Wild About Spain Blog

Last Post from Florida

31/1/2013

A final blog from Florida with a last look at some of the rest and the best.

My favourite American bird, the Grackle, is the cheeky chappie of urban environments as well as the countryside. I cannot definitively distinguish between the two species, Common & Boat-Tailed, but this one, captured strutting across a shopping-mall car park like a drum major, looks like a Florida variant of the Boat-Tailed Grackle with its very long tail and beak, and muddy coloured rather than bright yellow eyes. The sun really brings out the purple and blue-green tones in those feathers.

Boat-tailed Grackle - quiscalus major

Brown Anole - anolis sagrei

The Brown Anole Lizard, introduced from Cuba and the Bahamas is now common in every Florida garden. Very tame they are fun to watch, particularly when a male extends his bright orange/red throat flap. A similar lizard, the Green Anole is also common and it can change colour depending upon its background, so is often wrongly called a chameleon.

Great Egret

Lizards form a large part of the diet of herons and egrets and here´s another look at a Great Egret about to swallow an unfortunate lizard whole. It should probably digest the previous snack first which is still bulging in its snake-like throat, but greed looks to have overtaken common sense in this instance.

Below are a couple of shots of two similar dove species that frequent Florida gardens. The White-winged Dove is heavier than the slender Mourning Dove, so named because of its mournful sounding call, somewhat reminiscent of an owl.

White-winged Dove - zenaida asiatica

Mourning Dove - zenaida macroura

and here´s another look at two great Everglades characters, the Anhinga and the Wood Stork. The stork was clattering its bill to make a sound like a castanet.

Anhinga -

Blue Jay with Acorn -

The Blue Jay is a very colorful garden visitor that competes with squirrels for acorns. One reason for its success as a species must be its varied diet as it is truly omnivorous, liking insects as well as seeds and nuts.

Wood Stork -

Anhinga swimming -

The Anhinga swims with body submerged and such a long neck snaking up from the water looks like some mythological sea serpent.

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Horses & Harleys

30/1/2013

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These are some images from Florida other than birds and wildlife. What could be more photogenic than Mike´s beautiful Shire Horses, Munch and Caesar. Elena loved them and it looks like the feelings were mutual, or was it the carrot in Elena´s hand that they were really interested in?

Munch and Caesar, Shire horses extraordinaire.

Yes I thought so. Still they were very friendly with excellent manners, taking tidbits very gently from Elena´s hands.

The ponies were keen to see who was coming down the road past the farm, sure enough it was a neighbour taking some visitors for a ride in her beautiful horse-drawn carriage, a fine sight.

There´s nothing else they would prefer to do themselves, so they were hitched-up and we took off down the road for a ride.

Hitched-up & ready to go

On the road

Clearly Mike enjoys horsepower, but not just the flesh and blood type. His Harley Davidson Heritage Softail produces about 60, perhaps not shire horses but plenty enough to take Elena out for a spin. I asked why he doesn´t get a fast bike like a Honda or Kawasaki? well apparently he would rather push his Harley than ride a Japanese piece of s--t! end of discussion.

Strange eh?

Florida Houses

I was fascinated to see that most houses in Florida are timber framed, which seems odd in a major hurricane belt where solid steel-reinforced conctete structures like in Spain would seem more appropriate. Homestead for example suffered a direct hit from Hurricane Andrew in 1992, which at the time was the costliest hurricane in United States history. Strangely, while my sister Jan´s single storey house was virtually destroyed (with her in it!), my other sister Kath & Russ´s three-storey house just a couple of miles down the road was virtually unscathed! I don´t get it?

I post a couple of shots of Kath & Russ´s house because it is such a beautiful home. Everything about it, from the pitch of the roof to the shuttered Georgian style windows is nicely proportioned. The set-back South wing with a gabled window and large stone chimney perfectly balances the impressive front main fascia, and a delightful path with red-brick steps up to the portico´ed front door creates a feeling of achitectural harmony. See for yourselves.

The Gates residence, (Kaths house) survived the hurricane

Gates Residence (rear)

Ruby-throated Hummingbird - archilochus colubris

The family can enjoy watching Hummingbirds from their kitchen window as they flit between red flame-flowered bushes and the branches of an oak tree in the back garden.

Hummingbirds consume at least half their own bodyweight in nectar every day to replace the staggering 12,000 or so calories that they expend.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird - archilochus colubris

They are particularly attracted to red flowers and will investigate red objects such as plant labels or red clothing on gardeners. They have little or no sense of smell, relying solely upon colour to find their food sources.

Why do hummingbirds hum? - because they don´t know the words.

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Manatee River

28/1/2013

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Entering the Three Sisters springs from Crystal River

Crystal River is a short drive away from Ocala on the Gulf Coast of Central Florida. The river is only seven miles long and it connects Kings Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. Kings Bay is a spring fed waterway which is kept at a constant 72º F (22º C) and is probably the only place in the US where you can swim and interact with Manatees, which congregate here in the Winter because of the warm water.

We paddled downstream from the kayak launch point and turned into a siding named "Three Sisters" after the three natural springs that occur inside. Instantly Elena and I were thrilled and excited to see a mother and calf manatee head straight for us and slide beneath our kayak out into the main river. Inside the little spring-fed lake there were several more of the gentle giants, mostly sleeping on the shallow riverbed and surfacing for air every twenty minutes or so.

Manatees, or Sea Cows are wonderfully gentle herbiforous marine mammals which can grow up to 4 m. long and weigh as much as 590 kgs. They are naturally curious and seem quite unafraid of people, often surfacing by a kayak to be petted. Swimmers can gently touch them without causing alarm, it is all just a simply amazing wildlife encounter. The water is genuinly crystal clear and turquoise blue because of the white sandy bed.

Manatee to Starboard

Mike and Cathy

Mother and Calf Manatees

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Bluebird Country

26/1/2013

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Elena, Cathy, Mike & Harley in Ocala

We took a trip up to Ocala, a delightful town NW of Orlando in Central Florida. It can be referred to as the Horse Capital of the World as it is home to some of the finest stud farms and equine training centres anywhere on the Planet. My very good friend Capt. Mike Trickel lives there with his wife Cathy. They have a beautiful 10 acre spread where Mike drives his horses in teams drawing superb carriages, but more of this later.

Eastern Bluebird - sialia sialis

The countryside here is flat with wonderful pastures of very rich grazing grass interspersed with mainly deciduous trees. The road to the Trickel residence is lined with gorgeous large oaks draped in Spanish Moss.

Cathy has placed a number of bluebird boxes around the estate and these delightfully colourful birds are a fine sight to behold. The top photo shows the lovely blue and orange plumage of an Eastern Bluebird just glowing in the early morning sunshine. The other bluebird is perched on a batbox roof. Mike has placed this on a tall flagpole in the garden and it was fun watching almost two hundred bats pouring out of their home at dusk. A very effective way of controlling mosquito numbers, apart from the fun watching them while enjoying an aperitif from the veranda.

Northern cardinal female - cardinalis cardinalis

Cardinals are regular visitors to the farm and this female made a nice picture in the garden oak tree with some sprouting Spanish moss showing on the branches.

Pileated Woodpecker - drycopus pileatus

The oak trees are also the haunt of other species including the Pileated Woodpecker. This is America´s largest woodpecker and is a very handsome bird with a bright red crest on its red, white and black striped head.

We saw so many birds around Mike´s farm that I would just love to have spent more time with the camera trying to capture all the different species, but we had so much else to do and so little time to do it in. I regret missing out on a chance to photograph the statuesque Sandhill Cranes that were wandering around in the pastures but I did not have a camera to hand.

Carolina Wren - thryosorus ludovicianus

I was however lucky enough to catch this Carolina Wren perched on an old fenceboard, which made a nice shot. Also a Red-shouldered Hawk that was busy collecting nesting material and was always around somewhere on the property. A very vocal bird, its far-carrying keeyahíng call was a regular sound, was it perhaps calling for a mate?

Red Shouldered Hawk - buteo lineatus

Still louder than the hawk, this American Crow was extremely noisy, even Mike commented on the cawing noise it was making as it sat alone on the grass. I´m not sure what all the fuss was about but it was very agitated about something.

Baltimore Oriole - Icterus galbula

Cathy was pleased to see that I spotted a Baltimore Oriole in one of the trees in her pony paddock.

These highly colourful songbirds are generally very welcome visitors to garden feeders and she hoped to see more of them in the future.

Finally, a couple of less conspicuous but nonetheless attractive little birds in the garden were the Palm Warbler (I think) and a member of the flycatcher family called the Eastern Phoebe. I am not certain about the warbler, it is just the the closest match I could find in Sibley´s Birds. Any help with this ID would be appreciated.

Palm Warbler - dendroica palmarum

Eastern Phoebe - saornis phoebe

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The Keys

13/1/2013

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Miami Beach

The Florida Keys are a coral archipelago which begin about 15 miles (24 km) south of Miami in Biscayne National park, and extend in a gentle arc south and then westward to Key West, which is just 90 miles (140 km) from Cuba.

Magnificent Frigate Bird female - fregata magnificens

The Keys are rich in marine bird life, perhaps the most iconic of which is the Magnificent Frigate Bird. These can be seen from the Keys foraging high in the air watching for fish, or chasing other seabirds carrying fish which it will steal after an aerial dogfight. They are extremely buoyant in flight and can soar and glide effortlessly for hours.

Females are mostly brown with a white throat and breast, males are mostly all black but they have a curious and conspicuous red throat pouch which they can inflate into a large red balloon to attract females. The characteristic split tail easily distinguishes the Frigate from any other seabird. Tthere is another species called the Great Frigate bird which forages far out to sea and is much less likely to be seen from land as their Magnificent cousins.

Male Frigate Bird - fregata magnificens

While the Frigate may be the most iconic bird of the Keys it is closely followed by the Brown Pelican. These are now very common all along the Florida coastline, but in the 1970's they were on the endangered species list after suffering a dramatic decline due to eggshell thinning. In fact it was only Florida that maintained a viable poulation until DDT and other insecticides were banned. Since then the species has made a dramatic recovery and they are once again prolific all round the Southern coasts of the USA.

Brown Pelican - pelecanus accidentalis

Laughing Gull - larus atricilla

Many New World birds have a European counterpart. The Laughing Gull is similar to our Mediterranean Gull and adults have a full black hood in the summer months. A diagnostic feature of this species is its conspicuous white eye ring.

Ring-billed Gull - larus delawarensis

Florida's most prolific seabird is the Ring Billed Gull. While this species something of a rarity in Spain it is the common gull of garbage dumps and parking lots in the USA. Not a rarity here.

Black-bellied Plover - pluvialis squatarola

The Black-Bellied Plover is very similar to our Grey Plover. It is fun watching them dart suddenly across the sand to grab an insect or crustacian and run with it.

Gray Catbird - dumetella carolinensis

The Keys are not just about pelagics and seabirds, there are numerous hammocks and mangrove swamps along the route South. I captured this Gray Catbird in a hammock near Key West. This secretive bird is more often heard than seen and is named after its cat-like meeowing call.

The abundance of fish in the shallow waters around the Keys make easy pickings for the numerous Ospreys that hunt here and nest in the oak and gumbo-limbo trees on the larger islands. I like this photo as it captures the grace and power of a magnificent raptor.

Osprey -

White Ibis juvenile -

White Ibis are extremely common all over the State and there is no shortage of these attractive birds in the Keys. They are not concerned about the presence of people and are just as likely to be seen in a garden or an urban environment as out in the wilder habitat of the Keys and Everglades. This one was contentedly perched on the roof of a beach hut surrounded by tourists enjoying the sun and sand.

Although the Pied-Billed Grebe is a less conspicuous bird than the Ibis I like the light in the photo below, taken on the moat around Fort Zachary Taylor in Key West. The late afternoon sun through the surrounding trees gave the water a lovely iridescent green glow that frames the bird nicely. This bird is the equivalent of our European Little Grebe, but of course everything in America is bigger.

Pied-billed Grebe - podilymbus podiceps

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird - archilochus colubris

Talking of iridescent greens, this Ruby-Throated Hummingbird had plenty on display as the bright sunlight reflected off its upperside plumage. They are attracted to the numerous flowering shrubs of the parks and gardens of Key West. These tiny birds are about 9 cms long with a wingspan of 11.5 cms, but they weigh just 3 grams! How such a tiny body can generate enough power to flap such relatively long wings at up to 80 beats per second is one of the wonders of nature.

The Little Blue Heron (Below) is a small, elegant heron equally at home in the glades or on the brackish shoreline of Florida Bay. Interesting to note that first year birds are pure white, while adults are blue with a maroon tinted neck.

Little Blue Heron - egretta caerulea

The Little Blue heron has no direct counterpart in Europe, unlike the following two species. The Great Blue Heron is very much like our Grey Heron, and the Ring-Necked Duck is a "dead ringer" for our Tufted Duck.

Great Blue Heron - ardea herodias

Ring-Necked Duck - aythea collaris

A drive down US Highway No.1 from Miami to Key West is a rewarding journey with all manner of interesting sights and possibilities along the way. The warm clear water provides superb opportunities for scuba diving and snorkelling, sport fishing, sailing and kayaking. At the end of the road is the most Southerly point of the USA in Key West, former home of Ernest Hemmingway and Tenessee Williams and in my opinion one of the best holiday resorts in the World. Its tropical location, laid back atmosphere, cultural and historical significance and the simple feel-good factor of the "Carribean" lifestyle are hard to beat. And for dedicated birders the prospect of a boat trip out to the nearby Dry Tortugas is a mouth-watering possibility that I hope to try sometime in the future.

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Hummingbird Glade

2/1/2013

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Fairchild Botanical Gardens, on the outskirts of Miami, provides a butterfly and bird friendly environment which attracts a good variety of species to the various flowering plants. I enjoyed capturing these hummingbirds in the dappled shade of a tall shrubbery, the sunlight highlights the bird nicely against the lush shadowy green background. Alternatively catching the irridescent purple of a male hummingbird in a shaft of sunlight makes a nice picture. The feathers are not pigmented so the radiant colours only show when the sunlight reflects at a certain angle.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird female .

Calliope Hummingbird male - stellula calliope

Black Chinned Hummingbird subadult - archilochus alexandri

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird female

The Gardens provide a lovely setting for photographing butterflies as well as birds. Here the Monarch is feeding on a flower which complements its glorious colouring.

Feral populations of parakeets thrive in Florida. These Mitred Parakeets are natives of South America but have successfully found a home here.

Mitred Parakeet - aratinga mitrata

And here's another shot of a beautiful male Northern Cardinal sitting on a palm frond, an idyllic scene from the tropics. And now I'll go and have another marguerita to round off a perfect day.

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More Everglades

2/1/2013

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Another visit to the Everglades produced yet more birds and photo opportunities. We were able to watch this Belted Kingfisher plying its trade from a convenient roadsign perch, catching numerous small fish and what looked like lamprey from the swamp. I was surprised to see a kingfisher hovering before diving headfirst into the water, I don't believe our European variety can do that. It must be an effective measure however as its success rate was 100%, every dive resulted in a catch.

Belted Kingfisher - megaceryle alcyon

Osprey - pandion haliaetus

Another outstanding fisherman is the Osprey. We were fortunate enough to watch several of these magnificent raptors fishing and nest-building in the extreme south of the Glades on the Gulf shore base known as Flamingo. From here one can hire canoes or take boat trips into the Everglades or around the shallow coastline amongst the mangrove lined islets.

Osprey - pandion haliaetus

I was delighted to see my very first Merlin today, flying low across the road and out over the swamp like a large swift and seemingly just as quick, far too fast for a photograph. Fot that I had to settle for some slightly less rare raptors instead. This American Kestrel for example was somewhat easier to capture....

.....as was this Red Shouldered Hawk which was not spooked by our approach to its perch on the overhead electric cable.

There are at least six American hawks that can be very difficult to distinguish in the field to the inexperienced observer. I am not absolutely certain of the identity of some that I photographed so I have chosen the most likely candidates, and in this case I am fairly confident that it is a Red-Shouldered variety.

No doubting the identity of the Loggerhead Shrike, a subspecies of the Great Grey and very similar to our Southern Grey, but the loggerhead is the only one that occurs in Florida.

Loggerhead Shrike - lanius ludovicianus

It is one of only two shrikes of North America. It is named Loggerhead because of the relatively large size of its head.
Sometimes called Butcher Bird from its habit of impaling prey on thorns or barbed wire, to return and devour later.

Eastern Meadowlark - sturnella magna

This bird, the Eastern Meadowlark is a declining species. It is still locally common in open grassy areas, but habitat loss to agriculture and urban development means it is finding fewer spaces in which to live and breed.

Most hawks seen in Florida are the Red Shouldered variety. This one however is different and a lot less common. The Broad-winged Hawk is a Summer visitor to the United States but a few spend the Winter months in the Southern tip of Florida, and this was one of them. Not a great photograph but worth recording because of its uncommon status.

Following and Airboat through the Glades

A great way to get into the Everglades is by Airboat. These flat bottomed vessels are powered by large "fans" driven by Aero or car engines. Steering is achieved by deflecting the airflow across rudders located behind the fan. They require some skill to drive as there are no brakes for stopping or submersed rudders for sharp turns. They are however the perfect vehicle for traversing swamps and shallow waters.

Purple Gallinule - porphyrio martinica

It is also great fun moving sometimes at speed through the swamplands, passing alligators and birds along the way. The Purple Gallinule is a smaller version of the European Purple Swamphen. It is more elegant however and perhaps even more colourful than its Euro counterpart. They rarely swim but prefer to clamber around in the vegetation using their very long toes as a platform.

I was surprised by the general scarcity of dragonflies in the Glades. This is possibly because we were there in mid-winter, but by European standards the temperature would be perfect for odonates. I did manage to capture this stunning green specimen however. It was a large insect with transparent wings, beautiful green pterostigma, frons and thorax, brown eyes and green & brown ringed abdomen. I believe it is a Great Pondhawk, so named because it is a fierce predator which will catch and devour larger prey than itself.

Great Pondhawk? - Erythemis vesiculosa

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Florida Butterflies

1/1/2013

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Although it is the middle of winter here and butterflies are not prolific there are still some colourful varieties flying and worth recording. Monarchs can be seen at any time, one of the commonest varieties which have crossed the Atlantic and are now established in Spain.

Monarch -

Gulf Fritillary - agraulis vanillae

Another prolific butterfly, particularly around the Everglades, is the Gulf Fritillary. The handsome orange upper wing is outshone by the stunning blue spotted underwing which flashes alternately as the insect opens and closes its wings.

Gulf Fritillary - agraulis vanillae

Zebra Longwing - heliconius charithonia

Another very common butterfly is the Zebra Longwing which can be seen all year round virtually anywhere in the State. Its very long wings make a lovely delicate picture as it flutters gracefully over flowers in the garden.

Zebra Longwing - heliconius charithonia

Another bright orange butterfly is the Julia, again quite common around the Everglades. One has to look closely to distinguish all the orange species from each other, this one has the least marking on the upperwings and quite a distinctive curved forewing shape.

Julia - dryas iulia

Ruddy Daggerwing - marpesia petreus

This large and quite stunning swallowtail-like butterfly had me stumped for a while as it is not actually a swallowtail (papiliioninae). It is related the Admiral group (Limenitidinae) which contain the daggerwings. This is in fact a Ruddy Daggerwing which is primarily a South and Central American species which extends its range up into South Florida and is sometimes seen in Texas and other Gulf Coast states. I captured this image at Castellow Hammock in Homestead and it was one of several of this species I observed feeding on the flowering shrubs in the hummingbird and butterfly garden. I also spotted other very large species including the Pipevine and Giant Swallowtail but was not able to obtain good photos.

Ruddy Daggerwing - marpesia petreus

White Peacock - anartia jatrophae

The White Peacock butterfly can be seen in any open area, particularly wet meadows, fields and gardens. it is a resident of South Florida which can stray into Central and Northern regions.

Queen - danaus gilipus

The Queen Butterfly is closely related to the Monarch but slightly smaller and with less brilliant orange wing colouring. it is still a very attractive insect which is also poisonous to most predators so is quite a common sight throughout Florida.

Another of the nymphalidae family is the Soldier. This one is quite brown with thicker wing veins.

Soldier . danaus eresimus

Mangrove Skipper - phocides pygmalion

Here is a completely different species from the many and prolific orange butterflies one sees everywhere in Florida. The Mangrove Skipper is quite large for the hesperidae family and is found in coastal mangroves in central and south Florida. I was lucky enough to capture this one near Key West. The blue scaling on the wings only glows in the bright sunshine, otherwise the colouring is primarily black/brown.

Orange-barred Sulphur - phoebis philea

The Orange-Barred Sulphur looks amazing in flight as the bright yellow upperwings flash alternately with the orange underwings, making a stunning display. Unfortunately they alight with closed wings so I was unable to catch the yellow uppersides. However a look at the next photo will give some idea.

This one is a male Large Orange Sulphur which has reverse coloring to its Orange-barred cousin. Here the upperwings are orange and the underwings yellow. Again making a flashy display in flight.

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