A sunset from Manasota Key FL
The fabulous yellow throated warbler drying off after a bath
The weather in middle January in SW Florida can be periodically cool even down into the 40’s F at night but generally is sunny and warm by midday. A view of my beloved Haw River in NC shows a very different picture with a light covering of snow/ice and high temperatures near our FL low temperatures. So we can continue to enjoy green landscapes and gorgeous beach sunsets with only an occasional shiver in FL. But there is no doubt that winter is here based on the few flowers and butterflies that are evident. I have seen a few Gulf fritillaries both adults and caterpillars on our passion vines. There have been an unusually large number of monarch caterpillars feasting on the African giant milkweeds – this caterpillar is feasting on the unusual pink flowers. The presence of so many caterpillars is unusual since they have in the past mostly been taken by paper wasps and fed to their young. Perhaps the hurricane events have depressed the population of wasps- certainly I have not seen any. I have also seen a few small blue Ceraunus butterflies with outer camouflaged wings and bright blue inner wings. They have an “eye spot” on the rear part of the wing that presumably directs the strike of birds away from the more vulnerable head and body.
I have three dripping water baths in my yard and enjoy seeing birds return daily for a drink from the drip and take a bath in the basin. This beautiful yellow throated warbler is a regular visitor and is here shown drying itself after a quick bath. The supraloreal yellow streak just above and in front of the eye indicates that this is the southeastern subspecies. This warbler also regularly forages for spiders and insects on windows and wood beams around our houses in both FL and in NC where it breeds in my yard.
One of my favorite birds is the yellow crowned night heron that visits our mangrove area and forages for crabs. It has a large dark beak well suited for cracking crabs and is most often a salt water specialist. In contrast the black crowned night heron is primarily found in fresh water. But the yellow crowned can be found far inland in some locations where it likely feeds on crayfish. An interesting mixed species flock of water birds was seen at Ann Dever Park where the foraging cormorants attract both snowy egrets and white ibis to profit from their feeding activity. A nearby great blue heron was disinterested in that commotion but was using its very impressive beak to fish for prey. A least sandpiper was seen nearby forging for small invertebrates along the shoreline- note the yellowish legs. This tiny (20 g) shorebird migrates thousands of miles to northern Canada/Alaska to breed in an epic journey. The black bellied plovers that winter here in FL have lost their breeding plumage and lack the dark underparts completely.
There is nothing dark about the white pelicans that migrate to FL from the western US and feed in communal flocks. I assume the bright white coloration is an adaptation for feeding on surface swimming schools of fish. The opposite type of coloration is seen in mottled ducks which feed by dabbling and are highly camouflaged. This pair is pleasing to see since they seem to be the wild type and not hybridized with exotic ducks which happens so often in city ponds.
Grackles are not generally considered to be a “desirable” bird but I find them quite beautiful and interesting. The boat tails are sexually dimorphic- the females are brown and the males a dark iridescent color. Our west coast boat tails have a dark eye; yet east coast birds north of Miami have a yellow eye. The common grackle is not sexually dimorphic, and is a dark iridescent color with a yellow eye on both coasts.
One of my favorite reptiles is the softshell turtle and here is a large female basking on the shore in the warm winter sun. Their anatomy is quite specialized for aquatic life- they are flattened for burying in soft bottoms, have large webbed feet for rapid swimming, and can respire underwater through their pharynx, skin and cloaca. I grew up catching them in a creek next to our house in Atlanta, GA, carried out a research project on aquatic respiration subsequently published as a college freshman at Yale. and used Ann Arbor, Michigan specimens for my PhD thesis. This study was published as a cover story in the prestigious Science magazine in 1965, almost 60 years ago! How time flies when you are having fun and involved in work and family life.
I hope this winter finds you pleasantly engaged in family and work activities but most of all enjoying the pleasure of “nature bathing,” immersing yourself in the beauties and extraordinary fascination of the natural world around us.
