Fall Break, part 2

It's Sunday afternoon, and after having gotten back home around midnight from my trip to the panhandle, I'm exhausted. But the fun has only just begun -- I'm camping for the night at Ft. Desoto State Park with some friends from school.

We spend the afternoon relaxing and exploring along the coast of the island, wading in the cool water and looking for various critters. We find crabs and fish, various worms, and other strange creatures of the bay.

Our coolest find is a skate, laying lethargically in the shallows. It is unusually docile and allows us to examine it for a few minutes before it swims gently away.

As the sun begins to set, the shorebirds begin to emerge seemingly from nowhere. A Least Sandpiper scurries across the beach, while a Great Blue Heron lands not too far away.

The view from our campsite at sunset.

As soon as the sun went down, the raccoons came out. We could see them in the shadows and hear them chortling or growling at one another just out of sight.

The next morning, I rise with the sun and take a leisurely walk down the beach. The water is like glass, the stillness broken only by a few manatees splashing and rolling lazily in the distance.

Semipalmated plovers scurry about on the mudflats that have been exposed in the low tide, and more herons, egrets, and sandpipers forage nearby.

At one point I see an odd-shaped fin cutting through the water out in the distance. I snap a picture, thinking it might be a school of fish breaking the surface, but upon later review, my friends and I conclude it's a black-tipped reef shark!

The manatees continue to laze about all morning.

[Contrary to my original thoughts, this is actually a Black-bellied Plover -- thanks Heidi and Nick! -- not a lifer anymore, but still a cool bird!]

I also find a lone Ruddy Turnstone as well as another Least Sandpiper.

After packing up our campsite, we head to the beach for a few hours before making the drive back to school. I must say it was one of the best fall breaks I have ever had. It gave me some much-needed time outside, as well as a life bird to add to my list.

Now school is back into full swing, but I'm going to try and get outside more often when things slow down a little. Between applying for summer internships, TAing, working, and classwork, this semester is crazy busy. But we're over halfway done, and I have Christmas Bird Counts to look forward to over winter break!

One more hike

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." - George Eliot

Alas, Fall Break is ending today, and I'll be heading back to the busy college life once more this afternoon. I try not to wish I was at home, while I'm at school (what good does it do to yearn for somewhere else when you could be enjoying where you are now?) but fall always makes me think of home anyway.

Florida fall is nothing like it is up north, but live here long enough and you'll come to know and love the signs of the changing season.


This morning, I wanted to go birding one more time before I head back to the coast. The park my sister and I wanted to go to was closed, so we headed down the road a little further to another trail in the same nature preserve.

It had changed a lot since I had last been there, over a year ago. The once grassy marsh area had been completely flooded and grown in. A doe and fawn sprung over the trail in front of us on our way to the observation deck, but there weren't as many birds as I had hope to see. Regardless, we managed to see some Great Egrets, Red-shouldered Hawks, American Crows, and an Eastern Phoebe.


Beyond the marsh area, we followed the little-used trail back into the woods, through forest, pine flatwoods, and finally to the creek. By this time, it was around 10am, and most of the morning activity had settled down.

We turned around and headed back the way we came, enjoying the warm breeze and subtle fall colors. At one point, we came across a large flock of Pine Warblers and Tufted Titmice. I tried to get some pictures with my sister's camera (since I still haven't replaced my poor Olympus), but they didn't come out well enough to post.

Back passed the marsh again, the Eastern Phoebe was sitting closer this time, so I managed to get a just-barely-adequate picture of the little bird. There was also a large flock of Ibis across the clearing, and a couple Cardinals seep-seeping their warning calls to us as we walked by.

It was a lovely morning, and I only wish it could have lasted a little longer. :-)

Until next time,

Happy birding!

Back on the trail

"In wilderness is the preservation of the world."
- Henry David Thoreau

Yesterday was fantastic. True, it was overcast, breezy, threatening to rain, and I didn't get out of the house until mid-afternoon, but it was one of the most wonderful days I've had in a long time -- it was the first time I've been able to go birding since school started at the end of August.

My sister and I took off in the afternoon for our favorite local park, and embarked on a 2 1/2 mile hike around the lake. The temperature was a perfect 75ish degrees; it was a little windy for birding, but I couldn't have been happier. Everything becomes so much clearer and simpler and peaceful when you spend a little time outside.

Fall migration seems to be taking its time this year. There was a greater variety of birds than I saw over the summer, but not nearly as many of the passerines I would expect to be seeing this time of year.

Nonetheless, I managed to see/hear a fair number of resident species, including Catbirds, Cardinals, Blue Jays, a Sandhill Crane, a Great Egret (pictured above), a Red-bellied Woodpecker (pictured below), a Common Tern, and a little Pied-billed Grebe.

Along our hike, my sister and I had fun looking for different signs of wildlife. We found the sun-bleached remains of a huge turtle shell, different kinds of animal scat, and signs of wild boar and armadillos.

I didn't get many birds out of the hike, but it was quite the enjoyable experience. I still have 2 more days of Fall Break, so hopefully I can scrounge up a couple year birds before I have to go back to school.

Until next time,

Happy birding!

Recent sightings

This semester has been a total killer so far -- I'm busier than I've ever been in my entire life, it seems (as you can probably tell by my infrequent blog postings). Nonetheless, in between running to classes, work, meetings, doing homework and studying, I've managed to watch the slow progression of fall migration creeping in.

Saturday temperatures dropped into the 60s, so I took some time to hike a little, but not much had showed up yet. There were a ton of Cormorants and Anhingas around the ponds, but little else besides the resident species. After Sunday though, I started seeing more passerines show up. Today I got my first-of-the-season Yellow-throated Warbler, along with a Palm Warbler and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher outside my window.

Fall break starts this coming weekend, so I plan on taking some time to go birding for at least a couple days while I'm home and see what else the season is bringing in.

Yesterday my roommate and I observed a gorgeous Bald Eagle flying really low over campus on our way to class. We got a fantastic, although brief, view of the bird. I haven't seen a Bald Eagle in our area in a long time, so it was a nice surprise. I've been keeping my eye out for it again, in the hopes that it may be living in the area.

Well, enough procrastination for now -- better get back to homework.

Happy birding!