Friday, November 6: Pepper Ranch Preserve
Fog, sunny, cloudy, cool, hot and humid. Weather varied greatly during the morning.
The photo at the top was taken a little before sunrise looking across Lake Trafford from the observation platform. Closer to the platform, Cattle Egrets, Little Blue Herons, and an Anhinga roosted in the trees, Palm Warblers and Gray Catbirds called from the vegetation along the path to the platform, and a Purple Gallinule worked along the bank.
Red-winged Blackbirds called from the Cattails at the edge of the lake and Double-crested Cormorants flew out from their nighttime roost.
Once the sun rose over the trees and reached the preserve, the fog quickly burned off, blue skies appeared, and birds began their day.
There was a nice variety of birds with 42 species identified during the morning. And that was with no vultures, no turkeys, no raptors other than Red-shouldered Hawks, no woodpeckers other than Red-bellied, and no Limpkins.
Tops, of course, were Cattle Egrets, although only 143 were counted this morning. Next were 21 Palm Warblers and 13 Gray Catbirds.
A hike along the Sunflower Trace east trail produced more warblers: Black-and-white, Yellow-rumped, Pine, Common Yellowthroat, and Northern Parula.
Marsh B was more active than it has been during the last two weeks. In addition to more Cattle Egrets, there were also a flight of Glossy Ibis, a Great Blue Heron, a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron, Common Gallinules, a trio of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks that flew over, a Red-shouldered Hawk, and Great Egrets.
Small birds at the marsh were Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Palm Warblers, White-eyed Vireos, and Yellow-rumped Warblers.
The quartet of juvenile Black-bellied Whistling Ducks in the photo at the top left were at the water hole near where the Crested Caracaras nested this year. No Crested Caracaras were seen today.
Insect sightings were rather limited. The only hiking was along the Sunflower Trace trail while Field M and its mosquitoes were avoided.
Nevertheless, nine species of butterflies were identified. White Peacocks were the most numerous followed by Monarchs, Cloudless Sulphurs, Orange-barred Sulphurs, and Phaon Crescents.
The Florida Calligrapher in the photo at the top right, a species of tiny fly, was one of several along with a couple of species of scoliid wasps that were in the sunflower fields at the south end of Sunflower Trace Road. Almost all of the sunflowers had gone to seed but a few late bloomers were still visible.
Herps were just gators in Lake Trafford and Brown Anoles everywhere, and the only mammals were White-tailed Deer and Gray Squirrels.
My yard
No large mammals appeared on any of the trail cameras around the yard. Virginia Opossums, Cottontail Rabbits, and Southern Flying Squirrels showed up every night, and an obnoxious family of five Raccoons came a couple of times. An Armadillo did trundle through one night.
Birds at the feeders were just Painted Buntings, Northern Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Red-bellied Woodpeckers. Mourning Doves were below the feeders and Gray Catbirds and Mockingbirds were close by.