The Daily Bucket is a place where we post and exchange our observations about what is happening in the natural world in our neighborhood. Bugs, buds, birds - each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
April 2012
It was a pleasant 4 days here along the south shore of the Florida Panhandle - daytime temps below 80, overnight to 60, seabreeze from one direction or the other, sunny, and clear at night. Hard wind blowing out of the NNW the first 2 days and then lighter winds from SSW.
I was here a month ago (diary for more background) but when I saw a late cancellation I snapped it up. It was lucky timing since I did not know it was the midst of migratory bird season. Lots of birds I had never seen before and the winds on Sunday and Monday kept the migratory birds close to ground looking for food after their flights across the Gulf of Mexico.
Here's a shot from Maps on my cell as I was out hiking.The blue dot is me maybe halfway up the peninsula wilderness area. It's wilderness but the city of Port St Joe and cell towers are only a few miles to the east across the bay. By foot, boat or a ranger in cart is only way to get into here.
Please continue on below the windy squiggle for migratory bird pics and little things of interest.
I was told there is a new park manager and so there is change. An attempt is being made to control traffic and usage throughout the park. This sign just went up along with the ropes and more parking. Primitive camping is now only in designated spots. Sections along the gulf and bay beaches are roped off for bird and turtle nesting but ya know, it does not stop people from being stupid and selfish. I certainly called the ranger when someone wandered off past ropes into dunes to picnic for the day.
Here's the center trail about a half mile in from the sign. Note the soft sand loosened by foot traffic. It's hard walking. Photo is looking south.
Then I got to Mile Marker 2 and the sand was more compact since there are fewer hikers. By the time I got to MM 3 it was more ranger carts and few footprints. There is a crossover to gulf or bay past MM1 and then again near MM 3. If one was hiking to a campsite or even to the tip of peninsula, it'd be easier to hike up the firm sand on beach to one of the crossovers. On bayside hikes you need to know tides.
Here's a little crab I picked up on the bayside at low tide. The easiest way to grab one is to trap it between feet and reach down and let it bite a finger. Can't imagine what them eyes saw of my camera lens....
This little snail slimed my walking stick. The shell looks translucent.
Low tide also exposes things like this sea worm skeleton. I assume sea worm, as always I may be wrong.
This is what a lot of birds were looking for - the dark berries on greenbriar (smilax auriculata). Blooms on this one will be berries soon. Seeing this helped me appreciate how interrelated nature is -- that birds fly so far across the Gulf and need this food source on the distant coast. Raised my attitude towards greenbriar that I normally hack and whack all year round.
Lots of Rose Breasted Grosbeaks to eat them berries. I'd never seen one before.
Reaching down for a berry.
and then getting a big mess on its beak. Funny to watch it hop over and wipe its beak on a limb.
The female Grosbeak does not have near the color. This one was hanging around watching the 2 males as they gobbled the berries. I saw her later at the same eating perch.
Black and White Warbler trying to whip a caterpillar into edible condition by smashing on tree limb. There were also Yellow and Hooded warblers and if I had better eyes, maybe 2 dozen types of warblers according to Gil Nelson in his book Exploring Wild Northwest Florida.
For some pics I was upstairs in cabin shooting out the window at tree level but this American Redstart was on the ground below me. Took me all day to figure this bird out, I kept seeing flashes of yellow. The pic is a bit unfocused but shows the most color. In flight it looks even crazier with those yellow and orange spots. Other birds I saw but didn't get good pics are Scarlet and Summer Tananger, Indigo Bunting, 2 or 3 of Thrushes, Grey Catbird, Red Bellied Woodpecker and a Tree Swallow while packing out. Didn't spend a lot of time looking at shorebirds and didn't notice any raptors.
I may be wrong but - Eastern Wood Pewee. It was outside the cabin most the day sitting on a branch like this and zooming off for a bug and then back to perch.
Can't resist this Cardinal. Sure it's just a cardinal but it was so happy to be there in the morning moment singing away. I was just as happy to hear it. Got its neat song on video too.
Beach pics -- Gulfside dunes from top of crossover.
As you can see the park is working hard to keep traffic from wandering off. Damage from decades past is evident thruout the dunes where you notice blowouts between the peaks where people wore down the vegatation that holds it all in place. Old campsites and campfires and trash litter the first mile of the wilderness area.
and finally, a sunset photo from top of the dunes.
That's all for now from gorgeous North Florida. I see the moon is coming around again, waxing straight overhead when I looked up a bit ago to check out a bird going by. So, like me the snowbird, how soon before these beautiful birds reach their northern summer homes? And as always, thanks to Backyard Science and DKos for getting me to be more observant and research and share what I see.