Sandhill Cranes

This Sandhill Crane walked up to the fence as we walked by, not at all concerned about us, almost curious.

Field Journal - Brooker Creek Preserve Bird Census

I tend to forget to keep a personal field journal as another team member keeps the count on our bi-weekly bird census at Brooker Creek Preserve. As part of my effort to become more effective in my observations I plan to use the blog as my field journal entry.

We started Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. following the Education Center route. The temperature was 74 degrees, with 75% humidity, and the sky overcast. Winds were calm.

We encountered three mother Wild turkeys with five chicks in the middle of the road, and waited a few minutes until they cleared. One chick was clearly larger than the others, and spent a lot of time testing its wings. I found a Pine Warbler at the next stop, flying around the pine trees. The heavy afternoon thunderstorms in the Preserve area meant that parts of the trails still had water, so we did see several water birds in those areas. A pig frog called loudly and continuously, but we did not catch sight of it.

One American Alligator swam in the main channel, visible from the bridge. Once again we did not see the Black-crowned Night Herons often seen in that area, but did observe one later on the hike on the boardwalk near the Education Center.

The button bush is in bloom all along the boardwalks, and depending on the light make interesting photographs. A pair of Pileated Woodpeckers worked on a tree, one opposite the other, just off the boardwalk. Their bright red head tufts were visible through the curtains of large ferns.

We spotted two Pygmy rattlesnakes, one on the side of a trail and the other curled in a dead sawgrass palmetto leaf. We always give them a wide berth, particularly as it is still their mating season.

We counted 26 different species, a little low but typical for this route and this time of year. We did not see any species we could not identify. Hopefully my journal entries will become more informative as I continue to practice writing my field observations, not just observing them and relying on memory.

The Pioneer Settlement in Barberville, NY

Driving along State Road 40 on our way to Tomoka State Park I noticed a sign for Pioneer Settlement. I just saw the name, so looked it up later and found out that this "village" contains seventeen historical structures, many of which may have been destroyed if not relocated and restored. We both love history and particularly living history like this. On the way back, we found the turn and visited.

Pioneer Settlement is open Monday to Saturday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and admission for adults is $6, less for children. We walked around, talking to the interpreters who explained the buildings, and demonstrated various skilled crafts such as rug weaving and spinning. We toured the many buildings including a railroad depot, blacksmith shop, church, pottery shed, and the Barberville Central High School building. The high school, built in 1919, served as school until 1969. It now houses a museum with many displays.

This shotgun style house dates from the 1920s. The two laundry tubs on the porch remind us of a "simpler" time, though I find the thought of hand washing, rinsing, and hanging clothes on a line to dry less than simple.

I shot this looking into the school room replica. The blue behind the lamp is the shirt of the mannequin dressed like the school marm.

A close-up of an old cash register. H.L. Wynn's Commissary from the 1900s  serves as the country store. Items made by the various craftspeople are sold here, with proceeds helping to support their programs.

We love traveling the smaller highways and back roads. Not only is the scenery more interesting than the Interstates, but we never know what we will discover.

Blue Spring State Park, FL

We camped at Blue Spring State Park for two days earlier in the month. I think of that trip as a "springs" tour since we visited and/or camped at Silver Springs State Park, DeLeon Spring State Park, and Blue Spring State Park. All these parks run boat tours, and I highly recommend them. The captains are knowledgeable about the springs and about the wildlife.

The boat tour at Blue Spring lasted about two hours. We watched an eagle and two osprey fighting over a fish, observed several Purple Gallinule including one fanning his tail and calling, and listened to and finally saw a nearly fledged Great Blue Heron in a tree calling Mom or Dad for more food!

Looking toward the spring from the boardwalk:

The Great Blue Heron juvenile:

White Springs, FL and Suwanee

We visited White Springs, FL and the Stephen Foster State Park in late April. This trip occurred two days before the record breaking rain in that area. Even so, due to the unusually wet winter this year the Suwanee had flooded in several areas.

This is the White Springs Bath House. Compare this to the photograph I published on this blog 1/3/12.

We again had a wonderful time visiting this area. The old Telford Inn reopened March 1, 2014 and serves lunch and dinner. We did not get to visit this trip, but will definitely dine there our next visit.

Owls at Honeymoon Island State Park

We hiked the nature trails at Honeymoon Island State Park in search of migrants two weeks ago. In addition to the migrants, we saw the two adult Great-horned owls and the fledged baby.

As we walked the crows called out and swooped over the top of a tree. Suddenly, we saw the young owl take off and land in the next tree. The crows followed, swooping and attacking. This continued for a few minutes, when suddenly another owl flew overhead. Mom to the rescue. When she arrived, the crows scattered.

Baby owl regained confidence, and stared at us, safely within reaching distance of Mom.

In the tree...













Under attack!

Mom Arrives...

All is well!

Photographic Study of the Purple Thistle (Cirsium horridulum Michaux)

The purple thistle or horrible thistle, made its appearance as usual this year in spite of the colder than normal weather. The only difference I observed involves those feeding on the flowers. Normally in a field of thistle this time of year I watch butterflies of all types fluttering from flower to flower, stopping to rest a bit and then continuing. In spite of all the thistle observed last week, I spotted only one butterfly who landed and flew quickly away.

Regardless, I liked studying and photographing the different stages of the plant, from the not quite open flowers, on to one recently opened and in its prime, to another with the bumble bee feeding, and finally to one spilling the white downy aftermath of the bloom.

Birding at Paynes Prairie State Preserve

While walking around and hiking the two days we stayed here we did some casual birding. Around the lake area we saw a number of Yellow-rumped warblers. We checked out the area two days in a row, continuing to see them and not catching a glimpse of any other species hanging around. We passed a man who told us he saw an eagle soaring over the lake, but the eagle moved on by the time we arrived.

While hiking we heard a number of Towhees, Parulas, and even some Sandhill Cranes passing overhead. Our best birding took place at the junction of the road leading to the visitor center where Lake Trail meets it. We saw activity everywhere, mostly Yellow-rumped warblers again but this time a definite mix.

We finally saw a Parula there, and a lone Prairie Warbler (at least he was the only one we saw) fed for some time in the area, peering around branches and leaves to check out the camera.

I still haven’t developed the discipline of keeping good field notes on species seen when we do casual walks and hikes. That definitely needs to be on my To Do list of skills to develop.

 The overhead insects held more interest than me and my camera.

It took several shots to get this one. Not only did he stay in the leaves, but the wind kept fooling the autofocus so I ended up on manual.

A Hike at Paynes Prairie State Preserve

A colder, and much wetter than normal winter, resulting in a fierce spring allergy season caused us to postpone a lot of hiking and travel so far this year. Colder is OK, rainier is OK, combined they tend to keep you confined to the RV doing things that could be done at home in more comfort.

A new-to-us larger RV prompted us to get moving again. We used and enjoyed our Roadtrek 190 Versatile for almost 4 years. Our two week trip last November showed us the limitations for us in terms of space (photographers carry a lot of gear), and a comment during a routine maintenance that parts were no longer available for most of our appliances, so we would need to replace them completely as they broke down, prompted us to start looking for a larger, newer motor home. We found a 2013 Coachman Freelander 21 QB lightly used at a reasonable price, and made the plunge.

We decided to take our two day shake-down cruise to Paynes Prairie State Preserve. The drive consists of highways and two lane roads and driving through a few towns. All systems worked fine, though we made many notes for improvements we want to make (naturally).

We took a three hour hike on Monday morning, starting on the Chacala Trail with the intention of linking to the Jackson Gap trail. We encountered a lot of standing water, but a recent burn along the trail made circumventing the puddles easier. Almost one-half mile into the hike, the trail turned into a stream of running water, with pooling in areas. We retraced our steps, and walked along the road to the Visitor Center, then back to the campground via the Lake Trail.

The saw palmetto showed signs of growth along the burn area. The tendrils against the dark background caught my eye, and I tried to capture the beauty of them in the sun.