Releasing Oil "Recovered" Birds In A Safer Place

I brought up earlier that I wondered about the wisdom of releasing oiled birds found in the Gulf Mexico.  Typically in wildlife rehab, you release birds in and around the area the injured birds were found, the area they are used to. In this case, what's the point of releasing an oiled bird back to an area already coated with oil that will be covered with more oil on a daily basis? Thanks to a link I saw from Klaus (who started the awesome Skywatch Friday), I saw this news: Birds Rescued From Oil Released Into Safety Of Merritt Island Refuge.

Rather than releasing the cleaned up birds back to the Gulf of Mexico where they run the risk of falling victim to the oil again, releasing them to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge gives them a chance. It's on the Atlantic side of Florida and relatively safe from the oil.  That's no guarantee for the released birds' survival.  They have to work out territory issues with the birds that are already there and birds have wings and an incredible navigational system.  The birds may return to Louisiana, but at the moment this is a better chance than being released where they were found.

Apparently, It's NOT A Piece Of Snake

UPDATE: THANKS TO MY KNOWLEDGEABLE READERS, THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED!

Warning, this post might be a tad gross for some! For others who are a bit like me and love to examine a piece of dead animal...well, this is right you your ally.

As I was doing some digiscoping around Merritt Island NWR, I glanced down at something interesting. At first glance, it almost resembled a huge talon. As I bent down for a closer look, I realized that it wasn't a claw or a talon, but a piece of snake...or so I thought!

It was a bit dried up. I do not know my reptiles and had no idea what this snake was. I originally blogged that this was a snake, but N8 (aka The Drinking Bird) noticed that this reptile piece had eyelids (insert dramatic music) which meant that it is not a snake at all. I did not know this, but snakes do not have eyelids (more dramatic music). I had made an id mistake (insert sad trombone).

A few more readers wrote in agreeing with N8 that this was a glass lizard and I had to go ye olde google and find out about it. After a rant on my part about scientists being nuts for doing things like this (ie calling a bird a red-bellied woodpecker when you barely can see the red) and now we have something that is cold blooded, doesn't have arms or legs, and slithers BUT it's not a snake, it's a lizard. Aaaargh!

So, here's the skinny on the glass lizard. It is not a snake because of they have movable eyelids, their head shape is not what it should be for a snake, they have ear openings on the outside, and some species so have little stunted legs near the vents.

Who knew? Not me, that's for sure!

But I can tell you that it was a meal for some creature. I wanted to get a feel for size and I picked it up for scale. Big mistake, it was rather stinky. But you could see the tiny teeth it had. You also could see a puncture wound. Was that from a talon of some raptor or a beak mark left behind by some harrier that tried to eat it. Many questions left behind, but at least did receive the answer on the id and learned about a new creature!

Thank you to all the readers who wrote in and clued me in. I really appreciate it!

On a side note, since we're talking gross here. I got a new animal for my road kill list. On Tuesday, I passed a dead wild boar on the highway into Titusville.

Minnesota Girl Just Happy To Be In Florida

I arrived on Tuesday for the annual Space Coast Birding and Nature Festival. It's my first time for the festival and word on the street is that this is one huge mama jama on the bird fest scale. Rumor has it that over 4,000 people are expected to attend (how's that for a rough economy). People are coming from all over the word. I met someone who came all the way from China for the festival, and I'm fairy certain the four Japanese guys in the room below mine are here for the fest too--Sweet!

I did a little pre-festival digiscoping. After being cooped up in the sub-zero weather last week, I'm just happy to be here...even if the temps are between 40 - 50 degrees Fahrenheit--I'll take it! Before our trip leader meeting on Tuesday night at the fabu Dixie Crossroads restaurant, I dashed over to Merritt Island (a mere hop, skip, and jump from my hotel). That's where I took the photo from the previous entry asking you how many birds are in the photo. There are 2:

Not sure what other birds some people were seeing the photo--or drinking while looking at the photo ;)!Spotting the snipe was the weirdest thing. First I saw some killdeer (that's one in the above photo, bottom left). When I pulled over and scanned (without binoculars, I saw the lump behind and thought to myself snipe). I dashed for my scope to try and get a photo.

It as challenging to get a photo because it was super windy. But I did manage to get a few without the snipe taking off for the hills. I've said it before and I'll say it again--birds in Florida are just more mellow and laid back than in Minnesota. You pause for just one second on a snipe in Minnesota and there off. Here, they sit there and wait for you, like it's expected. I even found three more snipe lurking in the surrounding grasses.

I love this shot. The way the grass is bent in the wind, it almost looks like this snipe has a mustache its about to twirl while it tells you its nefarious plans. As I took the photos and stood in the cold wind, I asked myself how I knew these were snipe. I'm in an entirely different state, different habitat, but I just knew at distance these were snipe, deep in my gut, no question. I think it was the size in relation to the surrounding killdeer, the general shape, the lurking, the big head and long bill. GISS birding strikes again.

But back to the pleasures of birding in Florida, the birds just don't care. I was able to get some reasonable shots of pintails, even with wind and explaining my digiscoping setup. As I was just snapping away, a couple came up to ask about my set up. They had the same Swarovski scope that I use, but weren't sure about the adaptor. I put the scope on the northern pintail and took several shots.

Look at that sassy duck! It's as if he knows he's the hottest piece of pintail on the lagoon. Here's hoping that a red-cockaded woodpecker will do the same for me on Thursday!

While on the Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island, I came across a huge raft (folk name for a flock of coots) of American coots. That's not even all of them. There were two more smaller rafts gradually joining this large one.

They were feeding on something and it almost looked as though the large group was driving at some kind of prey just below the water's surface. You can see all kinds of splashing was going on in the above photo.

I tried to get a shot of the coots from smaller rafts, scurry/flap across the water's surface to join the larger group. You can see by the large splashes, that one has already left, and the second one is chasing after it. You know, I've never seen a huge flock of coots fly. The closest I have ever seen a coot fly is the splashy run they do across the water. They must fly. In Minnesota in the fall, you'll be on a lake one day and there's relatively few waterfowl. The next morning, tons of coots. They seem to stick around until the water freezes, then magically disappear. They must only fly at night. I wonder if they are messy and haphazard flyers. Taking wing high in the sky only in the cover of darkness, because they would be easy targets for eagles, hawks, and falcons. What do they look like when they fly? How high can they go? Are they in formation?

So many cooty questions. Have any of you seen coots fly--like above tree level?