HomeMy WebLinkAboutFlorida April 28, 2005 - A walk on Florida's wild sideA walk on Florida's wild side Focus on Nature By
Paul Stoutenburgh
How
lucky
Barbara and
I
have been
to
enjoy
and share a world
of interest
wherever we
go.
By that
I mean
a natural
world that
is
all
about
us, whether
it is cramped
into a
city's hustle and
bustle or on a
boat, big or small,
near or far, or even in our own
back yard. I guess what I'm
saying is don'
t get in
a rut and let your life be wasted
on emptiness. There's a world of
doings out there, so get involved. Barbara and I
go overboard and have too many fields to play
in. Right now were in Florida, and all about
is that wonderful world of things to see and do.
Were only a block or so
from the emerald waters of the Gulf of Mexico, with its wide, white beaches
and gently rolling surf. Willets can be found nesting along our south shore. The
large shorebird has a long, straight bill that lets it probe for worms, small mollusks and
other organisms. Times /Review photo by Barbara Stoutenburgh A walk always tums up something. Just last
evening we watched the sun be swallowed up by the impatient evening sky that
charged in with an extravaganza of color. Prior to the sun's setting, we watched the "peeps" or
least sandpipers play tag with the waves as they came rolling in and then receded,
leaving a new and
fertile path
for those three busy shorebirds to feed
on. These, like other shorebirds, were replenishing the fat they had used up on their long trip from the
other end of the earth somewhere in South America. This piece of beach, like many others,
was one of their rest and food stops. Never mind they had to
share the beach with occasional swimmers or beach walkers;
these tiny bits of fluff had to refuel and rest. Then they'
d be off on the next leg of their joumey,
perhaps to the sand flats in Moriches Bay
or the marsh edges along Flanders Bay in Riverhead. We also saw the big shorebird,
the willet, that nests along our south shore. It's a bird of drab coloring, but when it takes
to the air it flashes broad white stripes on its
wings. It, too, was working the water's edge, probing deep with its long,
straight bill. These large shorebirds inspired Barbara to bring out her camera, and she
got some good shots of this long- legged shorebird that had previously eluded us. Well hope
that later, when we get her card developed with the photograph of the willet, it's
as good as the picture of a willet that Alex gave me years ago
that still hangs on my wall at home. Then there was one lone black - bellied plover that was
still in its winter plumage. Soon it, too, will head for the great expanse of
the northern tundra — but
by then
it will have traded in its winter coat for one of speckled black and
white above and a black chest, making it quite handsome. We'll see this robin -size migrant along our shores at home, often
on the sod farms. We are on a long, narrow island that is teeming
with vacationers; therefore there
is a heavy demand for road space. The main highway sometimes gets plugged up with
The Suffolk Times I A walk on Florida's wild side Page 2 of 2
traffic and to alleviate the situation the city runs a free trolley the length of the island.
Not having any reference books down here that we can call upon, we decided to take
the trolley to the public library, which, by the way, is first class. We needed to do
some checking because when we went on a walk this morning we saw three birds
going through their mating and courtship maneuvers.
They looked like the kingbird we have at home, but slightly different. We checked with
our binoculars and took pictures, but the only way to check it out for sure was to
come here to the library. We had a Florida natural history book we brought along with
us, but it had a limited amount of Information and we needed something more
specific.
Sure enough, we found our birds to be gray kingbirds, much at home along the coast
of Florida. This was a new bird for both Barbara and me and, once again, it showed
that a single walk can turn into a mini - adventure.
The reason these large flycatchers are called kingbirds is their aggressive behavior
toward anyone who dares to venture near their nesting area; crows and grackles are
particularly targeted by these scrappy flycatchers.
Often you can find these birds perched on a dead branch just waiting for some
unsuspecting insect to pass by. Then, in its characteristic attack, it will fly out and
snatch the insect out of the air only to return to the perch where it awaits its next
meal.
Years ago beekeepers came down hard on kingbirds, as they would often snatch
bees from their apiary. Today in a more enlightened world, we know that the few
bees taken by the kingbird are more than offset by the good the bird does in ridding
the air of the more pesky and harmful insects it takes.
Last but not least, I want to report on the osprey we see down here. Yes, not all the
ospreys go north in the spring. Some are year -round residents here and build their
nests on a wide assortment of structures. One nest near where we are staying is on
top of one of the communications towers. We see the nest but as yet haven't seen
any signs of incubating.
By now most of the ospreys are back on Long Island from their winter quarters and
have pretty much finished rebuilding last year's nest. Remember, ospreys usually
mate for life, but when disaster strikes or one of the pair dies, the survivor will take
another mate.
It's hard to tell just where "our" ospreys go in the winter. We do know by tracking
some with radio and satellite equipment they go as far as Central America and the
tributaries of the mighty Amazon.
One thing we know for sure — Florida plays host during the winter to many of the
birds we see in the springtime passing through or even nesting in our area.
How this annual event of spring and fall migration came about is still not thoroughly
understood and, you know, I kind of like it that way.
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