Have Camera, Will Travel.: Myakka Lake to Ding Darling NWR

February 2
It was finally a hot, sunny morning as we left Myakka Lake and continued south on our quest to find the elusive Florida Scrub Jay. We arrived at Oscar Scherer State Park and our hopes were high as ideal terrain for Scrub Jay is maintained here. On entering the park we saw a Grey Squirrel, Palm Warbler and a new lifer; a *Yellow-throated Warbler 90).

Grey Squirrel

91) Palm Warbler in winter plumage

It was a hot day and Emma was calling for a shady walk as soon as we got out of the car. Unfortunately, Scrub Jays like sandy scrubby soil and big shady trees are few and far between.

I explained that Scrub Jays get out-competed by Blue Jays in thicker forests. Emma was not impressed but she is a sport and tagged along behind as I scoured the bushes for our target bird.

Typical Scrub Jay Terrain

Suddenly, I thought I saw one scurrying through the undergrowth. I got down on all fours for a better look.

"Jim" whispered Emma from behind. I was focused on the unknown bird in the bush so did not respond. "Jim" repeated Emma in a more urgent whisper. Then it hit me.

Emma almost never calls me Jim. Usually, she calls me Jimbo, dude or, depending on the aggregious nature of my presumed offense it might be some form of escalating expletive, but never Jim.

I came to my senses and spun around camera at the ready. Sure enough there it was:

The Elusive *Florida Scrub Jay 92)

The bird had a quizzical expression as it looked at me crawling in the dirt. I got up slowly and had to back away twenty feet because I had too big a lens to take in the full picture. I was laughing softly the whole time I backed up and took this picture.

Emma had done nothing to encourage the bird other than stand there looking at me. After a while the bird flew off to join its partner in the bush. I was in a state of wonder having never experienced anything like it; Emma not so much.

"Okay, you saw your bird let's go walk in the shade now", suggested Emma.

Fair enough, we adjusted our route and headed over to the nearby stream and tropical fauna.

Emma had a point. It was a very pleasant walk in the semi-tropical forest beside the stream.

After our noon day walk we headed further south to the Fred C. Babcock Wildlife Management Area. We were now focused on seeing a Red-cockaded Woodpecker. This rare bird requires an open Savannah ecosystem with old growth Long Leaf Pine trees.

With logging removing the old growth trees and fire suppression measures preventing the removal of the understory, there was little suitable open habitat for this bird. Some wildlife management areas like this one do maintain suitable habitat.

Open Savannah Terrain

Red-cockaded Woodpecker nesting site

Some mature Long-Leaf Pine trees have nesting boxes inserted into them because this woodpecker will only nest in living Long Leaf Pine Trees.

On this day the woodpeckers were out foraging and would not be back before dusk. Camping out at a woodpecker nesting box for several hours was not in the cards so we continued south.

It was interesting getting into this wildlife preserve as you have to drive past a large gun range. This is fairly typical of many areas where the wildlife preserve is adjacent to the local gun range.The single shot gun fire did not surprise me but the constant semi automatic fire did. People were firing dozens of shots in a second or two. I just don't get it.

Oh well, some of the most avid hunters are also big on conserving wildlife habitat so they will have something to kill. Collectively, we have destroyed so much natural habitat that I'll take my fellow conservationists wherever I can find them.

February 3
We drove back to the Florida coast and arrived at the world famous J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. Shore birds concentrate here as this is an island of native vegetation surrounded by sprawling urban development. We started with a walk through the mangrove forest. Birds were hard to see as were the snakes lying quietly on the mangrove roots.