Rosyfinch Ramblings

Virtual New Mexican, who winters in Florida and migrates annually to Illinois, remembers growing up, birding and practicing in New Jersey, and finds birds and beauty close to home.

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March 2010

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03/11/10

Birding our way back home from Palm County

Filed under: General, Birding & Outdoors, Florida & SE US, Birding "Patches"
Posted by: Ken @ 10:41 am

Boat-tailed Grackle:

The morning after our short trip up to Palm County and a delightful visit and dinner with old friends and classmates from New Jersey, we headed home by way of Wakodahatchee Wetlands. The day before, we had visited Loxahatchee NWR and Green Cay. We could easily have spent an entire day at each of these three birding hotspots, but we had other commitments that left only about an hour and a half to spare.

Oddly, we had not seen a Purple Gallinule at either of the sites visited the day before, so it was first on our list of target birds. We were greeted with views of several as soon as we started out on the boardwalk.

The Purple Gallinule showed off the long toes that allow it to “walk on water,” as it steps on floating vegetation:

A Tricolored Heron and a gallinule offered contrasting shades of blue and purple:

The drab-plumaged Western subspecies of the Palm Warbler is a very common winter visitor. This one has developed a bright yellow chin patch that signifies the approach of the breeding season:

The yellow bill of the male Mottled Duck contrasts with the orange one of his mate:

A Pied-billed Grebe casts a nice reflection on a windless morning:

Nearly invisible, another of our target birds, a Sora, crept among the water plants:

The Sora paddled across an opening, providing me with the only clear view I could obtain:

In typical fashion, this Yellow-throated Warbler spent most of its time hidden, high among the palm fronds:

When it did come out into the open, the warbler appeared to be intent on displaying its yellow throat:

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03/04/10

Birding Western Palm County

Filed under: General, Birding & Outdoors, Florida & SE US, Birding "Patches"
Posted by: Ken @ 5:00 pm

The western part of Palm County has some great birding spots. All are accessible within an hour’s drive of our home in western Broward County. This past weekend, two of my grammar school classmates, Ron and Jack, and their spouses were visiting Florida, and Mary Lou and I had the opportunity to get together with them for a leisurly dinner at Outback Steak House in West Palm Beach.

It’s hard to believe that seventy years ago, Ron and I were in kindergarten together, and Jack joined us in first grade. We were together all the way through graduation from St Mary High School in Rutherford, New Jersey. We had a grand time swapping stories.

Mary Lou and I spent the night in a Lake Worth motel, and used their visit as an excuse to bird all day on the way up, and all morning on the way back home.

Our first objective was Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. This is where both Mary Lou and I saw our lifer Snail Kite and Limpkin on our first visit, in 2002.

We arrived early, and first looked for the Great Horned Owl that was nesting near the visitor’s center. One owl was on the nest with only the tip of its tail visible. Had it not been for a friendly photographer who was already there, we might not have found the other adult.

The owl was hidden in drooping Spanish Moss, and only an occasional gust of wind lifted the veil to expose the bird, which kept its eyes closed for the entire time of our visit:

We then made the short loop around the boardwalk, which traverses a cypress swamp.

A Northern Cardinal sang in the deep shade cast by the newly leafing cypress trees, providing a “picture postcard” image:

An inquisitive Blue-gray Gnatcatcher poked its head out of the gloom:

Although we saw a number of other birds, notably two Pileated Woodpeckers and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, distance and poor ambient light kept me from getting any good photos. We moved on to the Marsh Trail, spending over two hours walking along the levees that separate several wetland impoundments.

An Osprey flew low overhead:

A male Anhinga dried his wings along the path, sporting breeding season garb– green goggles and punk head plumes:

I’m sure that prospective mates think he’s gorgeous:

We looked for Limpkins, but were not successful, until I saw a slightly darker form amid the reeds. It was a nesting Limpkin, a really lucky find:

The bright sun heightened the color of this Little Blue Heron:

The Great Egrets had developed green ceres and nuptial plumes:

On our way out, a male American Kestrel looked at us warily before flying off:

Our next stop was at Green Cay Wetlands, where a Limpkin was much easier to find:

An American Coot showed off his red frontal shield, coordinated with his eye color:

The Yellow-rumped Warblers will be leaving soon. This one had a lively step:

A Northern Harrier, with owl-like facial discs, worked her way methodically over the wetlands:

There were numerous Glossy Ibises. The whitish line around the base of their bills develops as breeding season approaches:

A Tricolored Heron cast its reflection on a surface splattered with duckweed:

As I was starting up the car to depart from the lot, this Pine Warbler landed on a pine at eye level right in front of the car, doing what it does best, gleaning insects in needle clumps at the tips of the branches:

The beauty of this little bird really surprised me, as I usually saw them high up and against the sky:

I had already stowed the camera in its case on the back seat floor, and was lucky to have a rather prolonged photo session:

A final parting shot:

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03/02/10

Swallow-tailed Kite over Bald Eagle Nest

Filed under: General, Birding & Outdoors, Florida & SE US, Bald Eagle Nest
Posted by: Ken @ 10:58 am

Mary Lou and I observed our local Bald Eagle nest from about 8:00 to 8:45 AM this morning. The female was feeding the eaglets when we arrived:

She flew off the nest after about 10 minutes and roosted in the melaleucas
for the rest of the time we observed them:

The chicks were up and alert for a minute or so, then rested down low in the nest. It’s getting hard to tell the two largest apart– I thought they were arranged (left to right) from oldest to youngest, but now I’m not sure. The middle appears taller, but the left one seems to have less down on its head. If the second is a female, she will be larger than an older male before fledging. I will use this photo on the “Name the Baby Eagles” poll page unless someone comes up with a better one and will give me permission to post it there:

Only about 5 minutes later, the male adult (his distinguishing brown feather tail tip was better seen on another photo) flew to the nest. Upon arriving, he either dropped the prey as he began to land, or saw that there was no food in the nest, as he never entered the nest and quickly dropped down and away. He returned only about 5 minutes later with prey:

The youngest of the three eaglets, in foreground took quite a bit of food, while the other two appeared to have already eaten their fill:

For the first time in over two years of watching this nest, we were delighted to have a Swallow-tailed Kite circle around the nest tree and then pass directly overhead before disappearing to the north:

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02/26/10

STA-5: The Mother of all Treatment Ponds

Filed under: General, Birding & Outdoors, Florida & SE US
Posted by: Ken @ 4:55 pm

Birds and birders flock to water treatment plants. My first experience with one was the sewage pond at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. It was a green oasis in the otherwise arid desert, chock full of shorebirds. It smelled to high heaven!

This one has a modest name, Stormwater Treatment Area Number 5, STA-5 for short, managed by the South Florida Water Management District, and located south of Lake Okeechobee in no-man’s-land of Hendry County. In the middle of the sugar cane fields, STA-5 consists of four large shallow ponds that occupy an area of eight square miles. Audubon of Southwest Florida calls it one of the best birding spots in all of Florida.

Similar to domestic sewage settling ponds, STA-5 receives waste water and allows impurities to precipitate out and serve as food for millions and billions of trillions of microorganisms, algae and water plants. But unlike urban sewer plants, the source of the water is runoff from Florida’s generous summer rains, and the waste is agricultural effluent from the many farms upstream. Fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides dissolved in the runoff are captured and stored before purified water is released into the Everglades. Phosphorus is the main culprit. The Everglades are historically poor in nutrients, and phosphorus stimulates the growth of cattails that overrun the sawgrass that normally carpets the River of Grass.

Although remote and at the end of a mile-long unpaved road, it is rather easy to find, about twenty miles south of Clewiston on otherwise good paved roads. The drive down to to STA-5 is a destination in itself.

A Crested Caracara roosted atop a utility pole:

A large flock of Black-necked Stilts waded in the shallow water of the northeast pond:

One stilt appeared out of place as it rested alone on the shore:

American White Pelicans were everywhere:

A compact group of Short-billed Dowitchers slept as one kept a wary eye on its surroundings:

Another dowitcher foraged in the shoals:

A male Belted Kingfisher dove recklessly from its wire perch after a small fish:

The kingfisher then hovered, hoping for another meal:

It stayed in one spot in the air, the better to see movement in the water below:

An American Bittern was almost invisible against the vegetation as it stood motionless among Snowy Egrets and a Glossy Ibis:

A Caspian Tern, with others of its kind in pursuit, held on to a fish:

An Anhinga dried its wings, surrounded by Common Moorhens and Blue-winged Teal:

A Roseate Spoonbill, one of many at STA-5, cast a colorful reflection:

Nearby, another spoonbill preened:

A flock of Fulvous Whistling-Ducks paddled by:

A Black-crowned Night-Heron flew over:

A Black Skimmer created a linear wake, its reflection so crisp that I had trouble telling which side of this photo belonged up:

Another skimmer inscribed a curve in the water:

This skimmer displayed its unique bill in a fly-by:

This photo demonstrated the skimmer’s bill at work, close-up and personal:

A male Snail Kite hunted for Apple Snails:

This is one of at least two pairs of Snail Kites that were present:

Two Cassin’s Kingbirds, vagrants from the Western US, so common in our New Mexico front yard, caused excitement:

A pair of Western Kingbirds, a species which wanders to Florida more commonly, provided a nice plumage comparison. Note the softer gray on its head and lack of contrast with the light chin:

2 comments

02/25/10

Sandia Crest Rosy-Finch Update

Filed under: General, Birding & Outdoors, NM & SW US, Sandia Crest
Posted by: Ken @ 8:10 am

UPDATE: March 1, 2010. About 150 rosy-finches are now estimated to be present at the Crest House feeder, including all three species. Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches are not very numerous, and nearly all are Interior race. There were sightings of a single bird of the Hepburn’s race during December, 2009, but none since. See links to the latest reports from the banding team, and sightings logs, below. Banding takes place at 9:30 on Sunday mornings. The team has newly banded over 2000 rosies since they started operations in 2003. Keep an eye on the weather and road conditions before setting out on the 13 mile climb to the top. Check out the many links in rosyfinch.com for more information about birding the Sandia Mountains east of Albuquerque, New Mexico. If you have a request for information, or wish to provide a report on your birding trip to the Sandia Mountains, please visit the SANDIA CREST BIRDING FORUM.

**OTHER BIRD SIGHTINGS**
PINE GROSBEAKS have been
seen on November 22, and again on December 14, at the 10K trailhead along road to Sandia Crest, and seen on January 17 (and heard on the 31st) in Kiwanis Meadow just south of the Crest House, along with a pair of AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKERS

UPDATED
ROSY-FINCH REPORTS

Weather Note: Temperature at Sandia Crest (10,678′) is usually about 11 degrees cooler than that currently displayed at this station in Cedar Crest (7100′). Click on icon for full Sandia Mountain weather outlook.

Notes from Feeder Project Coordinators,
Fran Lusso and Dave Weaver

Date: February 25, 2010
Hi Ken,

I went up to the Crest today, so a log update is attached. It was cold, windy and snowing lightly while I was up there, but the road was clear except for a few small snow drifts above mile 9.

Hope all is well!
Dave

A log update is attached.

= = = = =
earlier excerpts from Fran and Dave…

…I am puzzled as to why so few people are signing the Birding Log. We have notices over at the windows where the viewing occurs directing folks to the book at the Forest Service desk and also have a sign at the Forest Service desk indicating which book is the Birding Log. We don’t get a lot of sign-ins on the Forest Service book either. Just shy I guess. If there were a convenient and secure spot to leave the log over near the viewing area I suspect we might get a few more notations but there just isn’t any place over there that does not interfere with the dining area. Oh well…

…The Crest House is now serving sub sandwiches to order and still serving the rest of the old menu that does not require the grill, oven or fryer. The staff says that visitors are doing fine with the new menu…

Latest From the Rosy-Finch Banding Team

February 28, 2010

Hi all,

Today was another good day at the Crest House. We only newly banded 2
Brown-capped Rosy-Finches but we recaptured 124 other Rosy-Finches.
Seven of these were birds from previous seasons that we had not seen
before. One was a Black Rosy-Finch that we originally banded on 5
February 2005. She is now in her 7th year.

The road was clear but there is a lot of ice between the parking lot and
the Crest House.

Nancy & Steve

—–

more…
I am attaching our banding schedule for this winter [link below]. We have canceled several days due to staffing additional projects and/or travel plans. We hope to see you all during this winter season. Please remember that weather can cause unscheduled cancellations too.

= = = = =

New FORUM in ROSYFINCH.COM

We have added a rosy-finch community FORUM to the rosyfinch.com Web suite. This feature will permit all who have an interest in rosy-finches and year-round birding in the Sandia Mountains to directly post current observations, banding reports, photos, research updates, requests for information or assistance in planning a visit. We invite all rosy-finch observers and researchers world-wide to utilize this new means of communication to exchange information. It supplants the “Correspondence” feature; older correspondence may still be viewed at the second link below.

VISIT OR POST TO THE SANDIA CREST BIRDING FORUM

VIEW ALL
PRIOR CORRESPONDENCE

VIEW
SIGHTINGS AND BANDING LOGS

SANDIA CREST & NATURE CENTER BANDING SCHEDULE

Don’t miss seeing this stunningly beautiful local PBS documentary about the Sandias that includes a segment on the rosy-finches, now archived on-line. Click on the thumbnail to the left for the KNME Film, The Sandias, to view the movie on knmetv.org/ The four chapters of this film document a project for a one-night spectacular light show, but also delve into the cultural, geologic and natural history of the mountain. Chapter One describes the ecology of the Sandias, and features the rosy-finch banding project near the end. There are great views of the birds taken at the Crest House, at the feeders and in the hand, not to mention wonderful photography that makes me really miss my former mountain home!

Below is a view of the Paa-Ko Golf Course (about 7000 feet elevation, near the foot of the 13 mile road up to Sandia Crest, which is at 10,678 feet) on March 27, 2009. Click on the photo during daytime to see the current Web-cam view of this same scene.

Google:

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