Tuesday, January 31
Afternoon birding was slow, but there were some outstanding views; the morning was with 2nd graders for their Insect Adventure. More about that later.
The best view was of a pair of Baltimore Orioles, a male and a female, in the top of a Coastal Plain Willow ( don't cut those trees !! ) at the start of the Bunting House cutoff in the mid afternoon.
Both were eating the seeds of the willow. The panel of the male at the near right shows how both were operating. They would hop out a branch to within reach of a cluster of the seeds that the wind hadn't yet dispersed. Then, each would reach out, grab a tuft of the seeds, hold it with a foot, and pick the seeds out of the fluff. The pair worked very methodically, staying in the same tree for a long time. The male was at the very top of the tree while the female worked more toward the center.
Another good sighting was a Northern Waterthrush foraging behind the Marinelli rain shelter. They've been much less common than usual so far this winter, so it was really nice to actually see one.
Also behind the Marinelli rain shelter was a female Okeefenokee Fishing Spider clutching her egg sack, left. Keith had found her and stayed to point her out to visitors.
Lots of Red-bellied Turtles of varying sizes were up basking at the north lake, and a few smaller ones were at the south lake. Warm days and nights seem to have brought them out from wherever they were hiding during the cooler temperatures. A few baby gators were at the north lake, but the mother didn't appear on her island.
The students in the morning were from Village Oaks Elementary in Immokalee. They were eager to try everything and retained a lot of the information from the learning stations when we were talking and looking along the boardwalk. They had very sharp eyes, and one girl spotted a very small damselfly like the Fragile Forktail at the right on leaves near the start of the shortcut trail. Once she saw one, others began looking and found several more.
Although it was an "insect" adventure, we did stop for anything else that moved or even came close to moving. Spiders really fascinate that age group, and there were plenty of them, mostly Venusta Orchard Spiders. While we were stopped to look for Gambusia in a shallow spot, a female Red-shouldered Hawk was perched right above us. While the kids were looking up, a male flew in and the pair had at it. Second graders are a lot more advanced than most people give them credit for. One boy looked at me and stated, "Oh, they're mating, aren't they." And that was all that needed to be said.
The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker near the first water gauge was tapping away, but they were more interested in getting back for lunch than stopping, so we didn't. At the end, all said the best part of the morning was dip netting, probably because each of them caught things.
Seven and eight year olds sometimes can ask some off-the-wall questions, but I got a new one toward the end of the walk.
The Rafinesque's Big-eared Bat was in the Living Machine again, although today it was in the men's side at the very back. When the group went to the Living Machine to wash hands before going to lunch, I took them all into the men's side to see the bat after checking to make sure no one was in there. They all looked up and saw it, eliciting a few "oohs," but one little girl was staring at the urinals on the wall. She finally asked, "Is that where boys wash their hands?"
I assured her that it wasn't, and fortunately, she didn't follow up and ask what they were supposed to be used for. I said that it was now time for lunch and everyone quickly filed out.
Friday, February 3
An emergency health situation arose with a close swimming friend, so I was on the phone with his relatives up north and the hospital for much of the morning. I didn't make it to Corkscrew.
Previous two weeks: January 20 & January 27