Eight people came on the field trip this morning. There were not a lot of birds seen. But we did have American Pipits, White-crowned Sparrows, 3 Loggerhead Shrikes, a soaring Bald Eagle and a Barn Owl in the barn.
This is the first time this winter that we've seen the White-crowned Sparrows on a field trip. Levee Creek was very swollen from all of the recent rains and we had Hooded Mergansers, Mallards, American Wigeon, Wood Ducks and Green-winged Teal feeding in it.
We ended with a total of 51 species.
Anne Waters
Morgan Whaley
It was a beautiful sunny warm day with a nice breeze for our all walking field trip to Phinizy Swamp. 9 people joined us including a visitor from Virginia.
We had a total of 63 species on the walk. Some ducks are still here such as Mallard, Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, Shovelers, Ring-necked Duck, L. Scaup, Hooded Mergansers and Ruddy Ducks.
We also had 5 species of sparrows including Savannah and Field. The two Osprey were at the nest, one up on the nest so we think they are nesting but don't know if it's chicks or eggs. One was busy eating a large fish. A Pileated Woodpecker is also nesting because we saw him sticking his head out of a hole up in a large tree on Beaver Dam trail.
We had 2 Yellow-throated Warblers that have arrived for nesting. They were up in trees singing. We also had 1 singing Pine Warbler in the flood plain pine area where they nest. At least 8 Palm Warblers were in the park and 1 Black and White Warbler was seen before the walk started.
We saw 2 different Am. Bitterns which should be leaving soon to go north to nest but 1 was heard calling which usually doesn't happen until mating. As far as we know, they don't nest here. We heard both the King and Sora Rail in the reeds. The King stays to nest but the Sora is only a wintering visitor.
A very large alligator was in the water in cell 1. We estimated that he was between 8 and 10 feet long. Impressive.
Snakes were out today. We had a Garter Snake, 4 Cottonmouth Moccasins, and 1 Brown Water Snake.
There were also some early butterflies. We saw Sleepy Orange, Falcate Orangetip, Clouded Sulfur, Common Checkered Skippers, and a Pearl Crescent.
It was an interesting day. By the time the field trip was over, the sky was starting to fill with dark clouds and severe storms hit our area later that afternoon.
Anne Waters
Three dedicated individuals joined the bird and wildflower walk.
Bird species seen included Black and White Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Yellow-rumped warbler, Palm warbler, and Turkey Vulture. An Oven bird was calling. Also seen were American Crows and White-throated Sparrows.
The flowers were great!
We saw about 6 Jack- in- the- pulpits, two types of Trillium (Nodding and Yellow), Shooting stars, and the Florida Goose berry was blooming. May Apples, Saxifrage, Dutchman's britches ,Tooth Wart, Pussy toes, Rattlesnake plant, Spring Beauty and Painted Buck Eye were seen. Lots of Snow Bell trees were in full show and the Cherry and Dog Wood and Plum were nice too. Arum Root, Yellow Rag Wort, Carolina Jasmines and Cross Vine were also in bloom.
Calvin Zippler