Unexpected spectacles

Just as no two sunrises are ever alike, I never know what to expect any given morning on the Wounded Wetlands adjacent to our south Florida home--

The full Moon setting on February 3, 2017:



The Pine Bank, before Hurricane Irma, which struck  on September 10, 2017





After Hurricane Irma, on November 8, 2017, the Pine Bank has a lower profile, as many of the tall Australian Pines have been blown down:



On November 5, 2017, in the pre-dawn I thought this heron had captured a large snake, but it was an amphiuma. I watched as it dispatched it and then swallowed it whole.  

Two-toed amphiumas (Amphiuma means) can grow to lengths of 3 feet or more—one of the largest salamander species in the world. Two-toed amphiumas have tiny, nearly useless front and hind legs with two toes on each leg. Reference:  Giant Salamanders of Florida









One never knows when there may be an opportunity to learn something new. I noticed that Palm Warblers were catching insects attracted to the sparse blossoms which towered above a patch of Alligator Flag. 

This plant will flourish only when there is a constant supply of water. If its roots dry out for too long they will perish. In the Everglades, they signal the location of the water holes which are kept open through the dry season by alligators which created and maintained them over the years:





Their tiny but attractive flowers resemble those of the Bird of Paradise, a related plant (along with other members of the arrowroot family, which includes bananas and cannas).

Alligator Flag flowers invite bees and other pollinators to trigger an explosive "rat-trap" pollination mechanism which momentarily snaps down on the insect. In a split second the flower collects pollen brought in and deposits new pollen to be distributed. Having completed its task, the flower releases the visitor and prevents entry to new insects. For a more complete and scientific description, visit this link: The Alligator Flag is a Snappy Wildflower.  

Although I am primarily looking for birds, I like to be surprised when mammals show up. I was trying to get a photo of a warbler when this Raccoon suddenly walked out on the path in front of me. I stood very still as he tried to get a better look at me. He walked almost up to my feet before I shood him: 





Three young White-tailed deer, one a single-pronged spike-buck, stared at me from the end of the road:



Over the fence she goes!



On November 10 I found a Grasshopper Sparrow, only my third sighting here over the 10 years I have walked in this patch. This is not a rare species, but it is very small and secretive. It favors short grass such as we have along the gravel road. It persisted for three days in a spot on the right side just ahead:



Grasshopper Sparrow:






I was busy taking a photo of the Grasshopper Sparrow and ignored the cries of two egrets just to my left. When I looked up, this big healthy-looking male Bobcat was sitting there staring at me, about 20 paces away. The noisy egrets circled and flew low over the cat.

He stood up as I took this photo, then walked calmly away. I wondered whether he had tried to catch one of the egrets along the lake shore and they distracted him so much that he failed to notice me. Click on photo for larger view and more images:



He licked his chops, perhaps thinking about how tasty that pesky egret might have been:



He paid me little heed, making me feel like an invisible spectator to one of nature's wonders!









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Linking to Misty's  CAMERA CRITTERS,

Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,

Linking to FENCES AROUND THE WORLD by Gosia

Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy

Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James

Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) by NC Sue

Linking to ALL SEASONS by Jesh

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Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display


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New scars in the Wounded Wetlands

Category 4 Hurricane Irma made landfall in Florida on Sunday morning, September 11. Expecting it to pass directly over our home, we had decided not to ride out the storm and instead escaped to New Mexico. Although the eye passed about 80 miles to the west, our neighborhood experienced hurricane-force winds which felled trees and knocked out power. We returned home on September 13 just as power was restored and were gratified to find that our home was undamaged and we had only lost a few limbs from our mango trees. 

We checked on the welfare of the local Bald Eagles and found the nest standing and minor damage to the right side of the nest, in addition to earlier loss of material which had occurred during a severe wind storm in late August. No adults were present:



The fence which separated the eagle nest tree from the roadway was mostly leveled by fallen trees and branches which had been removed to clear the sidewalk:



We did not venture out into our local birding patch before departing on our previously scheduled month-long stay at our second home Illinois. We returned to Florida on October 15 and the next morning found both adults at the nest. The female, partly obscured, was roosting above the nest to the right while the male was rearranging sticks on the nest:



We finally got out into the wetlands and found the landscape greatly altered by the hurricane. To add human-caused insult to natural injury, a vehicle crashed into the entrance gate on the day we arrived home. I am not sure of the circumstances but it happened in broad daylight and there were no skid marks:



Many Trema trees, so attractive to migrating and wintering birds, were uprooted. The few left standing were stripped of fruit and leaves. This is just one example of an area which was one of my favorite "sit spots," now quite impenetrable:

 

At the heron rookery, many of the nesting trees had been pushed over into the canal. The power distribution lines were no longer hidden by tall trees:



OK, enough of the doom and gloom. Nature has a way of healing, and Florida's flora and fauna have survived many hurricanes. Even the gate has been fixed. A white-eyed Vireo peered out of the rubble:



First of the season for me, a female Painted Bunting, perhaps disappointed at not finding any Trema berries,  perched on a denuded branch:



A Red-shouldered Hawk surveyed the ravaged wetlands...



...and flew to the top of a Royal Palm:



Gray Catbirds have arrived in huge numbers:



Female Eastern Towhee-- its whitish iris is characteristic of local subspecies, while more northern birds have red eyes:



The male towhee has black plumage where that of female is "milk chocolate" brown:



Northern Waterthrush near the heron rookery:



Male Common Yellowthroat along the path:



On the home front, a late afternoon storm rolled in from the ocean:



One area of the cloud caught my attention. Maybe just a rugged old man, or-- is there a crying baby with hand extended next to the face of another man who seems to be in distress?



In pouring rain, a Great Egret hunted for lizards on our back patio. Taken through the glass door:




= = =  = = =  = = = =  = = = = =

Linking to Misty's  CAMERA CRITTERS,

Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,

Linking to FENCES AROUND THE WORLD by Gosia

Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy

Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James

Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) by NC Sue

Linking to ALL SEASONS by Jesh

________________________________________________

Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display

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Corpus Christi beach before Hurricane Harvey

We spent 5 days on North Padre Island, just outside Corpus Christi, Texas, with our daughter, her husband and their two daughters. We departed on August 20, less than a week before Hurricane Harvey made a direct strike. Our condominium was located on the beachfront, third floor. Our bed was situated right next to a glass wall which overlooked the beach and the expanse of the Gulf of Mexico:



These are views which greeted us at sunrise:







Mary Lou and I walked the beach early each morning. Our companions along the way were friendly humans...



...and a few feathered critters. Sanderlings scurried back and forth as the surf rolled in and receded:







Laughing Gulls were numerous. They exchange their black heads for "earmuffs" at the end of breeding season:



This adult Herring Gull has a yellow bill and develops a few dark head streaks as winter approaches.



A Royal Tern flew overhead:



The Willet is a large sandpiper with a substantial straight bill. It flashes white wing patches in flight and loudly calls out its name: 





Ruddy Turnstones were quite numerous:



A special treat was this tiny Piping Plover, a threatened species (and endangered in the Great Lakes area) with a yellow-orange flag and a blue-green band respectively on its left and right upper legs. The colors indicate it came from the northern Great Plains states. The light was poor and I could not read the number on the flag, and it flew off before I could draw nearer:





The younger family members went fishing from a pier at night, and I joined them. I tried out the low-light performance of my new mirrorless camera. These images were hand-held and brightened in post-processing but no filters were applied:





I assume that the green lights under the pier are intended to attract fish:



At Port Aransas, we took a successful dolphin-watching boat tour, but I got no decent photos because of my poor reflexes and the annoying shutter lag with my new camera. 

This is a view of the harbor over the "fence" on the stern of the boat. I did not realize how drastically this scene would change only a few days later:



The boat captain pointed out a flock of Roseate Spoonbills, which he called "Texas Flamingos:"



The Lydia Ann Lighthouse, placed into service in 1857, guards the passage between the Gulf and the bay. Hurricanes destroyed the outbuildings several times, the worst in 1916 and 1919. It was deactivated in 1952 and is now under private ownership. The light was restored and returned to service in 1988 as a private aid to navigation:



On my 82nd birthday, just a week after I took these photos, the eye of Hurricane Harvey had already passed directly over Port Aransas and was then producing massive devastation in Houston, Texas.  My birthday occurs at the height of hurricane season. In recent years, four Atlantic and Gulf hurricanes made landfall on August 29: Katrina (2005) Gustav (2008) and Isaac (2012). 

At this point I have not heard how the lighthouse fared. I was reminded of how I spent my birthday when we lived New Orleans in 1969. I was in a school which served as a hurricane shelter, providing medical care to hundreds of evacuees after Camille struck on August 17. At that time it was the worst hurricane to ever strike the US mainland. See: Remembering Hurricane Camille

An excerpt: Remarkably, these words were written in 1999: “For many, Camille is a distant memory, an historical footnote from a time long gone. But Camille is also a harbinger of disasters to come. Another storm of Camille’s intensity will strike the United States, the only question is when. When this future storm strikes, it will make landfall over conditions drastically different from those in 1969. The hurricane-prone regions of the United States have developed dramatically as people have moved to the coast and the nation’s wealth has grown. Estimates of potential losses from a single hurricane approach $100 billion.”

[Thirty Years After Hurricane Camille: Lessons Learned, Lessons Lost, by Roger A. Pielke, Jr., Chantal Simonpietri, and Jennifer Oxelson ,12 July 1999]

= = =  = = =  = = = =  = = = = =

Linking to Misty's  CAMERA CRITTERS,

Linking to Eileen's SATURDAY'S CRITTERS,

Linking to FENCES AROUND THE WORLD by Gosia

Linking to SKYWATCH FRIDAY by Yogi, Sylvia and Sandy

Linking to WEEKEND REFLECTIONS by James

Linking to BirdD'Pot by Anni

Linking to Wild Bird Wednesday by Stewart

Linking to Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) by NC Sue

Linking to ALL SEASONS by Jesh

________________________________________________

Please visit the links to all these memes to see some excellent photos on display

________________________________________________