on Facebook, please take just a moment to help FCWR in the Chase Community Giving campaign. Voting is FREE and each vote gives FCWR a chance at a bigger funding amount. Please vote and share with your friends.
Darwin and a very happy blogger. I’m still smiling!
