Ranger at Large!

Wandering around the wood shed

It's amazing what life our little wood shed at the park supports. I spent an enjoyable break observing and photographing a whole bunch of stuff. The most interesting was a Venusta Orchard Spider, which other than a Tarantula is the biggest spider I've seen....bout the size of a hockey puck. Cool looking too! Haven't managed to capture a picture of the Florida Cottonmouth that likes to occasionally chill on the old broken down bush hog but I'm trying.

Birding without bins, Chimney Swifts and Baseball

You can pretty much bird anywhere, except maybe on the moon and this last couple of weekends I experienced what it's like to be a birder not birding. On Father's Day, David (my father-in-law) and I went fishing up the St Marks river. We got one small Largemouth Bass between us! We are such great anglers...J.R Hartley eat your heart out. Anyway I left the bins at home...on purpose but still had a great time birding! It is possible to bird without optics. In a 3 mile stretch of the river I heard 4 Yellow-billed Cuckoo, a Least Bittern, Acadian Flycatchers, Great Crested Flycatchers, Summer Tanagers, White-eyed and Red-eyed Vireos, Hooded and Prothonotary Warblers, Northern Parula and many other typical woodland birds. I also had both kites, Broad-winged and Red-shouldered Hawk. I reckon we had almost 50 species...without optics. Try it, it's fun and tests how good you are birding by ear .
 
This last weekend we took a family trip to Atlanta. I had tickets to go watch the sox play the braves so when in Rome....we went to the World's largest aquarium and took the baby to a kid's museum. The game was a close one, Mark Kotsay drove in Kevin Youkilis for the games only run giving the Red Sox the win. Yay! During the game I enjoyed watching a dozen or so Chimney Swifts flying around above the upper deck where I was sitting. The 40,000+ fans were probably oblivious to them as they zipped around catching their food. Pretty cool to watch.
 
The Georgia Aquarium is truly awesome and is home to hundreds of marine species from all over the world including 3 Beluga Whales and 3 Whale Sharks. My personal favorite though was the Lion Fish.

New Beginnings

I'm kind of bored of writing about birds all the time and haven't even been birding that much of late. I've rekindled my interest in natural history as a whole and other outdoor pursuits, such as fishing, which I have neglected the last few years. Well no more. I guess I am also bored of mainstream birding especially listing. What's the point? It seems a purely egotistical pursuit in my opinion and really does nothing to stimulate the old brain cells anymore. I've found myself becoming more interested in nature from a big picture point of view and am having a lot of fun observing species behavior and their interactions with other species and the habitats they reside in. I guess I was inspired by William Stolzenburg's book "Where the Wild Things Were". If you haven't read it, please do it's a can't put down read and a fascinating perspective of the state of our species. So from this point on my blog will be devoted to a whole smorgasbord of topics. Birds will feature but not all the time.

This Carolina Anole got territorial when I approached him for a picture. They bob up and down and look like they're doing push ups. They will flare a flap of skin from under their throat which looks like the inside of a watermelon.

Richard Crossley - Wild in the City

Fellow brit Richard Corssley has come up with a great idea. Support his concept, watch the video and take the survey. He's alright for a Yorkshireman!

North Georgia Mountains

We took our first vacation in 2 years last weekend and headed up to the North Georgia mountains for some fresh air, singing warblers and beautiful scenery. Even though the mountains are only 375 miles north of Tallahassee the breeding birds, particularly the warblers, are a lot different. We didn't really target any specific species but we were excited about visiting Georgia's highest peak, Brasstown Bald, which is a couple hundred feet or so below 5,000. Two species breed on the mountain that we really wanted to see namely Canada Warbler and Ruffed Grouse. We have seen the former here in Tallahassee but they aren't very common and only occur during fall migration. The latter is just cool.

We visited Brasstown Bald on our second full day and arrived at the base of the peak, accessed by a typically winding mountain road, a little before 9am. While Maisie ran around the vacant parking lot, Julie and I began to hear several bird singing that we weren't all together familiar with. On my way to the restroom I heard what sounded a little like an American Robin song but speeded up and shorter. I soon spotted the culprit. A cracking male Rose-breasted Grosbeak. We've seen many grossers but I'd never heard one singing before. An Eastern Phoebe was building its nest on a ledge under the restrooms roof. I got back to Julie and the baby and there was a stunning male Black-throated Blue singing at the top of the tree by the car. It was one of many we would subsequently see.

Black-throated Blue Warbler Dendroica caerulescens

 
We hung around the car park for a while, mostly because Maisie did not want to sit in her stroller, and admired a whole bunch of cool birds. Wood Thrush, American Redstart, Dark-eyed Junco, Ovenbird, Broad-winged Hawk, Eastern Wood-peewee, Chimney Swift, Eastern Towhee, Black-and-white Warbler, and Worm-eating Warbler were all observed and most were singing. It didn't take long for us to find a singing Canada Warbler. Their song was easy to learn and we saw one of the 2 singing males. Mega bird!
 
Giff Beaton's book, Birding Georgia, is excellent and he suggests that birders take a hike along Wagon Train Road where one may be fortunate enough to find a Ruffed Grouse. We did flush one and as it ran up a densely vegetated slope it started drumming. I also heard another drumming in the distance. Canada Warblers were not hard to find along the trail and we had at least 4 individual birds, 2 of which were singing. We also heard a Veery singing near the peak.
 
Squawroot
 
We almost made it to the top of the mountain but the final steps were not stroller friendly and by now Maisie was sound asleep so we headed back down to the car trying not to wake her! Back at the carpark we watched a pair of juncos feeding their chicks. A couple of Broad-winged Hawks began displaying much to the annoyance of the Chimney Swifts. I'd never seen a swift mob a hawk before and I'd never seen them fly through the canopy either. It begged me to ask whether Chimney Swifts nest in tree cavities. Further research required!
 
We rented a cabin for our three-night stay, which was west of the small town of Cleveland in White County. It was very reasonably priced and they ran a special offer of stay 2 nights get one free. Bonzer! Our cabin was called Sandalwood and we rented it from Cedar Creek Cabin Rentals. The woods around the cabin were great for birding and we racked up about 30 species just from the balcony. Julie spotted a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird sitting on her beautifully constructed nest.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird Archilochus colubris
 
Other birds included Hairy Woodpecker, Worm-eating Warbler, Wood Thrush, Great Crested Flycatcher, Cedar Waxwing, Cooper's Hawk and Chuck-wills-widow.

We visited the nearby Ana Ruby Falls where we got very close looks at Louisiana Waterthrush and despite the fact that the signs looked promising, we didn't see any pit vipers!
 
 
The falls reminded me of Aber Falls in North Wales back home.
 
There were 3 Luna Moths resting on the walls of the visitor center.
 
 
Another good spot for birding was Smithgall Woods located off alt-75 not far from the weird german wannabe town of Helen! We hiked the Laurel Ridge Trail and had some good birds. Kentucky Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler , Scarlet Tanager, Wood Thrush and Hooded Warbler were all found as well as a singing Yellow Warbler. Maisie enjoyed checking out the flowers.
Mountain Laurel
 
Green Pitcher Plant
 

We had a great trip and will definetly go back for another short break sometime soon. We won't forget our bird song CD's next time!