FLORIDA: Pinewoods

Dark skies and two hours of heavy rain accompanied us on our drive northwest into the South Central Florida Pinelands. As the rain let up four Swallow-tailed Kites flew across a short grass field and in front of us, heading off together for the mornings hunt.

This region of central Florida is dotted with a multitude of lakes of all sizes and this has proved to be a haven for Osprey and Bald Eagles. The surrounding countryside is made up primarily of pastoral grazing fields with clusters of Cabbage Palms; Pinelands of Slash and Long-leaf with an understory of Saw Palmetto; Cypress swamps, and Pine-Oak scrub. All very different habitat from what we had experienced in the Southern part of the State. Buteo’s were represented with a single Red-tail and many Red-shouldered Hawks. Crested Carcara’s (above) which favor the open dry prairie were often encountered oddly enough not in the presence of the vultures. Though they do scavenge they are more closely related to falcons!

The Pinelands (above) produced the most species as we worked endless stands of pines in search of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. Our first stop was very productive with the white-eyed race of Eastern Towhee, Great Crested Flycatcher, Pine Warbler, Brown-headed Nuthatch. There were many Bachman’s Sparrow’s calling, with most well concealed from our view until we were able to track one as it drop down to the palmetto then back up onto a pine branch. Eastern Bluebird and the Osceola race of Wild Turkey were also added.

After several hours, and now with the cloudless sky bright blue, we walked what we hoped would be the prime area and sure enough we got woodpeckers. A few Red-bellied, a pair of Downies and a Pileated, but no Red-cockaded! We split up, with Art and Rick heading off into unchartered territory weaving their way through Saw Palmettos while the rest of us backtracked along the sandy path towards the van. As luck would have it, a courting pair made their way towards us and before we knew it, Rick and Art came huffing and puffing to see their life bird!

There was a humorous incident when Dave cut short his visit to the outhouse upon finding a small three-and-a-half foot long Yellow Rat Snake (above) curled up in the corner. We did well on reptiles today with Florida Box Turtle, Six-lined Racerunner and Florida Scrub Lizard added to the list. Other fauna included Zebra and Palamedes Swallowtail, Buckeye, Eastern Pondhawks, Red Saddlebags, Oak Toad and a handful of White-tailed Deer.

We took our picnic lunch along the picturesque Lake Kissimmee (above), though the one airboat temporarily made the serene setting anything but. A pair of Sandhill Cranes (below) could not have been more obliging as they foraged amongst the Pickerel Rush.

At Lake Jackson a Limpkin posed for the avian paparazzi while at Lake Marian, American White Pelican bounced up and down and were more obvious than the white caps the southerly winds were whipping up. Apple Snails form a great percentage of the diet of both Limpkins and Snail Kites. On the landing wall just above the water line hung many clustered of pink snail eggs while on the lakeside grasses a handful of eaten snail shells lay discarded.

I never expected Snail Kite to be so hard to find today, but the overnight and early morning rains may well have have contributed to a slight temporary shift of their favorite hunting haunts as the water levels were noticeably well above normal. But this is the joy of birding – one just never knows what to expect, other than to expect the uncertain. During the mid afternoon hours we positioned ourselves on the slightest of elevated sandy ridges to give us that extra advantage to scan what really amounts to only a small window of opportunity, in the hopes of seeing a Short-tailed Hawk (above). Within a few minutes a dark morph bird was spotted hanging in the air, head facing down looking for any unsuspecting passerine. It then proceeded to put on one of the best shows I have ever witnessed here as it circled over head a few times for gliding off out of view. Not only were we very lucky everyone was very pleased!

Todays amorous adventure came curiosity of an Armadillo whose partner was willing, but in all honesty she was more interested in foraging than fornicating. The poor fellow made numerous attempts but somehow I do not think he was successful.