New Faces

This has been an interesting winter on the lake in My Florida Backyard. Perhaps because of a lot of new vegetative growth in the lake itself (we believe most of it is the very invasive hydrilla, but it's not something we have any control over as the lake belongs to the HOA), we have seen winter visitors we've never noticed before. Our wintering water fowl have always included Lesser Scaup and Ring-Necked Ducks, but in recent months we've also noticed Blue Winged Teal and American Coots. And this past weekend, we documented another Florida winter bird that was new to us - the Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata).

We first noticed this pair while watching the more usual mallards on the lake, but quickly noticed something different. The bills of these birds are simply massive, and have a very obvious shovel shape. A quick web search for "duck shovel bill" gave us our answer, and the information that this bird is extremely common in the US. It winters here in the South, migrating north to its breeding grounds in the Northwest US and Canada.

The glossy green head of the male and obvious large bill make it easy to identify this bird. Interestingly, several of our birding guides note that this bird is more of a forager and is less likely to upend itself, instead feeding by swimming along with its head underwater. Our experience has been quite different, as these birds spend at least half their time with their hind ends up in the air looking for food (placing themselves squarely in the category we here in My Florida Backyard call "butt ducks"). This does give you a nice chance to notice the blue and green feathers that hide underneath their wings.

The guides also note that this species is monogamous, so the pair that's been in our pond all weekend are probably a mated pair getting ready to head north for the summer. We're not sure exactly why more species of migrating waterfowl are choosing the lake in My Florida Backyard this winter, but one thing's for sure - we're not complaining!

What's My Name?

A year ago, we would have told you that this little water bird that's recently started making appearances in My Florida Backyard was known as the Common Moorhen (Gallinula cholorpus). In July 2011, though, the American Ornithologists' Union voted to split the American population of the bird into its own separate species, the Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata). And so that's how we introduce it to you today.

The Common Gallinule and its relative, the Common Moorhen, are the most commonly seen members of the Rail family (Rallidae) around much of the world. Here in the U.S., it's found year-round in the south, including Florida, and spreads throughout the eastern half of the country in the summer breeding season. The red face patch and bill tipped with yellow make it easily identifiable. NOTE: Despite the new name, don't confuse the Common Gallinule with its arguably more gorgeous relative, the Purple Gallinule (Porphyrio martinica). 

It's a small bird, compared to companion ducks and other water birds, as you can see below when compared with female mallards. It eats mostly vegetation, but supplements its diet with small snails it finds among the floating leaves. It has very cool feet, with extremely long toes, and despite the lack of webbing, it's an excellent swimmer. Click here to see a photo of Common Gallinule feet.

You might be wondering, who gets to decide what to call a bird, and how do they make that decision? Well, according to its website, the American Ornithologists' Union is "one of the oldest organizations in the world dedicated to the scientific study of birds". As such, it commands a great deal of respect from ornithologists worldwide, and the research it sponsors and produces greatly increases our understanding of the bird world. In a nutshell, if these folks say the American gallinules are a different species than those found in other parts of the world, then there's an awfully good chance they are.

Science is a search for answers, and what we think we know today can be turned on its head tomorrow. So we're willing to be fluid with the names and classifications of plants and animals as new discoveries are made. After all, none of that takes away from the delight of watching these creatures as they pass through My Florida Backyard, and in the end, that's what matters most to us.

The Pelican Brief

Every winter around this time, we get a very strange visitor to the lake in My Florida Backyard. It's unusual and yet expected, so even though we're no longer surprised, we're still always pleased to see him. It's a Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis), which are common as dragonflies along the coastal waters but somewhat unexpected on a shallow inland lake more than five miles from the coast.

This brown pelican is an adult in non-breeding plumage - pelicans in breeding plumage have dark brown necks and white heads tinged with yellow. We've never known for sure if it's the same pelican that comes back each year (it's certainly possible - pelicans have been known to live 30 years or more), but it's definitely only a single pelican at a time. Sometimes he's part of the massive groups of water birds that congregate on the lake in the winter (see this previous post for an example) and sometimes he's on his own.

Some days we only see the pelican in flight overhead, soaring up and down the string of stormwater lakes that dot our neighborhood. Brown pelicans are unique among pelicans in that they look for food from the sky, diving in headfirst like a sleek arrow. Other pelican species hunt more like dabbling ducks, swimming on the surface and bobbing their heads under to catch fish. When the brown pelican bobs along on the water, he's just taking a rest between diving missions.

He looks large next to this flock of Double Crested Cormorants, but brown pelicans are actually the smallest of the eight species of pelicans found worldwide. The White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos), found in some areas of Florida during the winter, can be more than twice its size. Still, the brown pelican is a commanding presence on our small inland lake, and we enjoy having one around every winter!

Our Only Native Stork

We get many wading bird visitors in My Florida Backyard. A couple of our favorites are Limpkins (which we've written about before) and Wood Storks, both of which are on the endangered list in the United States. It's exciting to know that our lake provides habitat for these birds, which we see regularly enough that if we didn't know they were endangered we would never have guessed.

Wood Storks (Mycteria americana) are the only storks that live and breed in the US. They're found in Florida and along the Gulf Coast, and a few isolated populations are known in North and South Carolina. During the drier months, they're often found in pretty heavy concentrations around freshwater lakes and watering holes, so as the rainy season comes to an end, we'll see larger numbers of them in and around My Florida Backyard.

Wood Storks are easily identifiable by their bald black heads. Presumably this lack of feathers makes feeding easier as there are no feathers to dry and preen after dunking their heads in the water. These birds wade in the shallows and use their brightly colored feet as lures. They trail their open beaks through the water until it makes contact with something (hopefully food), at which point it snaps shut with a reflex response time of 25 milliseconds - an incredibly fast response time among vertebrates.

Wood Storks are also easy to identify in flight. As you can see in the picture above, taken a few years ago, the bottom half of their wings are black. Combined with their dark heads, this makes them easy to tell apart from other large white birds in flight.

We're always very conscious of the amazing array of wildlife in My Florida Backyard. Knowing a species in endangered makes a sighting that much more exciting, but we value every thing that walks or flies through our gardens each day, including these magnificent Wood Storks.

Bend Down the Branches

When we opened the blinds on the back windows this morning, we squinted into the morning sun and were greeted with this sight:

Taking pictures through a screen into the sun isn't really optimal, but you can still get the idea. This female anhinga was perched in our very young cypress tree, bending it halfway to the ground as she dried her wings.

Anhingas (Anhinga anhinga) are waterbirds common in Central Florida. They resemble cormorants, but in warmer months, cormorants are nearly always found on salt water rather than freshwater. Anhingas are more common on freshwater all year.

Anhingas swim with almost their entire body submerged, ducking entirely below the surface to swim for prey. When they surface and wish to fly, they must emerge onto dry land and dry their wings. Unlike ducks, they do not have oils on their wings to make the feathers waterproof. This makes it easier to dive but harder to fly in a hurry. So they are often found perched along the edge of waterways, wings spread to the sun.

With a patch of tall strong pine trees only ten yards to the right, this cypress seems like an odd choice for this anhinga. The landing must have been amusing, as the tree bent closer and closer to the earth, and the bird struggled for balance. Still, she managed it, and although this great blue heron that wandered over almost seems to be saying, "What are you doing up there?", we're glad to have anhingas anywhere they want to be in My Florida Backyard.

Pink Houses

This weekend, a splotch of pink suddenly appeared on the trunk of our little cypress tree.

Upon closer inspection, we discovered a clutch of apple snail eggs.

Apple snails (family Ampullariidae) are freshwater snails that are able to survive both on water and on land. By laying their eggs above the water line, apple snails protect the eggs from predation by fish and other water dwellers.

Apple snails are the primary food source for limpkins, a common wading bird in My Florida Backyard. Limpkins have specially adapted beaks that curve slightly to one side, allowing them to easily extract the apple snail from its shell. Limpkins will only live in areas with large apple snail populations, so they are found only in scattered locations throughout Florida in the United States. We feel very lucky to have this bird as a regular visitor here in our yard, and we owe that to the apple snails and their pretty little pink eggs.

Turtle Power

Recent rains have raised the level of our lake dramatically - in fact, after the eight inches of rain we got in just three days a few weeks ago, the water was well up over the banks and we were considering building an ark. The animals of My Florida Backyard didn't really seem to mind, though, especially the ducks and the turtles. In fact, the turtles have been taking advantage of the high water level to climb out on the banks for some sun.

The turtle on the left is a Florida Softshell Turtle (Apalone ferox), whose carapace (or shell) is almost leathery in texture - very tough but flexible. Softshell turtles are pretty large, topping out around 30 inches, and have very long necks. They are amazingly fast on both water and land. They're shy around humans, so if one is up on the bank when you approach, you're likely to see it shoot back into the water at an almost alarming speed. Florida softshell turtles are carnivorous, with a diet made up of fish, frogs, and even ducklings. Over the last few springs, we've had a female soft shell turtle emerge onto land in our backyard to lay eggs - click here for details and video.

The other turtle is a Red-Bellied Cooter (Pseudemys nelsoni), another very common Florida freshwater turtle. This turtle is an herbivore, helping to keep lakes clean of algae and other plant matter. This turtle spends much of its time on land or on logs, basking in the sun. We frequently see them swimming along in the lake with just their heads poking out - so fun to watch.

Living on a lake gives us such a wide diversity of like to appreciate in My Florida Backyard, and turtles like these are great examples of those treasures.

Duck and Dive

Winter months bring a variety of seasonal residents to My Florida Backyard, including several varieties of diving ducks. In the fall, we had large numbers of Ring-Necked Ducks, but more recently, large flocks of Lesser Scaup have congregated in the lake out back.

The Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis) is one of the most numerous diving ducks in North America. It is closely related to and difficult to tell apart from the Greater Scaup (A. marila), but the Greater Scaup is much less likely to be seen in this area, and is generally found on salt water. So our visitors are certainly Lesser Scaup (the plural of scaup is scaup, by the way).

Males (shown above, left) have more striking plumage, as is often is in the bird world, but both male and females have the bright blue bills that give this species the common name Bluebill. When the ducks first arrived in early winter, males had much duller plumage, and females had smaller sections of white near their bills. As mating season draws closer, the male's black and white feathers have become clearer and more defined, while the female's white bill patches have grown.

Lesser Scaup are noted for their interesting head shape, which almost seems to be squared off at times. At other times, though, their heads are more rounded. What explains this change in shape? It turns out that when a duck is relaxed, just paddling around and enjoying the sun, its head naturally takes on the squarer shape. When they tense up and prepare to dive, the head becomes more rounded, possibly making them more streamlined for the trip to the bottom of the pond. In the series of pictures below, compare the duck in the middle with the duck on the right to see this in action.

Lesser Scaup do not breed in Florida - they'll head north for the summer to breed there. Since we can see they are taking on the brighter plumage in preparation for mating, we can also expect them to begin their northern journey pretty soon. As spring approaches, they'll be off up the Mississippi Flyway to Northwest Canada, gone for another year. We'll look forward to seeing them again the in fall, when they bring their new offspring to enjoy the warmth of winter in My Florida Backyard.

I Love a Parade

Lately My Florida Backyard has had a daily parade almost as reliable as the one at Disney World - although there's nothing animatronic about this one. Ours consists of about 25 ibis wandering through on a search for lunch:

The American White Ibis (Eudocimus albus), as these fellows are more formally known, is one of Florida's most easily-identifiable wading birds, due to the prominent curved orange beak. They are gregarious, and nearly always seen in large flocks. In fact, a single ibis wandering on its own is actually pretty unusual, and always causes us to speculate on what may have gotten him excommunicated from the tribe. 

Ibis eat insects along with small fish and frogs, so you don't need to be near a water source to see them. They are just as frequently noted wandering through grassy areas where insects and lizards no doubt make fairly easy prey. They are also commonly seen along beaches, darting in and out of the waves. White Ibis juveniles are darker in coloration - presumably this gives them better camouflage - becoming mottled and eventually all white as they age. The ibis shown on the right below is nearly full-grown, with only the head and neck retaining the darker colors.

Florida is also home to Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus), which is not nearly as commonly seen in the Tampa area. We've only spotted it at Lettuce Lake Park, in the distance through binoculars. The Glossy Ibis is very dark in coloration, and can be confused with a juvenile White Ibis, but there's an easy way to tell them apart. As you can see in the picture below, even when a juvenile White Ibis is still very dark in color, its underside and rump are white. The Glossy Ibis does not have this white underside at any life stage. The Glossy Ibis, incidentally, is thought to be native to Africa and Southern Europe, accidentally introduced here in the 19th century. The White Ibis is native to Florida and other parts of the US.

Our daily noon parade may not be accompanied by 76 trombones, but it's a joy to watch all the same. Ibis are a common Florida bird, but one we have a soft spot for here in My Florida Backyard, so it's a pleasure to have their company on a regular basis - no admission ticket required.

The Babies on our Block

The first official duck babies of spring have arrived - and boy, are there a lot of them!

By our count, this proud mama duck has TWENTY babies! They're at least a few days old, judging by their size, so she's been doing a very good job protecting them from the predators that ravaged last year's baby ducks.

We'll keep you posted on their progress!

Little Fish in a Big Pond

Spring is most certainly here, and the animals in and around My Florida Backyard are making the most of it. While birds are building nests in the trees overhead, fish are doing the same in the pond nearby, and we managed to grab a pretty decent picture of one the other day:

One of the interesting things about fish who build nests to spawn is that it is often the male who does the hard work. He first builds the nest by choosing a good site and then swimming in circles, fanning out the sandy bottom with his tail and fins. When the nest is ready, a female deposits her eggs, which the male then fertilizes. After that, the female takes off, leaving the male to guard the nest until the hatchlings emerge. It's surprising how many instances of male-heavy parenting take place in the natural world!

P.S. We're not entirely sure what kind of fish is pictured above - if you know, please do drop us a line in the comments.