Creatures Great and Small at Skidaway

Lately, we have had the unfortunate luck of having beautiful weather during the week, but rainy weekends. We'll watch the weather closely, and we have been able to make it out in the mornings, but we have refrained from going on an epic birding trip fearing the threat of rain. Well, we've had good birding close to home, nonetheless, but this weekend we endured a rainy Saturday to have a gorgeous Sunday of birding. Clear blue sky and cooler temperatures made it a perfect day.

Male House Finch glowing in red

Male House Finch has a little itch

So, we headed to an area where we have visited before and fell in love with - Skidaway Island State Park. It's only about a 20 minute drive away, but we take advantage of the multiple connecting trails to hike 4 miles through this beautiful forested area. Taking our time, we end up birding for a solid 7 and a half hours! And this trip was not a disappointment. When we first arrived, we spent over an hour just in the parking lot getting most of our species of the day. We had a total of 51 species, which included the much welcomed Chipping Sparrow, Hermit Thrush, and our first Brown-headed Cowbird for the county!

Pileated Woodpecker comes in for a close visit

See all of the dust fly as the Pileated Woodpecker does what he does - pecks wood!

One of the highlights of our trip was definitely seeing a few juvenile Ospreys still on their nest. There was one on a close nest calling very loudly at his parent. Someone was quite hungry! As the mother left, I camouflaged in some mossy snags to snap a few great shots of this lovely, young Osprey. And down the path, there was another nest on a platform in the middle of the water, this time having 2 juveniles.

Juvenile Osprey calling out (Click to enlarge photos and view slideshow).

Juvenile Osprey up close

Juvenile Osprey

Juvenile Osprey

Our trip was great for finding birds, like numerous Northern Parulas buzzing in the treetops, over 400 Cedar Waxwings swooping by, and song birds singing the sounds of Spring, but our trip was also great for finding other little creatures. We found a life butterfly - the Little Wood-Satyr. There were several flitting about, but of course I could only get photos of them with closed wings. After looking them up in our butterfly guide, it turns out that the outer wing is much more to look at any way with all of those eyespots just looking at you.

Full view of Osprey Nest location 

Another Osprey nest with 2 juveniles

Little Wood-Satyr

Little Wood-Satyr

We also found a brown anole along a bridge. These guys were no stranger to us in South Florida, usually being the Cuban variety. But this was a welcomed little visitor that we don't see too often in these parts. And you may as well find out now, I have a thing for tree fungus. I'm always so drawn to these funky organisms that feed and flourish off of decaying trees. I find them so beautiful with their multitude of colors, and how they often form these asymmetrical patterns of scaly shelves. 

Brown Anole

 

Fungus Among Us!

Tree Fungus

We ended the day finding our first Eastern Palm Warbler for the county, along with a number of birds taking advantage of the feeders at the visitor center. But more importantly, we ended our day with the joy of knowing that we finally had a gorgeous day for birding.

Male and Female Brown-headed Cowbirds at the feeder

Chipping Sparrow gathering the spillover seeds from the feeders