Butterflies of Ten-Thousand Islands NWR

We saw some beautiful butterflies, including a Peacock, Queen and Buckeye

Ten-Thousand Islands

On Sunday morning our field trip was birding in the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge. We saw or heard almost 40 types of birds, including two Sandhill Cranes!

Into the Swamp...literally!

The mission of one of our field trips was to find a red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW), a rare bird found only in certain habitats (The trees they use to nest must be 80 years old or older). We ended up 11 miles down a dirt road in Big Cypress Preserve. Although I wish I was close enough to the woodpeckers to take this shot, this is actually a carved one found at Rookery Bay. It also shows the sap running down the tree, these are one of only a few types of woodpeckers that nests in living trees versus snags. The sap helps protect the birds and their young from climbing predators, such as snakes.

This is an actual hole in the tree, if you look really closely at the photo you can see a hole in the tree with the sap running down. They mark the trees with pink tape. We saw two or three of the RCWs and heard them calling to each other. Success!

Before finding the woodpeckers, we went searching for radio-collared Fox Squirrels - a large species of squirrels, also endangered and rare. I got to use the tracking device and follow the sounds to find a pretty female squirrel. And the sounds led us right to.....

the swamp! Chris and I faithfully followed our leader (who had located the squirrel the day before and helped me use the locater) into and through the swamp! We had not read the memo to wear shoes that could get wet...so we both ended up trudging through the water past our knees in our pants and tennis shoes...luckily we were able to wear our sandals the rest of the trip! A couple of the other people on the trip opted to stay on higher ground...but I had my important assignment of tracking and was concentrating on not dropping it in the water! It was actually really fun and worth the soggy clothes. We saw two fox squirrel nests...but I guess she was already in one of the nests so we didn't get to see her. But the journey was definately an experience we will never forget!

Kirby Storter Boardwalk

Chris and I had a little time between field trips, so we checked out the Kirby Storter Boardwalk in Big Cypress.

Everglades National Park

We got to take a walk at the Shark Valley Visitor center in the Everglades before it opened to the public. Advantage: getting the first glimpse of the wildlife. Hard to tell from the photo, but there is a black-crowned night heron, anhinga, snowy egret, tri-colored heron and little blue heron in this one spot. Nearby was a great blue heron and great egrets. We also spotted yellow-crowned night herons, white and glossy ibis, and Chris caught a glimpse of the rare Everglades Snail Kite. You can't walk more than a couple of feet without spotting something else! Disadvantage: it is not always warm in south Florida, especially at 6:45 a.m.! The alligators started to come out as the sunshine warmed things up for all of us - it ended up being a beautiful day.

Scat-ology

Leave it to a naturalist to put a photo of poop (we like to call it "scat" to make it sound more scientific). We saw it while driving around the Turner river loop in Big Cypress, and determined it to be Florida Panther scat! Not as exciting as watching a panther hunt one of the deer we saw on this drive, but finding evidence of them was fun. The sunset was beautiful, too, the wiregrass took on a pinkish tint in the fading light.

Monument Lake Campground

Our campsite in Big Cypress was great, not that we spent much time there - too much to explore! We did see these killdeer, neat little birds that will actually do a "broken wing" display to distract predators from their nests.

Prescribed burn

As we were driving to our campground, we grew a little worried to see smoke fill the sky nearby. But, we suspected it was a prescribed burn, where the park service intentionally sets fire to an area. The winds were blowing away from the campsite and the road served as a firebreak. We saw helicopters go by as they monitored the fire. The purpose is to keep the vegetation from growing up too much by mimicking the natural occurrence of fire for the health of the ecosystem.

We quickly learned that we are much better kayakers than canoers. Thankfully the trees were very forgiving.

The funnest part of the canoe trip was going through a tunnel in the mangroves.

Out of the tunnel!

It was so tight in the mangrove tunnel that we put our oars up and used our hands to guide the canoe.

Canoeing on Turner River

Our first activity was canoeing down the Turner River in Big Cypress. One of the first things to impress us about this area was all the bromeliads (air plants) growing on the trees, even on the mangrove prop roots.

We saw alligators everywhere, but this was the cutest - a baby gator came swimming up to its mom and called to her (hey it's me, mom, don't eat me!), then it crawled up on her back for a piggy-back ride. You can see it on her back here.

We saw quite a few white ibis on this trip. We also saw an osprey nest, moorhens, coots, anhingas, cormorants and lots of herons and egrets.

We also saw thousands of tree swallows, almost darkening the sky. At our campsite there was a lake and all day they would fly in and drink water.

Chris was the steer-er of our canoe.

SW Florida Birding and Nature Festival

This past weekend Christina and I went to Southwest Florida (near Naples) to participate in a birding and wildlife festival put on by Rookery Bay NERR (National Estuarine Research Reserve). We went on four field trips to Big Cypress National Preserve, Everglades National Park, and Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge. On the way back we went to Corkscrew Swamp Audubon Sanctuary. We had a great time, learned and saw alot and had many adventures. Photos and stories to follow!

Born Free...

I came back at the end of the day to check on Mr. Skips. I looked around and didn't see him or that he'd been to his food. I had done well earlier in releasing my baby, being a proud mamma, but this was way hard! But, I called for him and a few minutes later, he came running over! He seemed happy to see me and to show off for me how he could run and jump around the trees so well. He also showed me that he knew where his food and nest box where. He seems so happy, it really made all the work and worry worth it! The nest box is only temporary, and we'll gradually give him less food as he learns to forage. We'll also keep his cage open for a few days in case he feels safer in there at night. I feel like an empty nester now, proud that my boy is making it on his own, yet worried and missing him! He'll always have a big place in my heart!

Life in a Live Oak tree

Skippy had fun bounding up and down all the nearby trees. He ended up in a huge oak tree, as I had hoped he would, it's where I set up his nest box and feeder.

Cage and Mom are safe!

A few minutes after being released Skippy was scared by a noise, so he came running back and jumped in his cage! Only once, though, and a couple of times he ran to Christina and I for safety, but soon learned that it was ok to explore around away from us.

Skippy's Big Release!

Skippy is finally free! It was a nice sunny day today, and Skippy was more than ready to be a wild squirrel! He's very hyper (duh-he's a squirrel!) and no cage could contain his energy. We opened the cage, and he came out, sniffing cautiously for only a minute before running and leaping around on the ground. I tried to tell him that it's not all fun and games in the wild, hopefully he listens! We released him at Drummond Point Park, a beautiful place at AIP and great place for a squirrel to live!(Where we released Simon and Rascal, too).

First Coast No More Homeless Pets

I spent the day volunteering with First Coast No More Homeless Pets, which works tirelessly to end the needless killing of pets in Jacksonville and surrounding areas. They create awareness and operate a spay/neuter clinic 6 days a week, offering low cost procedures. In the past the clinic was only for feral cats, but has now been expanded to include pet cats and dogs. I usually help the animals recover after surgery, cleaning around the incision area, cleaning out ears, and watching to make sure they are breathing and wake up o.k. Most of the day I was on the floor with the dogs, rubbing them to stimulate them to wake up, and comforting them when they first wake up, and taking their airway tubes out.

This is Nacho, cuddled up to another sleeping dog while recovering.

Two feral kittens waking up from surgery. Feral kittens can be tamed and are usually adopted into homes after they're fixed. Adults get their left ear "tipped"- cut off the very top-doesn't bother them at all - that way Animal Care and Control knows that they are fixed and being taken care of, and they will not be taken in again to be fixed. Basically a "feral" cat is one that is living outside and not tamed, versus a stray who is socialized to people but doesn't have a home.

Cardinal crash

I was in the back today when I heard a loud "thump". I came out to see what it was and was horrified to see this male cardinal on the ground, his neck bent totally backwards and he gave out a little cry. I was almost in tears myself, but I scooped him up in a towel and put him in a carrier. I was about to rush him off to a local bird rescue, but he was sitting upright, so I just monitored him. Not long after he was fluttering around and cheeping away. I don't know how his neck coulda been bent that way and not broken, but he was very anxious to get out. So I released him and he flew right away to a nearby tree and started calling to his friends. Probably telling them about his near-death experience...

We had a wreath hanging on the glass door, I think that's what he was aiming for when he smacked into the window. I just hope he's ok!

Buster playing in Christina's office. He likes it at the nature center, but would be happier to have a home where he could have round-the-clock company. Such a sweet boy!

New additions to the Nature Center

We have some cool new additions to the saltwater tank...a calico crab and two banded tulip snails. While combing the beach in front of the hotel, Preston Woolf (shown here) and his brother Colden, from Peachtree City, Georgia, found these live treasures yesterday and today and brought them to us. As we don't have these critters, they are a welcome addition and should do well in our tank. Low tide is the best time to find interesting things at the beach...they also found a couple of starfish!

One of the tulips refused to come out of the cup it was brought it! I didn't want to pull on it too hard, although I'm sure it woulda been ok, I felt bad stretching it out while it held on for dear life. (Snails grow their shells and can't come out of them). So we just put the whole cup in the tank, and after awhile it loosened its grip.

Meet The Animals At The Nature Center

These are some of the animals at Amelia Island Plantation Nature Center. The Nature center has many different animals that are native to Florida include a Yellow Bellied Slider, Mud Turtle, Diamondback Terrapin, Striped Burrfish and many others.

Best of 2008

Some of my favorite photos/stories of 2008.

Appaloosa stallion and part of his herd on Cumberland Island. He protects the best grazing spot on the island, near the historical ruins of Dungeness. We've watched him spar with a younger stallion to keep his mares, and also seen a few of his foals while they were less than a week old.

JuJu and William were two feral kittens that were caught and kept at the nature center until they found wonderful homes - JuJu with Amanda Clark and William with another AIP employee. Their mom was also trapped and spayed.

2008 also seemed to be the year of the squirrels. We had quite a few come in, some orphaned, others injured. Some did not make it, others we raised and released or turned over to the Wildlife Rescue Coalition in Jacksonville. Getting a flying squirrel in was a perfect end to the year.

The colorful bird on our feeder is a male painted bunting, who visit us in the summer.

And, of course, Simon and Rascal the baby possums will always hold a place in our hearts, and in everyone that got to meet them. They were wonderful ambassadors for their species and we miss them!