Atala: A Butterfly Back from the Brink

During our first year and a half of living in Savannah, we'd not really had occasion to return to old stomping grounds in south Florida, although we sometimes reminisce about the species we've left behind: Snail Kites, Limpkins, and Spot-breasted Orioles were merely the stuff of dreams now. But wait! 6.5 hours isn't that long a drive -- surely, it's not impractical of us to dip down and catch up with our old favorites. And if we timed it right, we could leverage the 4th of July into a long weekend...

Well, okay, as romantic as that sounds, the real impetus for our visit was to see friends. But we did intend to soak up some of the area's distinct natural character while we were there, and at the top of our to-do list was walk the trails at Daggerwing Nature Center, where Maureen and I first came into our own as budding naturalists. The Palm Beach County budget hasn't been particularly kind to the park system during the past several years, but our friends who manage the nature centers have done a superb job with the little they have to work with.

One important new project, has been to help support the local population of the Atala (Eumaeus atala) butterfly, by shipping in caterpillars and letting them loose on the Coontie outside in the butterfly garden (and Atala love them some Coontie!). During the middle of last century the Florida subspecies of Atala was feared extinct after people overharvested Coontie, but thankfully these small butterflies have made a strong comeback as a result of conservation efforts like those at Daggerwing.

This one still had its wings all curled up, like he had just emerged and was straightening them out for the first time

Atala have an extremely limited range, and they can't be found anywhere in North America, other than at the southeastern tip of Florida. When we lived in Boca Raton, I managed, briefly, to spy one flitting across the FAU campus. Shortly after, I brought Maureen out to the same place so that she, too, could see an Atala, since our time in the area was running out and we wouldn't have the chance to see them anywhere else. Unfortunately, we missed finding one that day, and we moved away without Maureen having seen any.



What an awesome surprise then, when we learned that Atala were thriving in the Daggerwing butterfly garden. There were Atala everywhere, and in every stage of their life cycle! The Coontie was covered with them, in fact. When we returned to south Florida, we'd hoped to have some distinctly south Florida experiences, but we couldn't have asked for a better one than this. Special thanks to Kelli for her always superb work in making Daggerwing meaningful and beautiful!

Downy Woodpecker

While strolling around Daggerwing recently, we stumbled upon this Downy Woodpecker excavating his nesting cavity right above the boardwalk. I took some video of him hard at work:

White-crowned Sparrow at Daggerwing

Yesterday morning we came across this 1st winter White-crowned Sparrow at the head of the boardwalk at Daggerwing Nature Center. We were expecting to give a large tour, so Maureen didn't have her camera with her. Of course it would give us fantastic looks when we can't do anything about it! Fortunately, we returned this morning to see if we could locate it again, and sure enough it popped up within the first 10 minutes. Not only is this an excellent bird for south Florida, but it's a lifer for us. It seems to be hanging around, too - a couple of months ago, we caught a glimpse of a sparrow that we weren't able to identify while we were doing a bird survey. From the little bits we were able to see at the time, we think there's a good chance it was the same individual.

White-crowned Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

For the first hour and a half, we didn't stray past the first 50 feet of the boardwalk and still managed a Northern Waterthrush, Sora, American Bittern, Painted Bunting, Red-tailed Hawks, Belted Kingfisher, Prairie Warbler, House Wrens, and Easter Phoebes, in addition to a host of more common birds.

Northern Waterthrush

Northern Waterthrush

Northern Waterthrush

American Bittern

Once we finally explored a little farther, we also picked up an assortment of woodpeckers: Pileated, Downy, Red-bellied, and Northern Flickers. It was an unexpectedly fantastic day!

female Northern Cardinal

Sunday Morning at Daggerwing

Sunday morning, Maureen and I set off on another of our monthly bird surveys for Daggerwing Nature Center to see what's been hanging around and try to uncover some surprises.

For long stretches, it seemed like everything that moved was either a Palm Warbler or a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Eventually, more and more Pine Warblers started showing up, and got friendly with the camera. Appropriately, the Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warblers were the most active within the rows of wax myrtles.

A House Wren peeked out at us from behind a stump, and then darted off into the crevice of a fallen tree. We staked it out for several minutes and were rewarded with much better looks than we've managed in the past. It would call out, duck behind a branch, and then pop back up and start calling again. Although we only saw one, we heard the calls of others from not far off.

Overhead, massive flocks of American Robins passed over the park, heading north. Only one relatively small contingent of 50 or so made a brief sojourn in one of the trees back toward the perimeter before continuing on their way through.

We counted more Eastern Phoebes than I can remember seeing on one outing. One particularly audacious individual swooped down from its perch to snatch an insect off the grass a mere 3 ft. from where I stood.

It started off as a slow day for raptors. The Ospreys are a given - we almost always see several right away - and we had an early Red-shouldered Hawk, but surveying the snags in areas that have been reliable for Red-tailed Hawks and American Kestrels, we came up empty. After backtracking, we headed down the other arm of the boardwalk and found a solemn-looking Merlin (is there any other kind?). Then, after climbing the observation tower, a Buteo passed us by. I apologize, dear readers, that all I can say with confidence is that it was either a Broad-winged or a light-morph Short-tailed Hawk. I was able to make out light underparts with a dark border around the wings, but it soon moved on. Maureen noticed it hold its wings at a slight downward angle, so Broad-winged seems likely.

On the way back toward the nature center, Maureen was able to spot an American Bittern, doing it's best impression of pickerel weed. This was the most open we've ever seen one, and we watched it for at least 20 minutes before it flew to where it was no longer visible. While it generally moved through the reeds cautiously, and remained as still as it could manage, it charged at a Tricolored Heron that wandered too close to its favorite hiding place, and sent the heron flying before it even knew what happened.

Featured Feathered Friend - Yellow-throated Warbler

This week's Featured Feathered Friend is extra special! First the back story. While taking a stroll through Daggerwing Nature Center in early October 2009, we saw this little Yellow-throated Warbler hopping around a cabbage palm (Florida's state tree) just after a light rain shower. You may notice his damp little throat and belly feathers. 

This is one of my favorite warblers. Not only are they beautifully colored, but they always seem to be extra friendly and willing to come close to you to see what's going on. As with this one, he was flitting about on this cabbage palm 2 feet in front of us, and he was very willing to pose for pictures. 

And this picture is extra special because he is my first print that I made for someone other than myself. Nick and I are members of the local chapter of the National Audubon Society. We recently had our December meeting with a potluck and "Chinese raffle." I thought it would be nice to donate a print to help raise money, and this picture was the chosen one. The elderly man who won the raffle for the print had snuck in tickets without his wife knowing because he knew how much she loved Yellow-throated Warblers. He picked up the item and brought it to her and she was very excited! And I was excited that she was so excited. She not only oooh-ed and aaaah-ed over it, but she also asked if I went to Dreyfoos, a local school of the arts. I was flattered and said no, I'm just an amateur. =) I was so happy that one of my prints could bring a little joy to someone else, and I'm so excited to have my print hung up in a stranger's home.  

December Bird Survey for Daggerwing

Maureen and I were all ready to lead a bird walk at Daggerwing Nature Center this weekend, but, unfortunately, nobody was willing to brave the cold (for south Florida) morning to join us. We tried not to take it personally and soldiered onwards to conduct our monthly bird survey of the nature center. 

Right at the start of the boardwalk was our first county Baltimore Oriole, perched near the top of a myrtle, while the Myrtle Warblers flitted about in every direction. The oriole flew after only a few seconds, and headed right out of the park, in the opposite direction from where we were going. 

We only had the occasional Palm Warbler, but plenty of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers buzzed at us as we passed by. There was also a male Common Yellowthroat down in the reeds off the boardwalk, and a Yellow-throated Warbler hiding in a cabbage palm. A single Pine Warbler surveyed the marsh area from a snag. 

We saw a number of raptors, including American Kestrel and several Osprey, and a Red-shouldered Hawk flew overhead a couple of times. We also had a Merlin perched on a snag at the edge of the wetland, but we didn't get the same show that we got last time we saw one. 

There was a good variety of butterflies, including Zebra Longwing, Red Admiral, White Peacock, and Viceroy. It's been a while since we've seen any Ruddy Daggerwings, so it's likely that we've seen the last of them for the year. 

There were also a surprising number of Venusta Orchard Spiders (Leucauge venusta) at about railing-level with the boardwalk. 

On our way out to survey the front of the nature center, we found an active Downy Woodpecker, doing his acrobatics just a few feet off the ground. Here he is showing off the barring on his outer tail feathers.

Overall, we would have preferred if a group had turned out to stroll the boardwalk with us, but it turned out to be a lovely morning, regardless!