12 Oakdale

  Happy autumnal equinox and the first day of fall (I had to look up if seasons are capitalized, although I suspect by now most of our English grammar and punctuation rules have gone by the wayside.)  For the past week, night temperatures have been below 75°. Back up to burning blazes during the day, but I can actually feel the weather changing. So different from South Florida. Time to plant tomatoes and trim the tropical sage. Saturday, we went birding with Brady, the last of my purchases from Orange Audubon’s auction. Getting up at 4:45, we met Brady at the St Cloud Publix, transferred his gear to our truck, and headed for our first visit to Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area. On the way in, a family of caracara: mom and dad sitting atop a telephone pole with 2 juveniles foraging in the fields. The rest of the day we drove higher and yon, looking for red cockaded and red headed woodpeckers, success with both.  27°55'50.0"N 81°07'33.8"W for RCWO; 27°54’55”.3N, 81°...

Wednesday , it was 47° when I went for my jog. I wore tights with shorts over, 2 long sleeved shirts, wool socks with my sneakers, watch cap, fingerless gloves (definitely going to try others), and a handkerchief around my neck. I figured if someone visiting from Chicago saw me, she’d laugh. Hey, I’m from south Florida. By today, Saturday, the temp was back up to 73°, and I was back to wearing just shorts and a short sleeved shirt.  The warming weather was a plus when Patten and I tromped out in the Saint John National Wildlife Refuge looking for black rails in a North Shore Birding Festival trip Thursday evening. The guide and black rail supreme expert,  Mike Legare, told everyone to wear knee boots which I don’t have. I also know I’m not going to die of hypothermia in Central Florida, and I figured my chance of snake bite was pretty low if I wasn’t at the front of the line.  After being trucked in a 1/4 mile, then walking/slogging cross-country through waist-high grass ...

Ninety eight percent of the time I figure out the daily Wordle. I’ve only had a couple of misses, and they were when the word was like match/latch/catch/watch, and I ran out of tries before I ran through the list. Mostly I finish in 4 tries, frequently 3 or 5 tries. I don’t have a favorite beginning word. I start by thinking of a 5-letter word that represents the day. Beach or plant or sandy. Not “weedy”, because it repeats a letter, or “ homes”, because I rarely see plurals as an answer. Today, I got it in 1! First time ever. I’m not sure how or why I chose my word. What was it? “Quest”. Still wonder about it. I don’t use “qu” often.  In any case, an unexpected start for my day. Patten drove up from Fort Lauderdale, and at noon, we picked up Clara to go to the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland. At the Orange Audubon fundraising auction, I’d won the bid for a training session with Uff-da, a black vulture who lives at the center. I’d bought it as a birthday present for Cl...

We’re exhausted after 4 days of birding in South Florida with Orange Audubon Society. Up and out of the hotel by 6:30 for all-day walking and craning our necks up, holding binoculars. I definitely need to add upper body strength training to our fitness routines. Our guides, Mariah and Luis, spotted and heard birds like magicians conjuring doves from their hats and, most importantly, could describe where they were, so the rest of us could find them. Just outside Everglades National Park, we walked the canal, seeing egrets and herons on the water side, warblers and other wintering migrants on the field side. Two white tailed kites flew over to hunt in the park. In the Keys, at Dagney Johnson Biological State Park, I saw warblers (parula, prairie, black and white, pine, palm), oven birds, and catbirds. At Blue Hole on Big Pine Key, not so much, but the alligator hanging out with tarpon was a surprise. Luis spotted 2 black racers on the Golden Orb Trail on Long Key, where I’d risen my bike...

After no beach forms year, now a second trip in one week: 10 days with 8 at the beach. This time, a shore bird trip in South Carolina with Orange Audubon Society, lead by Craig* from US Fish and Wildlife. In three days, we visited 6 sites, recorded 100+ species, and saw thousands of birds. Firsts for me were greater and lesser black-backed gulls and Wilson’s, golden, and piping plovers. I learned how to distinguish a Sandwich tern by the color at the end of its bill: either mayonnaise or mustard, but I haven’t leaned what sex and/or age has which one. Perhaps I’ll look that up. My big accomplishment was learning that sitting down to use my scope is absolutely the way to use it. My back appreciated that. We birdied at a gated community, Harbor Island, with fantastic but private beaches. Would that it were a state park, open to the public, rather than just those with enough money to live inside the walls. I guess from the birds’ view, private might be better, with fewer people able to di...