During this year’s Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival, I met up with a few folks from the Leica Birding Team to search for Florida Scrub-Jays at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. The obvious place to look for them within the refuge is along the Scrub Trail. Drew and I dipped on them last year, but we turned the tables … Read More
Almost a nemesis
One of my targets for my recent trip to the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival was the Florida’s only endemic bird– the Florida Scrub-Jay, a social member of the corvid family. There are 2 other species of scrub-jay, Western Scrub-Jay which I’ve seen in Arizona, and Island Scrub-Jay, which is found on the Channel Islands off the coast of Los … Read More
Florida Field Season Highlights
I’ve been in Florida for just about six months once again working for Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and this is the first time I have ever spent an entire summer in Florida for an extended field season. The humidity is no joke down here; in late June I was sure that a slow death by dehydration was upon me. … Read More
Fledglings of the Florida Scrub
Over the past week I have put my kestrel duties on hold to help with Florida Scrub-Jay surveys in the Ocala National Forest. I haven’t spent very much time in the forest since handing jay training over to my co-worker in February, so I really enjoy any time I can get roaming through the scrub (chigger bites aside). Lately, it … Read More
A few scrub birds from the Juniper Prairie Wilderness Area
Anna and I have been spending quite a bit of our time working out at the Juniper Prairie Wilderness Area, searching for ‘Southeastern’ American Kestrel nests in natural cavities and also doing point counts of the birds that use this special area. Anna has already posted about this area once before, but I thought I would share a few photos … Read More
Back in Florida!
Classes are over, the Birding Cup is over, the Biggest Week is over and now I am back down in Florida. Anna has been down here since January working with the ‘Southeastern’ American Kestrels around the Gainesville area, and now I am also working with her. Our primary tasks are monitoring the kestrel nest boxes, banding chicks, and finding natural … Read More
Jay Watch 2012
[dc]I[/dc]n late March, my co-worker Aubrey and I travelled to Port Charlotte, Florida to do an annual Florida Scrub-Jay survey in a community that is well-known for its jay population (we are both currently employed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission…check out their website HERE!). Â Here, there are building restrictions because of the presence of jays. Â There are … Read More
Nuts for peanuts
Over the weekend, I finally made some progress with a group of jays that have been ignoring me. I haven’t spent much time with this group, just because they have been so unresponsive. Approaching them on foot in the scrub never got me anywhere either. But on sunday, I walked up to a single jay in this group, and while … Read More
Avon Park Christmas Bird Count
On January 5th, I was able to help out with a Christmas Bird Count at the Avon Park Air Force Range in Florida. This CBC is entirely conducted within the Air Force Base. Our team consisted of Reed Bowman, Shane Pruett, Anna Fasoli, Jenn Smith, and myself. We started the day off at 5:45am, trying a few locations for Eastern … Read More