The Dry Tortugas
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It had been windy (but warm) with rain squalls from Sunday through Wednesday but Thursday, 3/1, was one of those “perfect” weather days. This was fortunate because we had made reservations to take the ferry to the Dry Tortugas, about 70 miles west of Key West. The trip has a reputation of notoriously rough seas. When the captain announced that it “doesn’t get better than this,” we were quite pleased (especially me, a non-sailor).
At 8 AM, the Yankee Freedom II, a large catamaran, departed Key West and headed for the Dry Tortugas through azure blue waters. The price of the trip included the round trip, a buffet breakfast and lunch, narration and a tour of Fort Jefferson. The crew were very efficient, helpful and friendly.
Originally named “Las Tortugas” (The Turtles) by explorer Ponce de Leon, the name was eventually changed on mariner’s charts to “Dry Tortugas” when sailors found there was no fresh water available on the 7 islands composed of coral reef and sand.
As we approached our destination, Garden Key, we passed some of the smaller keys, one of which is the preferred roost for Masked Boobies (about 40 individuals of which a pair or two may nest here). The captain brought the boat close enough so we could see the birds sitting on the small, sandy key.
Masked Boobies (Sula dactylatra) on Hospital Key
As we approached Garden Key and Fort Jefferson, America’s largest 1800s masonry fort, we noticed that the structure comprises most of the island.
Approaching Garden Key & Fort Jefferson
Ferry – Yankee Freedom II
After disembarking we had four and a half hours to explore with the options of touring the fort, snorkeling or just walking around the island.
The fort was originally built to control navigation routes in the Gulf of Mexico and during the Civil War it served as a Union military prison for captured deserters. It also held four men who were conspirators in assassination of Abraham Lincoln including Dr. Samuel Mudd. Abandoned by the army in 1874, the fort became a wildlife refuge in 1908 to protect the Sooty Tern rookery from egg poachers. Some 30 million bricks were transported to build the fort, which was never totally completed.
Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas National Park
Entrance to Ft. Jefferson
The hexagonal shaped fort is surrounded by a salt water moat. The interior contains some buildings (all now is a state of disrepair), grassy areas and trees. It also contains the famous “fresh water fountain” which is life-saving to so many avian migrants that pass this way in spring. An amazing number of bird species have been recorded here (299 according to the checklist at the park).
Moat
Fort Grounds
The water around the fort is clear and warm and many chose to snorkel, enjoying the colorful fish found in the coral reef. I opted to go birding but as I walked the entire perimeter of the fort along the moat, I could see some of the beautiful fish and coral without even getting wet!
Walkway Around the Moat
Clear Water, Coral and Beautiful Fish
Because it was early for migration (April/May are the best times to visit for birds), I saw only a few migrant species, most of which have probably over-wintered on the island. Inside the fort there is a man-made fresh water source for the birds that usually arrive exhausted, hungry and thirsty after a long flight across the Gulf. The availability of fresh water has, no doubt, saved many avian lives.
Palm Warbler at the Fresh Water Fountain
Palm Warbler (Dendroica palmarum)
American Kestrel (Falco sparverius)
I was surprised to see several of these non-native doves even here.
Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)
Other migrants I saw inside the fort were Gray Catbird (Dumetalla carolinensis) and Northern Parula (Dendroica americana). All of these birds probably have over-wintered at the fort.
Just passing through:
Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus)
Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus)
Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis)
Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger)
Breeding birds:
Just above the fort were a dozen or so Magnificent Frigatebirds, so photogenic and so easy to photograph as they lazily soared overhead. They nest on Long Key, a small key with shrubbery and small trees within view of Garden Key.
Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens), male
Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens), female
Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens), immature
Bush Key, almost connected to Garden Key (you could, in fact, walk over to it) is where Sooty Terns (80,000!) and Brown Noddies (4500!) nest. It is off-limits so one must view the birds from a distance. There were hundreds of noisy Sooty Terns flying around Bush Key and among them were Brown Noddies and a few Brown Pelicans.
Sooty Terns, Brown Noddies, Brown Pelicans on Bush Key
Island Closed (Bush Key)
Fortunately some of the terns left Bush Key and flew close enough for some photos. Brown Noddies could be seen flying back to Bush Key with nesting material in their bills.
Sooty Tern (Onychoprion fuscatus)
Brown Noddies were a bit more cooperative as they often flew to the old pilings on Garden Key.
Brown Noddy (Anous stolidus)
Sometimes they shared a piling with on of the Black Skimmers. Look at that tongue!
Black Skimmer and Brown Noddy
Brown Pelicans also nest on Long Key.
Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis), adult
Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis), immature
Nice Landing!
There were some flowers blooming on Garden Key but I never expected to see a butterfly there. Not only did I see one, but it was a life butterfly — a Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak. I didn’t bring a close-up lens with me on this trip so had to back way up and take a telephoto shot of this small blue butterfly.
Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak (Strymon columella) on Sea Rocket
Before we knew it, our four and half hours in the Dry Tortugas was over. It was a fabulous trip, beautiful place, perfect weather and far exceeded our expectations.
Two and a half hours later, and another smooth ride, our ferry docked back in Key West.
Adios, Tortugas.
Published by Arlene Ripley on March 11th, 2012 Tagged Birds, Butterflies, Florida, Marine Life, Nature, Wanderings | 1 Comment »
The “Keys”
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A mere 11 days after returning from Australia another trip was on the horizon, this time to the Florida Keys. We were to spend a week in Key West, part business, part pleasure. It was pretty hard to leave Arizona, especially because the mild weather made it feel like spring — flowers blooming, butterflies flying. Nevertheless, I had a few target species for Florida and looked forward to the hunt.
My first adventure was to visit Bahia Honda State Park on Big Pine Key. This used to be “the place” to find the endangered Miami Blue (Hemiargus thomasi) butterfly, one I’d love to see in the wild. In 1999 this presumed extinct butterfly was re-found at the park. Sadly it disappeared again in 2010 and one of the contributing factors may be the presence and over-abundance of exotic Green Iguanas, the descendants of escaped and/or abandoned pets which eats the Nickerbean leaves where the butterfly lays its eggs. An effort is underway to remove the iguanas from the park but sadly, I easily found one while walking through the butterfly garden.
Entrance to Bahia Honda State Park Butterfly Garden
Green Iguana
As I walked a nature trail in another area of the park, I was pleased to come across a new butterfly for me, the Mangrove Skipper. With its purple/magenta metallic markings, the Mangrove Skipper is large and quite showy for a skipper.
Mangrove Skipper (Phocides pigmalion)
Another “must” stop while on Big Pine Key is the “National Key Deer Refuge” which actually consists of 25 islands in the south Keys. The Key Deer is the smallest subspecies of the Virginia White-tailed Deer. An estimated total population of only 600- 750 individuals, the Key Deer has been federally listed as endangered with human interaction being the biggest threat. It’s pretty easy to find a few of the diminutive Key Deer by just driving through residential areas making them very vulnerable to being hit by cars.
Key Deer
In Key West, just over the bridge to Stock Island, one finds the “Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Garden,” advertised as the only “frost-free” botanical garden in the continental U.S. Not only that, but it contains two of the last remaining freshwater ponds in the Keys as well as being a migratory stop for many bird species. I ended up spending a good part of a warm and somewhat steamy day here. Not only was the flora interesting but there were some good birds (regrettably I was a bit too early for migration) and some new butterflies. Actually the number of bird and butterfly species were equal at 17!
One particular bird highlight was the Short-tailed Hawk that flew low over the gardens multiple times. From the color pattern on the underwings, it appeared to be a dark morph juvenile.
Short-tailed Hawk (Buteo brachyurus)
Other bird highlights included Bald Eagle, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Common Moorhen, Gray Catbird, Northern Parula, and Palm Warbler.
There were lots of blooming plants and this turned out to be the best spot of the trip for butterflies including these extreme south Florida species:
Martial Scrub-Hairstreak (Strymon martialis)
Florida Duskywing (Ephyriades brunneus), female
Florida Duskywing (Ephyriades brunneus)
Other Florida “only” species were Mangrove Skipper (see above), Cassius Blue, Mangrove Buckeye and Monk Skipper.
Cassius Blue (Leptotes cassius)
Mangrove Buckeye (Junonia evarete)
Monk Skipper (Asbolis capucinus)
Extremely common everywhere I went was Great Southern White and also very common were Monarchs.
Great Southern White (Ascia monuste)
Monarch (Danaus plexippus)
Despite all of these wonderful butterfly sightings, Green Iguanas were abundant in the gardens (even though the designated butterfly garden was protected with a protective barrier). It’s hard to say what damage they have done and will continue to do.
Green Iguana
There is one more highlight to this trip but it requires another blog post. On Thursday, March 1, we visited the Dry Tortugas — coming next.
Published by Arlene Ripley on March 8th, 2012 Tagged Butterflies, Florida, Reptiles, Wanderings | 2 Comments »
Going “Down Under” (NZ #2)
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January 19, 2011 – North Island
Anxious to start exploring North Island, we left Auckland on the morning of our second day and headed south. Along the highway, not far from the city, we saw a sign for the Auckland Botanic Gardens so decided to stop there.
Entrance, Auckland Botanic Gardens
The gardens were beautiful, meticulously maintained and reflected the tropical feeling of this area.
Auckland Botanic Gardens
We couldn’t help but notice that so many of the plants here were familiar ones to us having grown up in Northern California. In fact, other than the tree ferns, we had the strange feeling we were in California. Obviously the climates are similar and the same plants and trees do well in both areas.
Best of all, the gardens provided habitat not only for plants but birds as well. Several lakes provided us with an opportunity to view some native waterfowl. The endemic New Zealand Grebes or Dabchicks entertained us while they dove and came up with small fish to feed their young. They reminded me a lot of our Least Grebes (Tachybaptus dominicus).
New Zealand Grebe (Poliocephalus rufopectus)
Juvenile New Zealand Grebe
It was hard not to notice an extremely beautiful duck at another lake. So beautiful that I thought it must be some kind of domestic duck. Wrong. Enter the endemic Paradise Shellduck.
Paradise Shellduck (Tadorna variegata), female
Female birds usually have duller plumage than males but in this case the female of the species is actually much more attractive than the male — he is mostly black. I actually neglected to take a photo of one — should have consulted my field guide!
The highly gregarious native gull, the Red-billed Gull was also present at the lakeside. What a beauty! In the following days we would see them in many places. Red-billed Gulls nest in colonies of up to 5000 pairs on sand spits, shellbanks, gravel beaches and rocky headlands.
Red-billed Gull (Chroicocephalus scopulinus)
The introduced Common Chaffinch was common in the gardens and gave us a few photo ops that we missed at Manukau Harbor the day before.
Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)
To ensure we wouldn’t leave New Zealand without seeing a Kiwi (and it turns out we didn’t), we drove on to the Otorohanga Kiwi House and Native Bird Park. As we entered the nocturnal Kiwi enclosure (no photos allowed), we were not disappointed as the two Kiwis were running all around and actively probing the litter for insects. It was fascinating watching them and we had the whole enclosure to ourselves. The facility here breeds Kiwis for release and also houses some of the rarer native birds, primarily waterfowl and shorebirds.
To be continued……..
Published by Arlene Ripley on February 20th, 2012 Tagged Birds, Nature, New Zealand, Wanderings | 3 Comments »Going “Down Under” (NZ #1)
(click on a photo to enlarge)
On January 15, 2012 our New Zealand/Australia odyssey began as we boarded a plane in Tucson bound for Los Angeles, Hawaii and our final destination for that leg — New Zealand. The next series of posts will recount our adventures while “down under.”
January 18 – North Island, Auckland, New Zealand
After many hours on Air New Zealand (but thankfully broken up by an overnight stay in Hawaii), we arrived bright and early (but not so bright and bushy-tailed ourselves) on North Island near Auckland. As I peered out of the airport terminal windows, I noticed some swallows swooping by. Rifling around in my carry-on bag, I pulled out my NZ field guide and identified them as Welcome Swallows (Hirundo neoxena)!!! What a perfect first bird to welcome us to a new part of the world.
Welcome Swallow (Hirundo neoxena)
Too early to check into our hotel, we headed north toward Auckland and, looking at our map, noticed that we were just south of Manukau Harbor. Perhaps there would be some birds to see.
Manukau Harbor, North Island, New Zealand
Of course there were birds, and most of the birds we saw were new to us as we knew they would be.
The first that we noticed was a White-faced Heron.
White-faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae)
Busy catching breakfast were several beautiful little blue-green and buff kingfishers, the New Zealand Kingfisher (Halcyon sancta vagans), a subspecies of the Sacred Kingfisher (Halcyon sancta) that occurs only in New Zealand.
New Zealand Kingfisher (Halcyon sancta vagans)
Because it was low tide, most of the smaller birds were too far out for us to identify (wish I could have brought a spotting scope on the trip!) but we were able to identify the endemic South Island Pied Oystercatcher (apparently found on North Island as well), Kelp Gull (Larus dominicanus) and Little Shag (Phalacrocorax melanoleucos). We would have another chance at small waders later in the trip.
South Island Pied Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus finschi)
There was a lovely trail along the edge of the beach which we followed for a bit, taking in the small passerines that were flitting in and out of the shrubbery.
The first small birds we noticed were the abundant Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis). In fact, the Silvereye is one of the most abundant native birds to inhabit New Zealand. Not present until the mid-1800s, a subspecies of the Australian Silvereye from Tasmania was thought to be caught up in a storm and some birds ended up in New Zealand after which they flourished. Because they arrived naturally, they are considered a native species and are protected as are all native species.
Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis)
We got lucky when the endemic Gray Warbler (Gerygone igata) popped up for a quick photo. This is the only mainland bird with “warbler” in its name. The other Gerygone species is the Chatham Island Warbler (Gerygone albofrontata). Chatham Island is a remote island some 500 miles east of South Island. As it turned out, the little Gray Warblers seemed to be almost everywhere we went!
Gray Warbler (Gerygone igata)
Other introduced species seen were:
European Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris)
Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella)
Other birds seen in the area were:
Native: Red-billed Gull (Larus scopulinus), Australasian Harrier (Circus approximans), Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio), Australasian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen)
Introduced: Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), Eurasian Blackbird (Turdus merula), Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos), Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), California Quail (Callipepla californica), European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris), House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Of the approximately 328 species of birds in New Zealand, there are a high number of endemic species (approximately 73), relatively few native passerines and almost equal numbers of terrestrial, wetland and seabirds, unique to this most isolated of land masses. We had about 10 days to cover both North and South Islands so it would be a challenge to do some sightseeing and birding in that relatively short period of time. Nevertheless it was a pretty good start for two sleep-deprived foreigners with little knowledge of the discoveries we would soon make.
The rest of the day was learning to negotiate driving on the “wrong” side of the road, finding our hotel in busy downtown Auckland and adjusting to New Zealand time.
Published by Arlene Ripley on February 19th, 2012 Tagged Birds, Nature, Wanderings | 4 Comments »