Wild Gray Squirrel and Cotton Rat meet for the first time nose-to-nose in the deep forest! We all know squirrels and rats are from the same Rodent family - I suspect Squirrels would be insulted if they knew this or that we call them "Tree Rats" sarcastically or affectionately sometimes.
Sandhill Cranes graceful flight closeup and dinosaur-like calls and rattles on the ground. Threatened in Florida, but conspicuous due to their huge size and loud calls there is a year-round resident population (Florida Sandhill Crane). However, these birds may be part of the migratory Sandhill Cranes that arrive each winter from around the Great Lakes and hangout in freshwater marshland and wide expanses of field and rangeland.
Sandhill Crane: Grus canadensis
Appearance:
Sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) are long-legged, long-necked, gray, heron-like birds with a patch of bald, red skin on top of their head. Cranes fly with necks outstretched like geese, whereas herons fly with necks tucked in on their backs. For positive identification, look for reddish skin on top of the crane's head.
Habitat:
Two subspecies of sandhill crane occur in Florida. The Florida sandhill crane (G. c. pratensis), numbering 4,000 to 5,000, is a non-migratory year-round breeding resident. They are joined every winter by 25,000 migratory greater sandhill cranes (G. c. tabida), the larger of the two subspecies. The greater sandhill crane winters in Florida but nests in the Great Lakes region. Sandhill cranes nest during late winter and spring on mats of vegetation about two feet in diameter and in shallow water.
Behavior:
Two eggs are normally laid. Cranes are monogamous breeders. Within 24 hours of hatching, the young are capable of following their parents away from the nest. Together, they forage for seeds and roots, crop plants such as corn and peanuts, insects, snakes, frogs and occasionally young birds or small mammals.
Cranes are quite omnivorous feeding on seeds, grain, berries, insects, earthworms, mice, small birds, snakes, lizards, frogs, crayfish, but do not "fish" like herons.
Resident sandhill cranes are usually seen in very small groups or pairs. In November and December, however, large flocks of northern cranes move in, more than doubling the population in the state and then leave during March and April. The sandhill crane is a close relative to the nearly extinct whooping crane, which is being reintroduced into the state. Young sandhills weigh about twelve pounds, males are larger than females, but external markings are identical. Cranes live to be older than most birds, some reaching 20 years old.
Eastern Meadowlark singing at least three variations of a song and some interesting chattering calls which I have not witnessed before. Watch this gorgeous bird for over 11 minutes and you'll never forget him. Out in the vast grass marshes of the St. Johns River a boundary marker becomes prime territory. One of the most striking and melodious songbirds of the marshlands I am quite lucky to find such a friendly subject to film and in such perfect lighting conditions.
Animation of Birds on Radar! December 19th, 2016 - A rare perfect circular donut echo is seen on weather radar from flocks of birds taking off at sunrise south of Orlando, Florida. It has long been known that bird movements show up on radar, but rarely do they show up as perfect circles starting from a small area and growing to such a large area. These birds took off south of lake Tohopekaliga near Kissimmee, Florida. Another circular bird echo can be seen further south toward the north shore of Lake Okeechobee.
Gray Squirrels bury nuts as fast as they can - a true nut burying frenzy - as I spend some quality time handing them large ripe acorns given by a friend. The Backyard has no acorns this time of year (water oaks) while they are falling in piles in other areas of Florida with small live oaks. Rather than eating them as I expected, the squirrels seem in a great rush to bury them as fast as possible - many they will not find again. Maybe it is going to get cold this winter! You will also hear the calls of Gray Catbirds and Northern Cardinals in the background at various times.
The stunning Polka Dot Wasp Moth is the adult stage of the Oleander Caterpillar, here pollinating our Backyard Loquat Trees. It is rare to see and get film of these elusive beauties which flutter around slowly in the daytime (Syntomeida epilais Walker). Its dangerous wasp-like appearance and unusual color patterns say to potential predators like birds - stay away - thus they are perfectly safe to feed on pollen in the daytime alongside the bees and other pollinators. Their caterpillars are only destructive to Oleander Trees which are highly poisonous. Oddly another similar wasp moth with bright red wings is actually called the Spotted Oleander Wasp Moth - it can be seen in this video:
The adult stage of the oleander caterpillar is sometimes called the polka-dot wasp moth. Wasp moth is the common name given to the subfamily of arctiid moths to which this species belongs (the ctenuchines) because of their resemblance to wasps such as the sphecids and pompilids. The moth's body and wings are a beautiful iridescent blue/green. Small white dots are found on the body, wings, legs and antennae, and the tip of the abdomen is red/orange. Male and female moths are quite similar in appearance, and have a wing span of 45 to 51 mm. These moths are slow-flying and active during daylight hours, which contrasts them with other moth species which are usually nocturnal.
High Definition Audio. Amazing male Osprey Sky Dance and courtship calling right over the Backyard and low. While the male shows off his voice and stamina for over 10 minutes the female can be heard calling loudly from high in a long leaf pine tree below probably encouraging him on! Hopefully they will build a nest nearby in the coming weeks. Luckily I had just attached my new external microphone with wind screen - this was the perfect test!
Appearance:
The undersides of the toes on each foot are covered with short spines, which help them grasp slippery fish.
Habitat:
The osprey is smaller than the bald eagles that typically share the same habitats, but its five to six foot wingspan is impressive nonetheless. Adults are dark brown above with a white underside and head. Look for the distinctive dark line that extends behind the eye and the gull-like way the narrow wings are angled downward when the birds are in flight.
The osprey is found year-round in Florida both as a nesting species and as a spring and fall migrant passing between more northern areas and Central and South America. Ospreys in Florida did not suffer the serious pesticide-related population declines that occurred in other states in the 1950s and 1960s. Pesticides, shoreline development and declining water quality continue to threaten the abundance and availability of food and nest sites for ospreys.
Behavior:
Ospreys, also known as "fish hawks," are expert anglers that like to hover above the water, locate their prey and then swoop down for the capture with talons extended.
In Florida, ospreys commonly capture saltwater catfish, mullet, spotted trout, shad, crappie and sunfish from coastal habitats and freshwater lakes and rivers for their diet.
Ospreys build large stick nests located in the tops of large living or dead trees and on manmade structures such as utility poles, channel markers and nest platforms. Ospreys have adapted so well to artificial nest sites that the species now nests in areas (e.g. inner cities) once considered unsuitable. Nests are commonly reused for many years. Nesting begins from December (south Florida) to late February (north Florida). The incubation and nestling period extends into the summer months.
The osprey is listed as a Species of Special Concern only in Monroe County. Permits are required throughout the state to remove a nest for these wonderful raptors, however, and a replacement structure must be erected to mitigate the removal of the nest.
Male Belted Kingfisher on a traditional perch hunting over the St. Johns river marsh in Florida. He's having a bad hair day due to high winds. For a nice example of a female Belted Kingfisher see:
Another reason besides Zika Virus to avoid mosquito bites in Florida! May be disturbing to some viewers! Bot Flies, Warbles, Wolf Worms, Mango Worms - they have many names, but they are nasty and they are back again this hot summer (Florida, late July 2016). This video shows some of the Backyard Gray Squirrels dealing with this mosquito borne seasonal scourge that they suffer every summer. Not all of the squirrels have them - yet. One poor guy has them in his shoulder, leg and testicles which seems particularly nasty. The video shows them stoically carrying on and doing a lot of scratching and biting. Last year at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orx-xLZrry0
I noted they typically fully recover especially with extra food and fresh water provided by kindly humans. It is also interesting to note that the worst off fellow appears to be eating dirt or charcoal as a way of providing essential nutrients and maybe animal medicine. There really is nothing to be done medically for them as catching wild squirrels and restraining them while trying to cleanly remove and disinfect the worm area would be very stress inducing and risk injury and infection. It is said that these type of bot flies do not transfer to humans by mosquito bites in Florida as they do in Central America, but with Zika and everything else around I try to avoid any mosquito bites - but that's nearly impossible!
A pair of Red Bellied Woodpeckers inspect a new Flycatcher Nest Box. Its now late July and 7 baby Red Bellied Woodpeckers have hatched and fledged in two broods so far this summer so I'm not sure what these two are up to - it could be they just can't resist checking out any potential nest site and give their opinion. Mother woodpecker in particular seems to spend a long time checking from every angle. Some nights the woodpeckers roost in the various nest boxes even though its not breeding season.
A pair of large Eurasian Collared-Doves are rare visitors to the Backyard feeder which is obviously too small for them, but they manage to improvise. These may be a breeding couple. These doves are big and ravenous, but their size and relative slowness compared to their much smaller cousins the Mourning Dove makes them easy prey for hawks and these Doves are very nervous and easy to spook in the open. See Coopers Hawk kill a Eurasian Dove:
Introduced from the Bahamas in the 1980's they have spread far and wide, but around this area of Florida they are just too easy picking for all the raptors and their numbers are small.
The elusive Black and White Warbler - a first time capture for me! Much like a nuthatch, the Black and White Warbler works rapidly up and down the bark of trees exclusively for its meals. Although the video is short and quality less than normal due to rapid motion of the warbler it does show its characteristic feeding behavior and its feet adapted just like a nuthatch for spending time on the trees. This is a bird in a hurry finding as many small bugs on the bark and branches of trees as it can in a short amount of time.
Screech Owl uses newly documented scary daytime defensive posture against annoying Blue Jays and Mockingbirds consist of wide eyed blinking and open mouth snapping to look more intimidating. Mother red morph Eastern Screech Owl is trying to take a break outside the nest box in the daytime and let the fast growing owlets have some room and air to cool down. Ordinarily she would never expose herself in the daytime except for nesting season. The Blue Jays are not going to let her rest - they want to harass her until she leaves their nesting area, but she is not going to leave her nest box - thus a standoff. Father Screech Owl sometimes kills songbirds roosting in the trees at night to feed the owlets so you can't blame the Blue Jays. Screech Owls are very small owls and have different techniques to deal with threats including making themselves very skinny like a branch when a real dangerous threat is around like a hawk or big owl or puffing themselves up for some threats they can intimidate like squirrels. These behaviors can be seen in this documentary:
Eastern Screech Owl Camouflage and Defensive Survival Techniques
Spunky Red Winged Blackbird attacks large Red Shouldered Hawk hunting on a fence post in marshland. The unprovoked attack seemed like a spur of the moment drive-by! Even though the Blackbird bounced off the hawk and the hawk barely took notice he's still a Boss!
Close-up look at how a Blue Jay intimidates and then gives chase to a very large Red Shouldered Hawk - the top of the Backyard food chain. The Blue Jays are "Backyard Superheroes" flaring every feather on their body to look big and with their beak held wide open to appear more dangerous they are a sight to behold in slow motion as they attack the hawk - and then give chase! Blue Jays are nesting now and particularly vigilant - they also perform a valuable warning service for all the other Backyard critters - especially the squirrels!
An Osprey hovers high above the marsh in very strong winds looking for a fish to dive on and catch. The first effort comes up empty, but Ospreys don't miss often and a meal is caught next. Also called Fish Eagles, Fish Hawks or Sea Eagles the Osprey lives entirely on fish. The "bent wing" profile is a sure sign you are looking at an Osprey at a distance!
Raccoon's using their incredibly sensitive paws to find bird seed under water in the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary near Naples, Florida. This was filmed under a bird feeder hung over the swamp and protected from squirrels and raccoon's - the crafty coons nevertheless found any bird seed that settled to the bottom of the swamp. Raccoon's love the water and swamping areas in particular - just have to watch out for the alligators!
Cute brother and sister gray squirrels have an energetic play session on their oak tree platforms. This is typical playful squirrel activity consisting of soft biting, grooming and wrestling of a non-sexual nature. It will be some month before they are sexually mature, for now its all fun and play and plenty of food!
The three squirrels born in early October and raised in a Woodpecker nest box now live together in the Backyard Oak tree. Their mother has recently passed away. The story of their life in the nest box is at:
They have been inseparable since leaving the nest, but it wont be long before they break up and spread out with the young males likely chased off to find new territory, but not very far away in the woods, perhaps only an acre or so away.
Photo taken on Janes Memorial Drive. Hymenocallis latifolia is a Florida native that is popular for its exceptional foliage and snow-white flowers (Fig. 1). This clumping, herbaceous perennial reaches a height of 2 to 3 feet. It has 3-foot-long, dark green, linear leaves that grow directly from an underground bulb. Numerous, white flowers appear above these attractive leaves in the summer and fall. The fragrant, long lasting flowers have a 6-inch-long flower tube with narrow, long, recurving sepals and petals. The upright filaments of these delicate flowers are connected by a gossamer web. Large, ovoid capsules that produce viable seeds appear on this plant after flowering has ceased.
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