Landfill Birding

Before I went to Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, I listed all the field trips that I would be on and one of them was a gull id workshop at at Tomoka Landfill. See all the gulls in the above photo, that landfill was jam packed with birds! I had a bit of a panic, gulls are not my strong suit and let's face it, if you are on the outside looking in at people who enjoy watching gulls, it seems kinda nutty and impossible to do. I used being on the workshop as an incentive to learn my gulls (at least in Minnesota) and I have increased my gull power but fortunately on this trip there were several great local guides and one brought in from the big leagues--Alvaro Jaromillo, author and professional guide for Field Guides. Now, in the above photo, Alvaro almost looks like he's saying, "Yeah, gull watchers are cuckoo." However, he is describing facial features to look for on herring gulls. One of the awesome things about this particular birding trip was that all of the guides were nice, acknowledged that gull watching was hard and if you made an error, they nicely helped you hone your skills. There was no attitude of "I can't believe you thought that was a herring gull, give back your birder card, loser." Alvaro strayed from the traditional terms used for gull id like "primary projection" and used phrases like "does the face look kinda goofy" or "does it look angry like it would kill you if it could." He admitted that these were not terms that you would find in gull guides, but they work. All of us begged him to write a beginner gull guide to give us hope. He did such a great job of making the identification of gulls approachable and more importantly, fun. In truth, all the guides made it fun.

So, essentially gull watching and identification is really a cross between Where's Waldo and logic problems. You look at all the common ones and really learn them and learn them well. Above is a large flock of laughing gulls with a few ring-billed gulls thrown in. There were also quite a few herring gulls hanging out at the landfill as well.

So, you look through all those common ones and you try to find that Waldo, that one gull that isn't quite like the others, that is different. Note the above, we have several large adult herring gulls and smaller adult ring-billed gulls, but then we have someone in the middle who is different. Now the logic problem end of this comes in. You ask yourself why this isn't one of the common gulls. First you can tell by it's plumage that it's a younger gull. It's large, so why is this not a young herring gull? The legs are pink like on a herring gull...but Alvaro told us to look at the beak, it was all black, chunky...not quite herring gull. Another guide, Mike Brothers mentioned that this bird didn't have the "smudgy look" on the back like a young herring gull, it was more patterned (it's hard to tell in this photo). So this was identified as a young lesser black-backed gull.

If you don't see it, don't worry, you'll get there when you're ready. Here is one that might be easier:

We have some smaller laughing gulls on the left, a large herring gull (with a ring-billed gull right behind it) and a large lesser black-backed gull. Again, you're looking for the Waldo, the gull that is different from all the common ones. So you see already that there are two large gulls. One is light gray on the back (that is the herring gull) the other is darker (that is the lesser black-backed gull). Also, note the leg color too. The herring has pink legs, the lesser-black backed has yellow legs. Alvaro and the other guides freely admitted that there will be weirdos that don't fit the books, they could be hybrids or they could just be weird, some will have to go unidentified and it happens to the most expert of gull watchers. My buddy Clay Taylor told me about some herring gulls that were observed at a fish processing plant and all had yellow legs (how exactly were those fish being processed if the herring gulls were eating the leftovers and turning their pink legs yellow?).

Besides all of the gulls, there were TONS of other birds hanging out at the landfill. When you looked at the piles of trash with your naked eye, you saw movement that you thought was maybe some white plastic bags waving in the wind, but looking through the scope, it was thousands of birds of several different species. I posted a video of it earlier. I expected gulls, vultures, crows, starlings, grackles and even a few bald eagles. The surprise to me were all the ibis, herons, and egrets. Earlier I blogged about how Florida is a study in specialist birds like the Florida scrub-jay who need a very specific and exact habitat in order to survive. Species that learn how to expand their food foraging ability are the ones that will continue to survive.

Earlier someone commented on the blog about how sad it is to see these birds crowding for food at a landfill eating food that is bad for them. I'm not sure how bad it is. These birds have been eating at the landfill for decades and a quick glance at Birds of North America Online showed that most of the species we observed are experiencing a population increase. The few that were on the decline were down more for water management issues disturbing nesting habitat. I'm certainly not saying that this is the best idea ever for birds to be eating at a landfill. Sure a bird like a turkey vulture has the digestive system to be able to eat that rotten chicken tucked away in the garbage bag, but what may have spilled on that chicken? Old chocolate sauce? Did that old bottle of detergent that didn't get recycled leak a bit on there? Tough to say, we don't have the answers at the moment.

And as we were enjoying all of these birds (like this cattle egret above) and trying to learn from the wise Alvaro, we had a challenge from not only the din of calling gulls, crows, and eagles but the Dayton 24 race was going on nearby and roaring cars rivaled the sound of thousands of birds. One birder mentioned allowed that race fans must not be that bright to sit and watch cars go round and round in a circle. I thought that was fancy talk coming from a man spending a sunny Sunday morning in a landfill to watch birds.

One of the pluses of birding with a group at a landfill is that it's super easy to point out birds. You could point out the oddball gull quick and easy by the many landmarks. You could say, "From about two o'clock of the pile of boxes is a bright green piece of plastic, it's just to the right of the plastic. It was also interesting to note things like a pile of cardboard boxes with a bald eagle perched on one side and a great egret on the other.

There were dozens of bald eagles all over the landfill and they perched on anything that wouldn't move. Periodically, young thug eagles would fly over the gulls and cause them all to fly into the air in a tizzy.

When we drove around in the morning, the trees were chock full of birds from black vultures to grackles to cowbirds to starlings. This must be a popular roosting area, not too many people come in at night to disturb them.

The birds had a relatively aloof view of humans. These black vultures were not digiscoped, I took this photo right off the road from my car window. To them, humans (especially in vehicles) brought more trash/food. So unless you were running right at them, they were too concerned with you.

This trio was watching us as were watching the gulls, almost wondering what could we be doing if we weren't delivering food.

And though I should have been taking photos of gulls, I could not keep my digiscoping equipment off of the turkey vultures. Even if you are not into gulls, if you go to the Space Coast festival in the future, sign up for the landfill trip, you get close to some crazy birds. And though there is a viewing area specifically for birders, the landfill made a special exception and we were allowed to go on top of areas that birders are not usually allowed on, like Mount Trashmore a high hill of covered garbage (that leaks out methane so absolutely NO SMOKING there). The methane from that his is also channeled to help run the landfill and the leftover energy is added to the local power grid.

As the day got later, many of the vultures, crows, and gulls took flight and circled on the thermals (warm currents of air that spiral upwards). With so many scavengers overhead, you couldn't help but feel a little like a dying animal.

Overall, I had such a great time with the gang and watching gulls, I wasn't ready for it to end. Word from the local guides was that Mike Brothers had discovered that about 50,000 gulls came into the nearby Daytona Beaches to stage before flying out to see to roost for the night. The show started at about 3pm. It was already a little afternoon 12pm. I was supposed to head the 45 miles back for a social at the festival, but the guys had me hooked on gulls, so I decided to relax a bit in Daytona and watch the evening gull show.

That is for another blog entry.

Skywatch Friday Florida

It's Skywatch Friday! You can create a blog post with a photo of sky and then link on over to their site and share in the magic. The above photo is from the pelagic birding trip offered at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. We were heading out on the boat to see some seabirds. We started at dawn and as our boat headed out to see we started dropping some chum and whirlwind of laughing gulls and herring gulls followed our boat.

I had another fun moment at Space Coast. While co-leading a trip to Viera Wetlands, a man approached our groups and asked me, "Are you Birdchick?" I said that I was and he introduced himself as Klaus--one of the guys behind Skywatch Fridays. I geeked, but only a little.

So, head on over to Skywatch Friday and check out all the forms of sky people have submitted this week.

Gratuitous Turkey Vultures

Okay, this post was meant to be about a field trip to a landfill to see gulls and a few other species at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival but I did not realize how many turkey vulture shots I took at the landfill. I never get this close to them where I live (well, apart from the education turkey vulture at The Raptor Center). It's easy to understand why so many turkey vultures are attracted a landfill, they find food by smell. Human waste is stinky and smells edible to them and they must find quite a bit to eat in our refuse based on the sheer number of turkey vultures present.

This bird was sunning itself near our group. They were not terribly bothered by humans, most of their human contact at the landfill is by the workers dump and moving the trash. Usually a human is a source of food. I've heard two different theories of why vultures sun themselves. One is to get rid of feather parasites, the other is that vultures can soar so long and the feather tend to flatten out. Holding the feathers in the warm sun puts them back into the proper curvature. Not sure which one is true.

Okay, back to sorting landfill photos.

A Preview For Landfill Birding

I'm trying to corral my photos to use in a future post about birding in a Florida landfill (I tell ya' that Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival takes you to some highfalutin places). Here is a video that I took with my Fuji E900 attached to my Swarovski spotting scope just to give you an idea of the sheer number of birds and the sound they create. You'll hear a din of several species including fish crow, laughing gull, bald eagle, and boat-tailed grackle. Now, here is a question, how many species can you make out in both sound and the video? I'm not sure I know the exact number, but I think you will be surprised at what all you can find at a landfill!

Four Endgangered Species Day

When you go birding in Florida, frost is not what you expect to have to deal with. Before I headed to Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, I was sent emails regarding the weather. I noticed that the lows were in the thirties with highs in the 50s, but after dealing with -21, I figured I could take it. However, Florida ended up being a bit colder than I expected, apparently it was a record cold snap, the likes of which haven't been seen for 14 years. The field trip I signed up for was called the South Brevard County, and the timing was brutal: the bus left at 4: 30 am and returned at 4:30 pm--couple that with temperatures in the twenties, it made for a rough morning. I needed to be on this trip, there were two birds in particular that I wanted to see: Florida scrub-jay and red-cockaded woodpecker. I think sometimes people assume birders love getting up early to watch birds. I think for quite a few of us, we don't love getting up early. The hotel had a breakfast area set up for us starting at 3:30 am, but who wants to eat at that hour? At 3:45 am, I found myself staring into a bowl of Raising Bran, thinking, "What the hell am I doing with my life, why the hell am I here? What is wrong with me?"

But we had to bundle up. I did not bring my winter coat with me, but I did have a sweater and a couple of fleeces. I also stopped in to the local big box store's hunting and fishing section and picked up some hand warmers and proper gloves. Keep that in mind, folks, when you travel--if you need gloves or other outerwear to keep warm and the stores are telling you they have clearanced out winter because it's spring (even though the calendar reads January), you kind sensible outdoor gear in the hunting and fishing section.

Our tour bus headed to St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, a small patch of habitat suitable for both of my target species. When we arrived, they let the group into the visitor center. The naturalists said that with the cold temperatures, even the woodpeckers found it more sensible to sleep in a little later, tucked into their tree cavities. As the sun started to peak up from below the horizon, it was time to head out. Because of the rough terrain, the tour bus could not take us to the red-cockaded woodpecker spot, it was quite a distance to walk and not all of our group would have been able to make the walk, so they loaded us into the backs of pick up trucks and we bounced our way there in the cold air.

We stopped at a group of trees known to be cavities of red-cockaded woodpecker. After about 10 minutes, one poked its head out, looking as though he felt the way I had felt a few hours earlier. This woodpecker is an endangered species. The cavity above is actually a "human made" cavity. The naturalists explained how the woodpeckers will reuse previously made cavities for years and they have devised a way of implanting a fake cavity into a live tree--without killing the tree. The red-cockaded specializes in mature open pine forest. Most of the woodpeckers we see in the US tend to go after dead and dying trees, this ambitious species makes it roost and nest cavity in a live tree (although the pine needs to have red-heart fungus, that does make it a bit softer). Now, that would not be a big deal if the bird had a beak like a pileated woodpecker, but this bird has a tiny beak, not unlike a downy woodpecker.

Above is a cross-section of a cavity pecked by an actual red-cockaded woodpecker. It's kinda tiny. The tree came down in a storm and the park uses it as a display. The tree needs to still be alive because the adult will peck holes around the cavity entrance, causing sap to flow, and making it harder for predators like snakes to slither up to the cavity.

The woodpeckers eventually came out of their cavities, but did not seem to want to stay in one spot. Much like humans, it's easier to move around and stay warm than just stand still. I didn't get the best photo, but it was still a treat to see this endangered species and you get an idea of what it looks like. Now, if you're like me, you might be wondering what the heck the red-cockaded means in the birds name. Boy-oh-boy-oh-boy, it's up there with the red-bellied woodpecker! First, a cockade is a knot of ribbons, usually on a hat. So, where is the red that would indicate the red-cockade on the woodpecker? Well, if you hold a red-cockaded woodpecker six inches from your face, you can see a tiny dot of red on the edge of the white cheekc patch where it meet the black on its nape (only on the male).

After watching the red-cockaded, we headed to more open scrubby area with shrub oaks and palmettos, habitat of the Florida scrub-jay. This particular species needs very specific habitat that Birds of North America Online describes as, "Extremely habitat-restricted, occurring only in scrub and scrubby flatwoods of Florida." Some of the essentials include: myrtle oak, runner oak, rusty lyonia, and Florida rosemary. The ground cover needs to be sparce, dominated by palmettos. The open sandy patches are needed for the scrub-jay to hide its cache of acorns. Very, very specific needs for this particular species.

But a very beautiful and cooperative one! The scrub-jays would pop up and just pose in the sun--much easier to digiscope than the red-cockaded woodpecker. The sun was getting higher at this point, the air was getting warmer. Looking at this gorgeous blue creature, I found myself answering the question I asked at 3:45 am, this is what I'm doing with my life. As I was watching my second endangered species of the day, I started to think about how it's incredibly unsafe to be inflexible. Florida is a study of inflexible creatures. Red-cockade woodpeckers have carved our a niche in a specific type of tree--so specific, the tree must have a specific type of fungus. The scrub-jay needs specific shrubs, but also specific spacing to store their food. Or think of the snail kite that only eats a certain type of snail. For species survival, it does not pay to be inflexible. It's important to get out of that comfort zone and generalize--hence the rock pigeon.

We did see several other species on our trip, like great views at a red-shouldered hawk above. If it looks weird, that's because its nictitating membrane is over the eye. Our local field trip leader was David Simpson and he was a good low key guide. Since it was a long field trip, he did a great job of setting our pace and birding so we could get good looks at the birds and more importantly, not get completely worn out. If you're ever looking for a good Florida bird guide, you should check him out.

Because it was so cold, the naturalists told us that we would probably see manatees if we went to the canal, the water was deeper and would be warmer. We headed over that way and there looked to be at least 60 manatees in the water, bobbing up and down, spraying water, and occassionally splashing their tails. That was the third endangered species of the day! After our field trip was done, I was heading back to my hotel and a wood stork ran in front of the road (well, as much as a wood stork can run). That was endangered species number four. I did not get a photo, because I was driving and concentrating on not hitting the stork or surrounding vehicles. But I do think that this is the first time I have seen four endangered species in one day.

Anhinga vs Fish

Well, my adventure in Florida is winding to a close. This morning, I'm packing, starting to deal with email, and sorting photos for blog entries about the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. I have over 1300 to sift through from the festival from beautiful places like scrub oak habitat to unique places like a landfill in Daytona. Many more blog entries about the magic of birding in Florida are to follow in the coming week. For the moment, I share these FABulous photos from my buddy Clay Taylor took of an anhinga trying to eat a fish that is entirely too big for it:

I ran into him during one of our field trips to Viera Wetlands. We were trying to get our field trip a least bittern. I saw Clay up ahead photographing like crazy and wondered if he had it. When I approached, he pointed our on the water and I could see what had peaked his interest. Check ou the above anhinga and the size of fish between its beak! Here's a zoom in:

Our field trip had watched a few anginga and cormorants with fish seemingly too big for their mouth and eventually swallow them. Clay had been on this anhing for quite some time and it was getting tired. The fish flipped wildly to escape being eaten, but the anhinga was determined not to give up such a prize catch.

The anhinga valiantly tried to swallow the enormous fish, several times, but alas, the fish would not be swallowed. No matter how wide the anhinga would make its mouth, the fish would simply not fit through. The anhinga held on to the fish and put it under water to try and get a better grip, but the fish won out.

Here is an upclose shot of the Gulp FAIL. Clay got some fantastic shots of this scene digiscoping with his SLR camera and scope!

Breakthrough In Gull ID

I have so much to blog about the Space Coast Bird Festival, but I'm still here in Florida and birding like crazy. Monday is my final leg of the festival: a pelagic birding trip. Sunday, I had a major breakthrough in my gull identification ability. Part of it was really great teachers (who don't make you feel bad for misidentifying a gull). I'll go more in depth about that later but here is the moment where I realized I don't completely suck at gull id:

The beaches at Daytona are an evening staging area for thousands of gulls. They congregate there before roosting offshore. Several of us were combing the beaches for lesser black-backed gull, Thayer's gull, and Iceland gull. My buddy Clay had just arrived when someone reported an Iceland gull waaaaaaaaaaay down at the other end of the beach. Several of us booked it there on foot as fast as we could. In the distance, we could make out one birder frantically taking photos, we figured he had the gull. As we approached, we saw people running towards the gulls (it's a public beach) and the whole flock flew up and away. The birder who had been taking photos was in a vehicle, so he drove over to us. He said that he watched it take off and had a general idea of where it landed. His vehicle was packed with equipment, but he offered to let us stand on the floorboards and hang on as he drove to the far end where it landed.

Above is a reenactment. Four of us clung to the vehicle as it headed down the beach. We all watched and scanned for a lighter gull that could be an Iceland gull amid the darker laughing, herring and ring-billed gulls. Then, as we were coasting down the beach, with my naked eye, I spotted it. The vehicle came to a stop, we jumped off and...

We got some great looks and great shots of the Iceland gull. I can't believe I picked it out with my naked eye. Gulls are not so scary after all! I blogged about this particular species of gull earlier this winter, only it was much colder and in Minnesota. The gull was also much further away. Having one so close on a balmy beach was so much better. This is a first cycle (hatched last summer) Iceland gull, it is very pale and frosty looking, note that it does not have dark wingtips, making it easier to distinguish of many of the other gulls out there.

I promise this won't be an all gull all the time blog, but let me assure you, it is possible to gradually learn your gulls.

Now, here's hoping I don't barf on the pelagic birding trip.

Random Sandhill Crane Head

On the off chance anyone needs a cleansing bird, how about a sandhill crane head? Check out that red patch of bare, red skin. Look at the nares (nose hole) you can see right through it, just like you can on a turkey vulture. Those yellow eyes are mesmerizing.

You can get so frickin' close to the birds here in Florida. I'm now asking myself why I have led trips for the past ten years to Nebraska (to an incredibly cold blind) to watch a several thousand mostly at a distance who freak out when you get too close. Here in Florida at the Space Coast Birding and Nature Festival, they kind of look at you and almost seem offended if you only take a few photos.

Granted, it is a tad chilly right now, but nothing like some of those mornings on the Platte River in March.