Tuesday,
April 22: Flint Pen Strand
Interesting encounters were the highlights of the morning. Nesting birds were very protective of their respective territories. When a Red-shouldered Hawk flew low over the reeds between the lakes, three Red-winged Blackbirds immediately rose physically attacked the hawk to drive it away from their nesting area.
Later in
the morning walking through the pines and grasses north of the Kehl canal,
a Wild Turkey hen walked out in front of me. Instead of running away as
turkeys usually do, she looked at me and then took several steps in my
direction. But when I didn't move, she stopped and we just looked at each
other.
A Fish Crow flew in and landed about eight to ten feet
away from the turkey and she immediately flew at it with her feet in front
aimed directly at the crow. The crow wisely fled immediately. Then the
turkey turned and looked at me, so 
I slowly back away and let her be. I didn't see any sign of a
nest, but she was definitely defending her territory.
Earlier
in the morning at the Purple Martin boxes, a Common Grackle tried to land
on the top rod over the boxes. Three martins flew at the grackle and chased
it away before its feet even touched the rod.
Two of the martin boxes had confirmed eggs (five in each) at the end of last week, but others probably do now. A number of the martins would flew to the entrance of a box and pass food to a mate on the inside.
At the start of the morning, the Sandhill Cranes at the left were standing in shallow water in the west lake preening. Later they flew to the marsh to the north and encountered the large gator at the top of the page making its way across the marsh toward the lake. The crane at the left sort of dance in front of the gator, keeping a safe distance. The gator was looking for water rather than breakfast and wasn't interested in the cranes, but they were very cautious just the same.
One Killdeer parent was watching over two of its chicks a little west of the lakes, but there were no potential threats nearby, so that was peaceful. The little Killdeer were very active, foraging on their own and seemingly oblivious to the adult's presence, but the adult was very aware of where the youngsters were and what they were doing.
Only 33 species of birds were identified. The most often seen were 11 Red-bellied Woodpeckers, 10 Purple Martins, and 9 Least Sandpipers. Wading birds were present, but very few as the marsh dry-down continues. With the exception of two Tricolored Herons and one Snowy Egret which were at a shrinking water hole in the north part of the marsh, all of the waders were around the lakes. The only warbler was a single Palm Warbler.
The only butterflies and dragonflies were 13 White Peacocks,
a Gulf Fritillary, and two each of Blue Dashers, Eastern Pondhawks, and
Halloween Pennants. Herps were just gators and one Squirrel Treefrog that
called early in the morning, and the only mammal was a Marsh Rabbit dining
on newly emerged grasses between the lakes.
Friday,
April 25: Pepper Ranch
Victoria and I checked four Swallow-tailed Kite nests in the Conservation Collier part of Pepper Ranch and one nest to the north in the state part of Pepper Ranch.
Two of the nests in the preserve had visible chicks. PRP39 and PRP42 are in the photos at the left. The chicks should be around 10 days old. At a third nest, the adult kite was still sitting low and not moving, so she should still be on eggs.
The fourth nest in the preserve was a bit puzzling. No
kite was there at the start and then one landed and stood on the edge of
the nest looking down. 
We moved a little further away for
a better perspective, and our movement apparently spooked the kite because
it took off and started calling in reinforcements.
Within a minute, eight more kites appeared in the air and circled over us. We weren't close to the nest tree and when we didn't move, all but two of the kites flew off. One of those two landed on the nest again and looked down but didn't go into the nest.
So we weren't sure what was going on there, but it didn't appear that it was a viable nest.
Kelly from FWC had checked kite nests in the state part on Thursday but she missed one of the nests, so we checked that one today. Nothing was happening at the nest or in the air.
On our way back from that nest, we encountered the Sandhill Crane family in its regular pasture. The poults are growing quickly but still lack adult coloration. A pair of Wild Turkey hens were in the same pasture along with some Eastern Meadowlarks.
We cut our morning short because Victoria had an afternoon meeting. We only had 24 species of birds but probably would not have seen many more had we stayed. It is really dry and there's very little water other than in Lake Trafford. The 14 Swallow-tailed Kites were second to 43 Cattle Egrets. Ten Black Vultures were the only other species with individual numbers in double digits.
The Black Vultures were in two spots. One was what's left of the wetland near the beginning of Pepper Road where they were cleaning up fish that had died when their water dried up. The second was by a dead cow near the start of Sunflower Trace Road. It's been there for three weeks now and is pretty well cleaned up.
Only five species of butterflies/moths and five of dragonflies were identified, Bella Moths were the most common, but that was because we walked through a patch of blooming Showy Rattlebox (Crotaliaria spectabilis), their larval host plant, on our way back from checking two of the kite nests.
Herps were gators (lots of gators gathered around the remaining water), a Black Racer, and a Squirrel Treefrog that was calling very early in the morning. White-tailed Deer and Gray Squirrels were the only mammals.
My yard
The winter birds are leaving. The male Painted Buntings left last weekend and three female buntings are still at the feeders as of Friday afternoon, plus a few Gray Catbirds. They all should be gone within the next week, Then it will just be the summer birds -- Northern Cardinals, Tufted Titmice, woodpeckers, Brown Thrashers, doves, Blue Jays, and a few Common Grackles.
The Eastern Screech Owls still peek out of their box during the day, but so far there hasn't been any sign of young owls looking out.
The Red-headed Woodpecker is becoming a regular, but so far only one has been seen. Hopefully, a friend will join it and they will settle into a nice hole in one of the snags in the yard.
Nighttime visitors on the trail cameras have been just Virginia Opossums, Southern Flying Squirrels, Cottontail Rabbits, and an occasional Raccoon.