On our recent trip to Caladesi Island, I tried to do a better job of taking photos than I usually do. The birding wasn’t great when we were there, so I had time to take some photos of plants.
Some of my attempts at photography were pretty mixed, as seen in this attempted close-up shot:
Wax myrtle (I think).
This plant I didn’t want to get too close to, but the photo turned out fine anyway. Cute little flowers.
Poison ivy.
I had more luck with some of the smaller plants. This lupine was pretty- a patch of it was blooming along the trail, with bees buzzing all around:
Sky-blue lupine.
Then there were some tiny succulents along dips in the trail:
Water hyssop.
I’m not sure about the identification about some of these the species we saw. I think the pines were longleaf pines, but I’m not 100% sure. Here’s a young one:
Longleaf pine?
Then there was one shrub that I though would be really easy to identify from the photos, and apparently is not. It was growing along the trail next to buttonwood and mangrove, so I’m assuming there was a fair amount of brackish groundwater there. These look like pretty old flowers. At first, I thought the yellow parts were a keel-like structure, as in the Fabaceae (pea family), but now that I look at the photo again, it looks like there are some shriveled up petals in there too. So I’m drawing a blank on this one. Any suggestions?
Over Spring Break, we took a day trip to Caladesi Island, which is a barrier island just north of Clearwater Beach. The island has a dynamic history- it was originally connected to what is now the further-north Honeymoon Island, but a 1921 hurricane dug a channel between the two islands, separating them. Then a 1985 hurricane created a sandbar connecting Caladesi to Clearwater Beach. So technically, it’s not really an island at the present.
Caladesi Island map, from floridastateparks.org. Note the prominent lack of a sandbar connecting the state park to the beach to the south. I'm sure this helps maintain visitor fee revenue, which I have no problem with in principle.
Both Caladesi and Honeymoon Islands contain state parks– you can drive to Honeymoon, and Caladesi is accessible by ferry from there. We took the ferry over in the morning, and did some hiking and hanging out on the beach before heading back.
Longleaf pines and saw palmetto along the trail.
The trails in the island’s interior go through some scrub areas, as well as longleaf pine forest and mangroves. It was cool enough that we weren’t being blasted in the sun, though the shady forest trail was definitely refreshing. We actually got a bit of rain off and on, which was fine.
Florida’s an interesting place to hike, because you have really dry, sandy soil that supports different vegetation communities with really small changes in elevation. While most of the trail was dry, there were muddy areas with mangroves and wetland plants in places where the ground dipped down only a few feet.
There was prickly pear cactus in the drier parts of the island.
The scrub areas were perfect for gopher tortoises, and sure enough, we saw one munching away on grass near the trail. It seemed pretty used to people- we stopped and mutually stared at one another for a while, then it went on eating away. Maybe it was hungry after the morning’s rain.
Nom, nom, nom.
We also got to see a halo around the sun, which was pretty cool. I wasn’t sure this photo would turn out, but it shows up pretty well. (For more on halos, sun dogs, and other types of atmospheric phenomena, click on that link. That website is a really cool resource.)
All in all, it was a good way to relax and unwind before getting back to work.
For 45 years, Florida has banned the dyeing of animals- usually rabbits and chicks- for Easter. Now, one dog groomer in South Florida has single-handedly convinced all but eight members of the legislature to overturn the ban. This would make it legal to dye animals only a few days old and sell them like Easter eggs.
The reason the practice was made illegal in the first place was apparently the high number of animals that were killed during the dying process- the dyes are usually toxic, especially to young animals. Even when they survive ingesting the chemicals, Easter pets are often neglected to death, abandoned, or dropped off at overburdened shelters. This is a bad, bad idea on many levels.
I think this quote from the Sun-Sentinel’s story captures the Legislature’s thought processes- or lack of them- nicely:
Bogdanoff did not realize the amendment would also allow bunnies and chicks to be sold when they are just days old, said Aaron Nevins, her legislative aide.
“Oops,” he said. “That’s an unintended consequence. We had no clue.”
No, you apparently did not.
Amendment 303390, allowing the artificial dyeing or coloring of animals is now on Gov. Rick Scott’s desk. If he doesn’t veto it, it goes into effect this summer. You can urge him to veto Amendment 303390 here.
I’ve been trying pretty hard to think of an appropriate seasonal pun for this, but nothing seems quite right:
“Deck the hall with a clutch of ducklings”
“It’s the most wonderful time of the year…for nesting”
“O ducky night”
“Rudolph the unseasonably-timed duckling”
“Silent night, quacky night”
Yeah, not working.
Anyway, it is, obviously, December, and a pair of wild mallard/mottled duck hybrids has decided to raise a batch of babies in our pond. I’ve mentioned the apparent awesomeness of our pond for duck breeding before, but this is pretty ridiculous.
The babies are clearly only a few days old, and I saw them for the first time yesterday. I’m hoping it stays warm enough at night for them to survive. It’s been a mild winter so far, so maybe they can stay warm until they get big enough to survive before we have a freeze. It’s generally January or February before that happens, so hopefully all goes well…
Last weekend, we took a short break from working and drove out to Orlando Wetlands Park. We only had about an hour and a half in the park before closing, but it was still good to get out of the house (and away from grading!)
The really obvious change at the park is the big expansion in flooded pond area. OWP is a water treatment facility that slowly filters treated wastewater through a series of ponds and marshes, before discharging it into the St. Johns River. Plants, algae, and natural microbes do the job of pulling excess nutrients out of the water. After treatment, the water is actually much lower in nutrient levels than the water in the St. Johns, but the nutrients have to go somewhere, and that ends up being the rotting remains of the plants and algae.
We're not talking about a shovelful or two of dirt, here... (Photo by OWP staff.)
Apparently, the time had come to remove some of the nutrient-containing (mainly phosphorus) muck from part of the wetland. After the muck removal, managers planted more native plants, and re-flooded the area. There’s a description of the process here. It certainly gives the place a different “feel.”
Since we didn’t have much time to explore the park before closing, it was quite disorienting to see the new expanse of pond with little cypress tree “islands” where before there had been marsh. I guess my surprise a testament to how long it’s been since I’ve visited, because I think this work was done a few months ago (where does the time go…?). It’s a bit sad that the mapsI helped make for them are now out of date! (Though I think the berms and paths are pretty similar…)
Newly-planted ponds. (Photo: OWP staff.)
Anyway, the park closes for the season on Nov. 15th, so I’m going to try to get out there again before that point- maybe bike around a bit to see what’s changed.
Here’s my bird list- not too bad for a breezy hour of walking around. The highlight was probably the whistling-duck families, which have the obvious cute appeal of being, well, ducks that whistle.
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Wood Stork
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
Red-shouldered Hawk
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Downy/Hairy Woodpecker (moved too fast to tell)
Eastern Phoebe
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Common Yellowthroat
Palm Warbler
Savannah Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Boat-tailed Grackle
Well, we’re two and a half weeks into the fall semester, and I’ve managed not to be steamrolled yet by the teaching-dissertating combination. I’m working on getting IRB approval to get user feedback on my visualization project, which is just about done. Of course, this means I’m not actually writing, but I’m making progress.
But who wants to hear about that? I will now present to you the highlights of the two days in the last two weeks that I actually got away from the house-school-Panera triangle.
Two weeks ago, we got out to College Park, had a nice lunch, bought some bike supplies, and had green tea frozen yogurt (yum). While we were eating lunch, this bird appeared, strolling down the sidewalk:
A pretty scruffy specimen, I must say.
Now, there are two peacock colonies around the Orlando area, but they’re ~5 miles away from where we were. This bird looked pretty stressed. The owner of the restaurant brought out a bowl of water and some pine nuts, and he sort of pecked a bit at the nuts. But then he proceeded on his way, unfortunately heading out of the quiet residential neighborhood and onto a busy street.
Off he went. Yes, that car stopped for him.
After the whole business with the macaw, I was afraid we’d witness a tragic accident, but he proceeded to walk down the bike lane and eventually moved back to the residential side of the street. He was probably heading for the nearby park. I hope he’s found a more comfortable situation by now.
So, my other interesting outing was less harrowing. Last Saturday, we went to see the Orlando Lions– our 3rd-tier pro soccer team- playing in the USL Pro League championship. And…they won!
The team takes a victory lap around the stadium.
It was an exciting game- no one scored until the 89th minute, then the Lions did. Then, their opponents (the Harrisburg City Islanders) tied it in the last second of injury time. In overtime, the Islanders scored again, but the Lions managed to tie again at the last minute. So, it came down to penalty kicks, which the Lions won. I’m leaving out all the drama of players being ejected, including the Lions’ keeper, dramatic falls, etc. But it was good stuff.
For fans of “A Song of Ice and Fire”- the (unofficial?) team motto is apparently “Hear us roar.” Close enough 🙂
Of course, another highlight was one of the Lions’ booster clubs, a Trinidadian percussion band who played pretty much the whole game through. If all sporting events had their own percussion sections, I’d probably be more enthusiastic about sports overall.
So, my recent long blog silence has actually been a pretty productive time for me, working on various projects. I’ve managed to get quite a bit done on my dissertation project, submit two conference proposals, and get ready for teaching this upcoming semester.
The weather in Orlando lately has just been hot and humid, though it’s hard to say it’s more hot and humid than it is for essentially half of the year. We haven’t dong as much outdoorsy stuff as we’d like, but it’s a bit hard to get motivated in this weather… But one of the hikes we did do (cut short by an incipient thunderstorm) was in early July in the Little Big Econ State Forest, located NE of Orlando.
We took a short hike from the Barr St. trailhead through the forest and along the river. It was intensely green, and the water very still.
The old oak trees all had some serious epiphyte growth. Vireos, titmice, and blue-gray gnatcatchers were flitting around in the canopy, looking for food.
There were quite a few tiny young bromeliads on the mossy trunks.
A bend in the river, where an alligator suddenly churned the water to catch a fish. We also heard a bald eagle calling from this spot.
We headed back earlier than planned, because of the approaching thunderstorm. Still, it was a good short outing.
A recent fossil find in Florida seems to show the first- and actually only- Ice Age carving from the Americas depicting a mammoth (or a mastodon, a related type of Ice Age elephant). While many Ice Age carvings of mammoths and mastodons have been found in Europe and Africa, until this carving was found, no one had ever found one in the Americas.
The carving, on a bone that’s probably actually from a mammoth or mastodon, was discovered by a professional fossil collector at a site near Vero Beach, Florida. While this site is well-known as containing fossils of many Ice Age animals, no one had ever found anything like this before. Mammoths and mastodons went extinct in the Americas by about 13,000 years ago. So, assuming the artist actually encountered one of these animals (and given the type of bone the carving is on, that seems like a good assumption), this carving has to be at least that old.
Mammoth or mastodon carving from Vero Beach. (Image: Smithsonian Institution)
This discovery was actually made in 2009, but the question then was: Is it genuine? As this would be the first find of its type, the paleontologists at the University of Florida, Florida Museum of Natural History, and Smithsonian Institution who were evaluating it would need to provide substantial evidence to prove this.
In an upcoming paper in the Journal of Archaeological Science, the researchers lay out the results of several tests, and come to the conclusion that the carving probably is genuine. If so, this is quite an important find.
Close-up of the carving. (Image: Smithsonian Institution)
If you get beyond the shallow and superficial image of Florida as a theme-park playground, this state actually has some depth- including quite a few important fossil and archaeological sites.
Fore more information on this discovery, go here. Here’s the reference to the upcoming paper, which is available online if you have institutional access (otherwise, it will cost you $30): Purdy, B.A., Jones, K.S., Mecholsky, J.J., Bourne, G., Hulbert, R.C., MacFadden, B.J., Church, K.L., Warren, M.W., Jorstad, T.F., Stanford, D.J., Wachowiak, M.J., Speakman, R.J. Earliest Art in the Americas: Incised Image of a Proboscidean on a Mineralized Extinct Animal Bone from Vero Beach, Florida, Journal of Archaeological Science (2011), doi: 10.1016/ j.jas.2011.05.022
This year, two sets of ducklings are being raised in our pond. Two years ago, another duck raised a brood of ducklings- I wonder if either of these females is from that brood?
The older brood is on the bank, and the younger brood is in the water. (Y. Fernandez)
These are wild ducks- possibly Mottled x Mallard hybrids, or just plain Mallards. At least, the male who’s been hanging around and is probably the father is a hybrid, so we’re assuming the babies are. The first brood had 9 ducklings at first, though it’s just asking to be disappointed if we count them, since there are any number of predators around here. In these photos, they’re all mostly transitioned into adult feathers.
Trouble on the horizon... (Y. Fernandez)
The second brood hatched a few weeks later and is smaller- but the mother makes up for it by being seriously aggressive to the older ducks. It makes sense- her babies are younger, and if she didn’t defend them there would likely be trouble from the larger ducks. Our pond’s not that big, so space gets to be a factor.
Brood #2 paddles in. (Y. Fernandez)
The amount of biting, quacking, splashing, tail-pulling, and hysterical peeping would probably be less if people didn’t feed them. But when one parent sees the other ducks being fed, they swim over as fast as they can. The result: duck drama.
The duckling raft breaks up as they reach land. (Y. Fernandez)
I won’t post any dramatic photos here- let’s just absorb the cuteness and pretend they’re not pushy, loudmouthed jerks. And it is cute to watch them paddle around in tight duckling rafts. Even cuter when they sleep in little duckling piles at night. …And yes, the two families do sleep on opposite ends of the pond.
They're surprisingly good at synchronized swimming. (Y. Fernandez)
This weekend, we did a bit of bike riding and birding at Orlando Wetlands Park. OWP is a water treatment facility that circulates treated wastewater through a series of ponds with natural vegetation to clean it further before releasing it into the St. Johns River. It attracts a lot of wildlife, and is a fairly popular place to walk or bike along the berms. We didn’t see any unusual species this time, but had a nice time getting outside while the weather’s not too hot in Florida.
Glossy Ibis in breeding plumage (photo: J.M.Garg, Wikipedia)
As we were biking along, we caught some looks at very shiny Glossy Ibises in breeding plumage. This reminded us of an episode last spring, when a White-faced Ibis was reported at OWP on a birding listserv. White-faced Ibises are rarely found in Florida; their typical range in the US is in the western states (and occasionally in Hawaii). I decided to go out and try to find the ibis.
White-faced Ibis (photo: Kevin Cole, Wikipedia)
White-faced Ibises are dark-plumaged long-billed wading birds. They’re pretty similar to the typical dark ibis found in Florida, the Glossy Ibis. When the birds aren’t in breeding plumage, you have to tell the species apart by looking at the skin on their face. Glossy Ibises have blue skin and dark eyes; White-faced Ibises have pink skin and red eyes. As you might guess, this means you should really be close to the bird, or have a spotting scope, if you want to identify it.
Of course, when I got out to the park, all the ibises were way, way back in the marsh- completely unidentifiable with just binoculars. That day was hot, and very sunny, meaning there was heat shimmer on the water making everything blurry, and the birds were just not coming any closer. I spent an inordinate amount of time out there trying to see the postage-stamp sized piece of face skin on each and every ibis, but in vain. I’m sure I saw the White-faced Ibis, but could not confirm that I did. I ended up going home a bit disappointed, without being able to add the ibis to my list.
I suggest that are three reasons that birders are considered a bit geeky. First, they have a hobby, about which they can be obsessive. Hobbies are often regarded as geeky among non-hobbyists. Second, they frequently carry a lot of equipment (e.g., binoculars, spotting scope, tape recorder/iPod/etc., bird ID books, notebook, camera with very long lens). Up to a certain point, accessories carry a sort of panache- but past that point, they apparently become geeky. While I personally consider, say, wearing oversized designer sunglasses geeky and non-functional, I recognize that those wearing them probably consider them a status symbol. Similarly, I realize that the designer-sunglasses set probably considers my wide-brimmed hiking hat geeky. To each her own. Anyway. The third reason that birders are considered geeky is their penchant for keeping a list of all the birds they’ve seen.
List-keeping falls under that most obsessive of human behaviors: categorizing and classifying. To some extent, we do this automatically (this fruit is good to eat; that leaf is probably not too tasty). For birders (and scientists, natural historians, stamp collectors, designer shoe aficionados, etc.) the list can become the focus of the hobby. Some birders focus more on adding species to their lists than on observing the behavior or biology of the birds they observe, or walking through the forest in Zen-like contemplation of the world around you.
Now, I’ll be the first one to say that I have no problem with keeping lists. Especially if birders share this information with others- this information can become valuable for understanding what’s happening with bird populations over time. I also consider birding a hobby that has less net negative impact on the environment than the hobby of conspicuous consumption. Even compulsive bird listers get out and interact with nature in ways that help stitch together the natural and human spheres of our experience that sometimes seem to be slipping apart.
As a case in point, I’ll go back to the White-faced Ibis again. While I never did see the one that was hanging out at OWP last spring, I did end up unexpectedly seeing several of them on Maui a few months later. And that was pretty cool- they’re pretty uncommon in the Hawaiian Islands.
More recently, a White-faced Ibis was spotted in Massachusetts. This bird’s story does not end well. The following (somewhat disturbing) video documents one college ornithology class’s field trip to see the ibis, and how a local Peregrine Falcon decided to take the opportunity for a bit of lunch. From the reactions on the video, I think the college students were a bit traumatized by this particular example of the food chain in action. (via Birdchick)
