FL to PA Day 6: Crystal River to Orlando (Withlacoochie State Forest, Wekiwa Springs State Park, Tibet-Butler Preserve) March 10

After saying goodbye to Eva and Sara in Crystal River, Alex and I headed SE to a tract of the Withlacoochee State Forest where one can reliably see red-cockaded woodpeckers, an endangered species, in their longleaf pine habitat.  The trees that the woodpeckers use are marked with white lines, and have man-made cavities in them.  We quickly found these trees, but no RCW's were around. 

man-made RCW cavity

RCW long leaf pine habitat

There were many red-headed woodpeckers, though, and downy, red-bellied woodpeckers and flickers could be heard all around.  We waited for about 20 minutes, when finally three woodpeckers flew in, with their unfamiliar raspy calls.  One immediately flew into a cavity, while the other two foraged about the surrounding longleaf pines.  These birds are very difficult to photograph, and they always seemed to want to be on the opposite side of the tree you were on, where the lighting wasn't very good.  I can imagine the frustration biologists must feel when trying to read their bands at the 50-60 foot heights we saw them foraging at.  The bands were only barely visible in a few of my photos.  The three birds foraged within 50 meters of us, then slowly worked their way through the pines, foraging and not being bothered by our presence.  We waited a little more, and eventually they came back, and we followed them at a distance as we headed back for the trail.  These birds have very particular and specific habitat needs, so I felt lucky to be able to observe them this morning.

close-up of leg bands

red-cockaded woodpeckers

While walking to the car, we spotted a few new butterflies for the year in a flowering tree.  These were pipevine swallowtail, red-banded hairstreaks, and duskywings. 

pipevine swallowtail

duskywing

We made an attempt at a nearby location for burrowing owls, but the owls were not present.  We then headed east to Wekiwa Springs State Park near Apopka, FL.  We did not see much here, but we did see a few white-eyed vireos, and got great looks at a swallow-tailed kite that was hunting in the area.  We also heard northern parulas here, but still could not get a visual on them.

swallow-tailed kite, tail turned sideways (not a plane)

white-eyed vireo

Next we headed for Tibet-Butler Preserve.  It was quite warm out, which may explain the lack of wildlife we experienced here.  The only bird we saw was a yellow-bellied sapsucker.  We did get a new butterfly, though, this very photogenic long-tailed skipper.  I have never seen these before, and it may be one of my new favorite butterfly species, with its bright blue-green body.

yellow-bellied sapsucker

long-tailed skipper

On our way to the Disney Wilderness Preserve in the heavy traffic of nearby Orlando, Alex spotted a swallow-tailed kite soaring above us.  I pulled over, and in total, we watched 5 kites glide by all on the same flight path.  Down the road we saw four more kites, bringing our total to 18 for the trip.

swallow-tailed kite flying low

While pulling over and checking out a map, I forgot to turn my lights off.  My car battery died within minutes, and I am lucky it even started back up with a jump from AAA;  when I got home to PA, the battery died, and the car wouldn't start due to a bad ignition module.  Had this happened in Florida, I would have paid about 5 times as much as my mechanic in PA charged me.  This was probably the miracle of the trip.  While waiting for AAA, we watched many ibis flying to roost, including glossy ibis (new year bird for Alex), in addition to 2 loggerhead shrikes foraging nearby.