It is a Boy!

Paused for a moment on the way into the kitchen and WOW! Big difference from last night. Now we can see the spots through the chrysalis. Better yet, as I watch, it is doing what one of my favorite bands, XTC, sings: "Pulsing, Pulsing"!

Every couple of minutes it convulses. I can't take my eyes off of it as I do the morning dishes.



I have to head to work, though. I have a feeling it is going to emerge while I am away. That is all I need. A long set of blogs with no payoff. Thing might take off into a ceiling fan and I will have no good ending. I go over many thoughts of how to contain it safely and finally opt for covering the entire plant with a grocery bag.

Should provide plenty of space for the butterfly to expand the wings, at least. Off to work I go...still pacing in my head. Hoping I can get home before the magic happens.

Instead, I get home to this:



Way too late. The rest of the family got home to see the dark shape of the emerged butterfly against the grocery bag walls. Once the bag was removed, I am told that the Swallowtail took flight and had to be trapped into a waiting plastic jug. There, a nice photo was taken just in case I couldn't see it.



I got it into a different position before we gave it a chance to see the world. We could tell it was a male by the color markings. Female Black Swallowtails are primarily black and blue compared to the generous yellow shown here.



The oldest decided he would help us release the butterfly into the wild. It was getting dark but not too much. I figured the birds would be out of the picture. I didn't mention the chance of bats finding it.



It flew up into the overhead branches of our oak trees and rested. We returned inside knowing we did our best to help this new butterfly make it into the world. It was fun to observe.

Now I will have so much less to do...until meteors in a couple of weeks. Swear I heard warblers, too.

Cocoon Watch. Day 10.

Literature states a 10-15 day time period until the butterfly emerges. This is evening 10.



Something definitely turning color here. If you scroll down to the last entry you can easily see the difference.

Starting to pace like an expectant father...

Cocoon Watch. Day 7.

One week on.

Decided to try a new angle to show the yellow markings on the back of the chrysalis.



A few more days to go. Hopefully it will emerge when one of us is here next week.

House Finch

Finally! A fairly good shot of these House Finches.



Since the young birds have stopped begging, the females are getting more bold when I walk outside if they are at the front feeder. The males are still jumpy but I hope that will change someday.

Saw a small flock of them at a nearby park this morning so they are definitely spreading around.

Brown Thrasher Child

I was taking bird feeders apart in order to clean out all the spoiled seed after the heavy rains of the past few days. While I was sitting out back I noticed a baby lizard on a leaf next to me. Decided I should try a macro shot. The light was nice.

By the time I returned, however, the lizard was gone but I sat for a break.

Suddenly, up popped our most recent addition to the Brown Thrasher family.



This brave young bird has been very visible in the past couple of months. I am guessing that it is this year's addition to the pair I banded in the yard last Fall. They come out less often but I can make out the bands on them so they are still here.

Thrashers rule.

Black Swallowtail. Cocoon Watch Continues

Three nights later.

Doesn't look much different but here is a closer shot.

Black Swallowtail. What the...!?!

We must have blinked.



We were watching for signs of change all day. I am sure we checked it just before dinner. There were no indications of the skin splitting or anything. But as I took my dishes to the sink I noticed that it transformed!

Sorry I missed it. Now we wait for the next stage.

Return of the Screech Owl!

It has been quite a while since I have seen our resident Screech Owl. By a total fluke, I walked out back and there it was!



In other news, I have been proven correct. I have speculated for years that the sounds I have heard in the tree on many nights were those of Flying Squirrels. When I went out with the tripod to look for the owl I saw a small head peeking around the edge of the oak tree right next to the squirrel feeder.

Then it squeaked! Yes! Flying Squirrel sighting!!

I zig-zagged back up the tree, stopping to check that I wasn't following as it scurried and vocalized. I bet it is something that the owl is after.

But...Flying Squirrel confirmed!!!! Whoo-hoo!

Black Swallowtail Caterpillar

My wife received a potted Parsley plant a while back. The other day I noticed a caterpillar heading up a tender stalk. Soon, it was munching away like crazy. After another couple of days there was only one set of leaves remaining and they did not look too good.

I bought some parsley from the store and grabbed a small branch from the yard and made a quick feeding station. It fed and rested for the next day and a half.

This morning it was just hanging out at the top end of the stick I fastened the parsley to. Stayed there for most of the day before moving out of the flower pot. I returned it to try and get it to eat. It was having none of it. I let it roam and it seemed to really want to be over on our Christmas Cactus sitting right next door.

By early evening, it had settled in on one leaf and seemed to compress. We could tell it was pupa time! The night progressed and soon the caterpillar was starting to fasten itself to the leaf.



Once it appeared secured, it let go of the leaf and safety harness it had fashioned to connect to each side of its body and began to ease into a back-leaning posture.



It will be fun to watch the progress of the caterpillar into a butterfly. A simple free gift of a plant has led to a family science encounter! Since the birds are fewer, seems I have something else to add to the blog, after all.

Even though it has been a 3 blog day!

Time to take more photos...

Wood Duck Babies

Headed home from the store by circling a couple of lakes. Seems that a lot of ducks have been raising young quite well this year.

I couldn't get a shot of the Mallards I saw at one spot but I did manage a quick shot of a Wood Duck brood before they hurried away.



Been a while since I have seen young Wood Ducks. Rainy year probably helps.

Playing (with) Possum

I was looking out of the kitchen window to see what might be at the feeders. House Finch? Mourning Dove? Cardinal?

Nope. Possum.

It was a fairly small possum and it was climbing pretty quickly up the tree just outside. What is a boy with a camera to do? Head outside, of course!



Just stared at me, it did. Stared and dripped snot from that extra wet nose.



I felt for sure that it was going to just drop out of the tree and land on me and start going for my throat. I mean look at those fangs!



No high adventure today. It just stared. I was moving to get a better view when I glanced behind me. There was Mom!



She was creeping through the fence from the backyard. Seemed to be tracking junior by scent. Once she figured out I was there (possums have poor eyesight) she took off under the house.

I left the little one be and headed inside. It was gone before long. Sure I will see it again in the near future.

Great Blue Heron. Juvenile?

A co-worker called me over today to say there was some kind of crane over in the retention pond. Really?

I came over and saw this Great-blue Heron. Picture taken from our 2nd story window.



I informed him that is was a Great-blue Heron. "Doesn't look very blue.", he said. I figured it must be a juvenile. Note the grey overall appearance and the interesting white tail feathers.

There are other older herons around the complex but this one was a nice change of color.

Happy 4th!

Not much else was flying until the Sun went down.

Happy Birthday, America! All images shot near Orlando.

Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk

During a heavy rainstorm two days ago I noticed a female Mallard walking through the parking lot toward a retention pond. On her heel were 6 ducklings, all in a row.

The rain let up as I was heading home and I stopped for a couple of pictures.



The next day, someone mentioned that there were 3 ducklings. I mentioned that that makes 3 less. We have a healthy population of Red-tailed Hawks in the office area and I am sure the ducklings make an easy catch.

Today, a co-worker came over to me to say she thought there was a hawk that might be injured since it wasn't flying. It was just standing on the grass near the pond. I looked out and saw that it actually appeared to be eating something.

Not a duckling. Looked more like a lizard. I headed down and got a couple of shots. Other people were watching it outside by now. This juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk didn't seem to notice.



I followed it around for a while, taking more photos, and it soon flew to the opposite side of the building.



As for the fate of the remaining ducklings...time will tell.

Jay Watch, Day 2

Day 2 of Jay Watch and, indeed, I was assigned a new route. Maybe providing a photo from day 1 helped determine that they would like photos of other birds. This day we would be fairly guaranteed Jays to count.

We did pass a Jay preening along the trail side as we headed to our early check points but we couldn't count it. It wasn't in our area. It would have to be picked up by a trailing group assigned there. The next stop yielded nothing more than Downy Woodpeckers, Mourning Doves, and Carolina Wrens. Fun to watch but not good enough to count officially.

The following stop was close to the area where I got shots of one family the day before. I was even dropped off at a counting station in view of the tree where my shot was taken. I heard Scrub Jays almost as soon as I stepped toward my designated spot and didn't even have to play the recorded Jay calls.

I saw a couple of the Jays swoop in from the left. Hummingbirds fed from the overhead branches and soon Chickadees surprised me from over my shoulder. Then I noticed one of the Jays moving from shrub to shrub. It appeared to be the unbanded bird from yesterday.



The other bird I photographed was back up at her treetop perch soon afterward. I wanted more shots but the transport vehicle was heading back toward me. Time for the next check point.

There, I heard a couple of Jays off in the distance and could barely make them out in the heat shimmer. They just wouldn't head toward me and the tape player. Perhaps it was because they were right next to another check point blasting Jay calls as well.

We headed to the next points being told to keep a sharp watch out. A known family group usually stayed nearby. I played the tape and watched for my alloted time and then started to walk toward the other groups. As I watched the Black Vultures and Swallow-tailed Kites rising to meet the morning updrafts I noticed some small shapes bouncing through the pine branches and heading in my direction.

Seconds later, the scout landed just above me.




He was soon followed by 2, 4, maybe 5 other Scrub Jays. They landed close and then flew to new branches quickly. I decided I would be better off snapping photos than trying to get band IDs with binoculars so I fired away. I got many identifying shots. Even when they end unbanded like this bird it is good for record keeping.



We all met up near the transport vehicle and compared notes. The scout was now at the top of a pine tree right next to us. The remaining birds had dropped down into the scrub. We called to them once more. An adult female jumped up to investigate soon to be followed by a juvenile!

As far a cuteness goes, this young bird stole the morning. I hadn't even realized this shot looked like this until I got home and processed files. It is now my computer desktop.



It hopped around right in front of us for a while. Then, we found out that this bird was a young female. How? She began attempting the hiccup-like calls only used by the females. This shot was taken in mid-call.



We had a couple more check points to go but I ended up with probably my favorite pose just as we were leaving.



The last few check points were mixed. No birds where they had been seen before and some birds where they hadn't. The light was bad then as the rain clouds were building but we managed a few band readings. With those birds the day was concluded.

Not a bad tally. Only another year until the next counts.

(Scrub) Jay Watch

A weekend of tracking Florida Scrub Jays. What could be better? It is a yearly count that is held across the state of Florida to try and document the declining Florida endemic in many known habitats and determine the health of existing colonies and, hopefully, record any new generations as they appear.

Jay Watch counts like this are held just after breeding season so any new surviving chicks can be observed. It also tries to learn if any new birds have joined an existing family group or if a family has relocated to another area.

The only down side is that it happens when it is HOT! With many days of afternoon rain, however, it seemed much cooler than last year. I was also assigned to a new location. Last year I was next to the coast at Buck Lake. This year I helped at the Lake Monroe Conservation Area just off of Lake Monroe as it empties into the St. John's River.

Or is it enters the lake? The river does flow North...

On this first day of the three day count, I was given a ride by Alex, one of the several Saint John's Water Management team. The four of us stopped at our determined check points. At each stop we exited the car, played tape recorded Scrub Jay vocalizations, and waited to see if we could observe any jays.

We heard one at an early spot but did not see any until check point 28. There, Susan (another volunteer) was greeted by a family of four. I asked Alex to let me try and get a photo and to try and see any bands that might be on any of the birds. I could make out some yellow and white bands but the real proof was delivered by the couple of shots I got before the birds dropped into the surrounding scrub.



In the field I could only make out the bright colors but the photo revealed two more bands. Silver and dark green.

We had to call the last check points off due to Swallow-tailed Kites in the area. Unknown to me, these Kites are now considered predators in this instance as they have been seen swooping down at Jays in the area. Using tapes to call the Jays into the open would be inviting them to dinner.

These were the only Scrub Jays for our group on this day. Tomorrow, I might get a new route. We shall see what birds are in the other areas.

Burrowing Owls

Almost exactly 2 years ago I was tipped off to a Burrowing Owl location. To this day I have kept that location a secret and will continue to do so until told otherwise. I still get a rare occasion to drive near the spot but have not had the time to drop back in again to see if the owls were still there.

This year, I had to make a swing around the area and decided to spend at least a few minutes making sure if they were there or not. Developers are getting closer all the time. I feared the whole field that they inhabited would be paved over.

Happily, I was wrong.

I thought they may have moved on after a quick scan of the fences lines but I finally spotted a bird about 60 yards outs. I knew pictures would not be good but I snapped a few any way.

On the way back to the van I looked to my left and there, on another fence post much closer, was another owl. Watching me. It even let me get a closer view.



So, the birds are still hanging on in this changing landscape. I just hope that the owners of the properties can claim them as their own for as long as possible. These birds deserve a nice home.

Peach-faced Lovebirds

There were reports today of some 'new' birds not far from the house. I put new in quotes because they were actually reported 2 years earlier but never relocated by anyone. Even me.

But there they were. Peach-faced Lovebirds.



This time, they were noisy and easy to find. Better yet, they appear to have hatched some chicks this year after using the rocks on the side of a business building as nest holes.



I will have to keep some notes into the future.

Hawk and Owl Banding at ARC

A full slate of birds to band and an equally large group of volunteers and viewers! There are more pictures than usual in this post as we had so many birds and banders.

The birds to band today included 8 Red-shouldered Hawks a a few Barn Owls and an American Kestrel (Southeastern sub-species). Many got to take turns banding different birds. For several volunteers, this would be a first opportunity to do so.

Carol brought in the first hawk for banding and we all enjoyed viewing these beautiful birds about to be released back into the wild.



After Richard and I got the first few hawks banded, Richard's granddaughter, Sydney, had a first try at banding.



Once the hawks are banded they are weighed for the records. To do this, they are placed inside of a cardboard box...



...and placed onto a digital scale. The weight of the box (weighed previously) is subtracted to get the actual weight of the bird.




Christine looks on as Carol shows the stress bars on the young hawk's tail. Stress bars indicate growth rates on a bird much like tree rings suggest feeding rates of trees. You can see the points were the bird was growing fastest by the growth patterns in the tail feathers.



Next up, Cameron takes a turn at banding.



For the last Red-shouldered Hawk, Sydney's boyfriend Maxx gets the honor of banding a raptor.



The hawks were returned to their mews (a large structure where the birds can rest and recuperate) and the Barred Owls were brought out.



Scott McCorkle holds an Owl as Richard applies the band.



A close-up of the band being applied. You don't want your fingers in the middle of those talons!



FInally, the Kestrel was brought in. What a pretty bird. I am so used to seeing them so far overhead.



On the way back to the car I wanted to check on the progress of the Red-shouldered Hawks that I included in an earlier post. Just a couple of weeks and they are so much bigger!



As the season moves into Summer there is usually an increase in birds to be banded as storms displace young birds and are brought into the rehab center. Hopefully, there will not be too many but we will be ready to band them once they are fit enough for release.