Walking Routine

Now that Marge is back to south Florida, our walking routine will resume, I hope. We walked on Friday, Oct. 17, and the weather was just great. Did not see anything really unusual - just one alligator who seemed sleepy. Do they sleep with eyes closed?

More as we do more walking...

The Osprey @ Green Cay

For two evenings in a row, I saw an Osprey perched on a dead tree. Majestic looking, he was scanning the water and watching the boardwalk. Interesting that he (or she) shared the tree with an Ibis and an Anhinga. A similar sharing with humans would have us occupying space with chimps and gorillas. Would never happen with us.

It is getting less humid. Soon I will be able to walk at there more comfortably.

My new website is up: www.elissa.com

Green Cay - a Woodpecker

Thursday, August 21, 2008 - As I began my evening stroll I saw a red-bellied woodpecker, a female jumping around on a palm trunk. I know what kind of woodpecker now because I looked it up in the bird book. She was looking for a likely spot in which to drill, but didn't find one while I was watching. This evening's stroll takes place after T.S. Fay dumped buckets and buckets of water everywhere. It's obvious the water level has risen in all the wet areas of Green Cay. Even the otter hole looks like it might have flooded. I'm pretty much all alone here at this time of night (around 7pm) - maybe people stayed away because it looks like rain again?

Not many animals around. Wading birds do not like deep water. I did see a couple woodstorks, a few ibis, even a glossy one, but not much else. And it is unusually quiet. No peeps or croaks or screams from the moor hens. The other day I saw a moor hen battle. They recline on their backs and fight with their feet. Really odd! What was the fight about? Who knows? Territory? It is very comical to see two birds on their backs slapping and poking each other with their feet!!

T.S. Fay

August 19 - Not as bad as a hurricane, but Tropical Storm Fay kept me home from work to day. The university is closed until tomorrow. Lots of dark skies, wind and rain, but not scary at all. I did not lose power at all. At least not yet. The sky is beginning to show blue at 4:30pm, so I think the worst of the storm has passed my area of south Florida.

Maybe a walk at Green Cay later?

Green Cay, Friday evening

August 15 - Evening is more humid. Not many people want to visit in the evening so during last Friday's visit I didn't run into walkers. Saw an alligator on the lake swimming across with his mouth open. What a big, pink mouth! Don't know whether he was cooling off or trying to take a big drink. Then I saw 2 whistling ducks on the log where we usually see turtles or baby moor hens. They were twins, perching in the same position. And they have very, very pink feet!

As I was rounding the curve toward the cut back to the center, there was a raccoon ahead of me on the boardwalk. He looked back & kept trotting forward. I slowed down but did not stop. Eventually he or she slipped through the slats on the railing and disappeared. He was bigger than my cat.

I almost decided to call it a night & not do the small loop, but I did anyway and was rewarded with a close sighting of a young spoonbill. He was standing on one leg, with his bill tucked into the pale pink feathers on his back near the gazebo on the small loop trail. As I watched, he opened his eyes, lifted his bill, looked around, then went back to napping. It was getting late and the sky was darkening, so I quickly finished walking the loop & headed home.

Green Cay in the Evening

August 7, 2008, 7pm -almost too hot to walk, but decided to anyway. Mine was one of two cars in the parking lot. On the long loop near the first chickee hut, saw two alligators rolling over one another, no sound, looked like they were playing. For the first time, saw a pig frog, kind of small to be making such a big noise but the photographer who was there said it was definitely one of the piggies. At a distance saw a few roseate spoonbills scattered among the great egrets and tri-colored herons who were gathering in their nightime groupings. As I was entering the cypress area, two whistling ducks were sitting on the railing. I had a close up look at their markings - red bill, green head, black bellies, and ruddy backs - very colorful. As I approached they flew away, whistling.

A few stilts on the short loop, nothing in the cut-across, one spoonbill near the first rest area on the short loop with his/her head buried under feathers. On one leg too.

Although it was hot at first, by 7:45 the air was cooler and more egrets were flying into the groups. I think I saw two white morphs of the great blue heron - yellow legs are heron legs, so they must be herons.

7/27/08 6-7am. Green Cay. clear and humid.
Today was similar to yesterday. Saw at least 3 whistling ducks , whistling in flight. The egrets gathered in the center of the long loop sheltered from the boardwalk. We could see them from the backside of loop, but not from beginning of walk. 2 mottled duck families and lots of moorhens and green herons. There was a gathering of many different birds to the right of the nature center again: 2 glossy ibis, many wood storks, 5 roseate spoonbills, many egrets large and small, along with blue and tricolor herons. No great blue herons seen. Did see 2 purple gallinules in the fireflag stalks. No stilts today. No alligators.

6/26/08 Green Cay. Humid in hi 70's @ 6am. 11 Roseate spoonbills in the throng of egrets in water on 1 mi loop. The spoonbills took flight all together. At 6:50 am, there was a small gathering of young egrets along with 4 more immature spoonbills in the water to the right of the nature center.

7/24/08 Thurs. Green Cay. Dark. No moon. Temp mid 70's. Air very still. Water like glass. Two adult stilts yakking/calling loudly in the dark in the shallow water. About 15 feet away, a small stilt was running to catch up with them. Saw 2 black-bellied whistling ducks in flight whistling the whole time. 2 adult spoonbills flying above a horde of egrets., and one lone spoonbill on the bank across the water. 6 stilts in nearby water very vocal with a few young stilts. Moorhens seen throughout the wetlands with families in different stages of development, from a week or two to almost full size, but still no red nose mask. A few mottled duck families with chicks following adult..Not as many egrets flying in today, but where they did gather, 2 alligators lurked in the water. No adult purple gallinules seen for the past 3 weeks or so. One black crowned immature night heron flew off the railing. Lots of blue herons on railings, flying away farther up the railings when we came by. Saw 4 glossy ibis during walk.

Wed. 7/23/08, Green Cay. 6am, balmy, temp lo 70's, lo humidity, great for walking. The perfect day for the 40th birthday of my daughter, Julie. Very positive vibes.

Dee and I started our walk on the long loop with the continual calls of what I now know to be the language of the stilts carrying across the water. Lots of invisible croaking frogs. Saw very little on the 1st mi around, but upon starting the 1/2 mi loop next to the nature center, at the first hut (covered area), the water to the left was loaded with immature egrets, stilts, a lone young spoonbill and a few small blue herons. It looked as though the adults had established a small nursery for their children and then left them in the care of a wood stork to go off and have coffee with their adult friends. At the second round of the large loop, we saw the adult egrets both snowy and great, gathered in an area usually empty at this time of morning. 5 or 6 adult limkins on railings and in reeds, unusually quiet. At least 8 stilts noted ,some still calling to whoever they call to. We went back to the nursery area one more time at the end of our walk, around 6:45, but the young and their nanny, had moved on .

Saturday, 7/19/07 Green Cay. 5:55 am. Full moon. Dark. cool, mid 70's. Humidity high when sun came up. Lightning in western sky around 6:30.
Elissa and I were 1st ones there. The man who usually pulls in just before or after us didn't show today. I hope he's OK.

No frogs heard. Different sounds heard at beginning of 1 mi loop. The limpkins were doing their usual loud crying/screaming , but another loud continual chirp -type cry also echoed across the water. When we got to the area just before the cypresses, we saw and heard a black necked adult stilt that was making all of the frantic flat/chirp noise. There was also an alligator in the area. In the past, we'd seen adult stilts with immatures in the same area. I hope the gator didn't feast on one of the babies. Egrets still flying in, but not in such huge numbers. A roseate spoonbill seen among some egrets. Lots of greens perching in reeds and on spots of greens in water, very still. Blue herons and tricolors flying and on railings. Saw 3 alligators in different areas. Grackles right on schedule, taking off at 6:30. At front end of 1/2 mi loop, saw the limpin with 2 young who must nest there as we've seen them in same area in the past few weeks and there was a tamped down area in reeds where they stood. The mate was about 30 feet away and very vocal. There was a small alligator about 20 feet away from them and it seemed that the lone adult limpkin was trying to distract the gator.
Upon finishing our walk, heading back to the nature center on long loop, an immature black crowned night heron posed on the rail, letting a woman take its picture and others to walk right by before it flew off. It was in the same area, about 150 feet from nature center at beginning of long loop, where we saw 2 immature night herons during the week. Only saw one wood stork today in a dead tree. Redwing blackbirds are gone. Didn't see any at all. Saw some duck families, not many. Purple martins still absent. Some anhingas swimming and some with wings outstretched.

July 16, Wed. 6-7am. Green Cay Rained last night
Cool, humid. Temp about 74 degrees. Still dark. 1st car in lot. Very quiet. At start of walk, only sounds were frogs croaking with responses heard from across the water. Dead trees bare. Egrets starting to gather on 1/2 mi side of nature center. Limkens, great egrets with immatures, green and tricolored herons lined up on railings. As before, grackles took off noisily at 6:30 am. Saw one spoonbill, several adult black necked stilts. 2 immature black crowned night herons were fishing stealthily next to the reeds on bank side, about 200 feet in from the start of the 1 mi loop. Just as Dee said that she guessed that the whistling ducks were gone, we heard whistling and looked up to see a one flying directly overhead.


July 13,2008 Sunday 6am. Green Cay
Dark at beginning of walk. Grackles took off around 6:30 am. Egrets gathered in great numbers in cypress tree water area. One alligator noted cruising for his/her breakfastat the edge of the egret fray. 3 spoonbills seen within the sea of white.

7/2/08 Green Cay. Upper 70's at 6am . Lower humidity. 1st car in parking lot. Still dark/lightning in clouds to the west.Very quiet at first. No frogs croaking. Limkins heard. Dead trees again with 2-4 wood storks each.
6:20 am: the grackles started their shrill chirping and left their nests flying in northern direction.
From 6am to 6:40 am, the egrets flew in from all directions to settle in the water near the cypress trees. The water and banks were almost wall to wall white. One spoonbill seen in the mix along with some woodstorks followed by a few immature woodstorks. The rails were full of egrets, tricolor and blue herons. Farther along on the railings, 3 green herons in a row. A limken on the rail didn't move as we went by.

7/1/08 6am. Green Cay. Very humid. Heavy rain, thunderstorms most of night. Only one other car in lot . Still dark. Lots of frogs heard croaking across the water. Don't know what kind, but they sound like someone blowing out the lowest sound on a tuba. The first mile loop was quiet, not many birds up yet. By sunrise, though, the egrets were flying in from surrounding areas en mass vying for space in their gathering place. The grackles, must be nesting now, were very actively chirping and flying overhead as they left their "beds" to get food. Boy, were they noisy. Lots of them on the rails.
Again there were wood storks on the branches of dead trees. Not as many as last week, maybe 2-3 per tree along with a few great blue herons. The wood storks got the top branches though.
Saw 2 medium size alligators not moving in the water, just waiting.

Marge says:
I'm going back to the week of June 16th, at Green Cay, the week before Elissa's first post, because there was an abundance of awesome bird and other animal behavior. I walked with Dee, 2 mornings that week.

6/17/08: We saw a bobcat! It was coming from under the boardwalk on the 1 mile loop and posed for us for a few minutes before walking away along the ditch of the 1st service walkway. Neither of us had brought a camera.
We checked the redwing blackbird nest close to the boards a little farther on, where the week before there were 4 hatchlings in the nest with beaks open and begging for food. Now, after the heavy rains of the past few days, there were 2 youngsters perched on a sideways stalk within the pickeral reed and we could see the head of one chick in the nest. Couldn't tell if the one in the nest was alive. The parents, usually in close attendance, were not seen.

6/18/08 Hazy, humid at 6:10 am. Heavy rains last night. We always look for what we've termed the "sentinal", an anhinga on the first dead palm on the left at the start of 1 mi loop. An anhinga was there with wings outstretched looking beautiful.
The amazing sight today was that the wood storks had taken over most of the dead trees along the 1 mi side. There were between 5 and 20 wood storks on each dead tree. We didn't see any on the ground. They just perched, very still, on the dead branches. We saw about 40 total in the trees. I wonder if that's part of their mating behavior?

Egrets, both snowy and great were massed in first one water area wall to wall, and then at some signal that we humans couldn't hear or see, they all, in an orderly fashion, flew off to another water area. Many egrets on railings in massed areas and lots of posturing and lacey feathering.

Grackles were very loud. Continuous chirping of both males and females. Females with dipping of feet in the water behavior.

Redwing blackbird nest is now down to 1 young surviving, still perched on the same broken stalk of pickeral reed.

6/28/08 Rained again last night. Elissa and I checked the redwing blackbird nest and sadly, the last chick is gone. I guess the heavy rains washed it away. There was one woodstork on a few of the dead trees, but nothing like last week.
The grackles were massed in the fireflag areas and took off as one, noisily chirping and looking like a flock of bats as the flew over our heads. Females still with dipping of feet in water behavior.
Also saw an adult black necked stilt with a chick looking to be about 2 weeks old.

Sunday, June 29, 2008 - T-80 H-83

Elissa says: This is a new Blog about birds and other animal sightings at nature preserves in south Florida. We'll begin with happenings at Green Cay.

Today Marge & I went on our usual walk at Green Cay. It was about 6:15am. We were the 2nd car in the lot. The air was cool but by the time we left around 7:30am is was getting unbearable. Saw lots of great egrets, snowy egrets, and green herons, 1 black-crowned night heron, and 1 black-bellied whistling duck.