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Posted by Paul-the-other on 02:43:59 01/17/06
Another beautiful day for birding and photography. A group of us visited Wakodahatchee and saw five active GBHeron nests with several in the incubation stage. Tri-color herons were aboutr in good numbers as were snowy egrets, little blues, white ibis, and glossy ibis. Coots and gallinules were fighting for territory and two limpkins were heard but not seen. One osprey did a "fly-over" and the red-shouldered hawk was heard but not seen. A female racoon with two babies was seen stacking "zzzzs" in a perfectly camouflaged location...a remarkable case of being right in front of you but color and texture of the surroundings disguised her.
Warblers were palms as were a couple of prairie warblers. A shrike has its territory stacked out near the parking lot and kept up its metallic "zeek zeek" call. Green back herons appear to be mated and several were seen flying with nesting material. Anhingas (mixed in with the GBHerons) are brooding. Several Lesser yellowlegs dropped in to visit the east impound area as the receding water level exposed many muddy areas. A small group of green winged teal came in to join about 40 blue winged teal. Black-necked stilts (7) constantly circled the area but didn't seemed interested in landing. Mottled ducks came and went and added their thoroughly delightful and loud quaking.
The vegetation is recovering at Wakodahatchee. For photographers, note that now is an ideal time for backgrounds, props, set-ups, and color contrasts. Hurricane Wilma thinned many trees out completely and bent a few more. The cypress are budding out (out of sequence) and should be flushed out in green several months ahead of the usual time March/April. For now photo angles are terrific, especially up into the trees. Management has set aside "photographer only" days and asked power joggers/walkers/talkers to avoid the place for those days. See the bulletin board for those days. What a sight that will be, scores of birders and nature photographers and nobody running! (To give you the flavor here, imagine 40-50 people jogging around Anhinga Trail, around and around and around. Stop and think, nothing says they can't--except common courtesy and the enmity of several hundred people. Now wouldn't that liven up your viewing pleasure!)
Green Cay ( a mile west of Wakodahatchee as the ibis flies) was a little "rank". A somewhat sickly sweet smell pervaded the area and the vegetation was browned by either chemical spray or maybe frost? Probably not frost, as Wakodahatchee showed no frost damage. At any rate after leaving Wakodahatchee one would judge the bird life as "sparse". The majority was clustered on the far north trail and were the usual waders. One kestrel was present and the standard flurry of palm warblers and blue-grey gnatcatchers. The talk on the boardwalk was that the adult female otter was killed on one of the adjoining roadways. Such a pity. The otter clan added a great deal to the ambiance of Green Cay.
The holding ponds at Green Cay are flooded and duck weed is thick. Overall, Wakodahatchee has the better draw at present. But no complaints. The prime directive is to treat sewage not to entertain the bird watching public. It is sort of like going to Lucky Hammock and the farmers are spraying insecticide or fertilizer with a strong west wind. Phew! Done that before. So what to do? Ask the farmer to spray at night? Right.
All in all, another wonderful day in the field with fellow-photgrpahers and bird watchers. And the best part is, still four months until hurricane season.
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