July
31, 2007
Weather
There has been sporadic rain, for which we are very grateful. A total of 2.58
inches has been recorded since July 1st. It has made a difference to the herbaceous
vegetation on the property and to the gardens. These areas are looking much
better, and are now very green and even lush in certain spots. So often, with
rain being predicted almost daily in the last few weeks, it seems to rain
nearby, or in Tallahassee, but rarely here at Birdsong. The storms that do
occur seem to be more and more intense as we move through this unusual summer.
Vegetation
“Normally” by this time of year we’d be seeing hip-high winged
sumac in the Gin House Field, and tall patches of sweet gum around the property
making us wonder if we’d even burned at all last spring. The draught
has had an impact on such woody plants, stunting their growth. This seems
like a benefit. On the other hand, we really missed out on a great spring
wildflower bloom, and right now we have unusual summer blooming going on.
In all our open fields there is off-white Eupatorium coming up everywhere.
It is especially thick in Linton’s Corner, which we’ve never seen.
Another real surprise is an abundance of beautiful bright yellow rock roses
all through the longleaf pine restoration area west of the Farm Pond. There
is clearly some combination of factors that these two species are now thriving
on. There is some butterfly pea vine blooming here and there in the woods,
and one tiny area in Linton’s Corner where bright pink Sabatia is in
bloom. A variety of grasses are now blooming as well. Another plant that likes
these conditions is ragweed—it has really expanded its range in the Gin
House this year and although stunted in height has spread out east of the
Star Pasture.
Ponds and Swamps
The most difficult thing to observe is the phenomenal lack of water in our
ponds and swamps. The rains appear to make absolutely no difference, and in
fact, the levels continue to go down.
The Upper Pond is now a grassflat and mudflat; the Farm Pond is so low you
can see the mud bottom in the middle. Its west end is a mudflat, now greening
up with grasses and other vegetation. The huge stumps that are usually barely
visible are now sitting up on mudflats, very useful to the local anhinga.
He or she takes advantage of the lower water that concentrates the remaining
fish in the middle of the pond. The old “chimney” or original pond
drain has never been this exposed. We can count six cement blocks these days.
Betty used to be able to tell how much fluctuation was occurring in the Pond
using the block-counting method and I don’t recall her ever reporting
it lower than three. Dragonflies are thriving in this area, however—they
are literally everywhere, and many varieties can be observed. There are also
many Blue Grosbeaks near Eddie’s Cabin, and the Little Blue Heron is
always patrolling the west mudflat in his beautiful purple plumage.
Even more disturbing to see is Big Bay Swamp. The water tupelo trees bases are fully exposed, and their masses of tangled roots are extending out over the tiny isolated pools of water that remain. All kinds of grasses and herbaceous plants are taking over the exposed sandy flats throughout the swamp. You can walk to the beaver lodge, and beyond, without boots.
We are very concerned about our gators. The one large adult that’s been
holding out along a bank of button bush within view of Big Bay Dam, and who
has been reliably observed every visit for the last several months, was not
there today. She was clearly dealing with a shallow situation, and we believe
she was probably sticking it out because there were small babies nearby (we
assume they were hers; they were in a neighboring shallow pool easily viewed
from the dam). Today, no adult, and no babies.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a thing we can do, management-wise, to improve
the situation. It is out of our hands. We also can’t predict what this
kind of stress will do to our wildlife population. Betty would have insisted
on “all-hands-on-deck and a rain dance will be performed right now, if
you please”. It used to work.
On a hopeful
note...
On today’s cruise for these notes, I flushed two young Wild Turkeys just
east of the Live Oak Hammock. One was very young and leggy, the other more
mature, but both were quite small. The Gin House Field was full of Bluebirds,
family groups no doubt. The last fledging has occurred and the young are in
training and the parents on task. Two solid black fox squirrels bounded through
the woods and up a tree in their graceful fashion, immediately lost to view.
Two young bucks looked up from grazing near the south Mandalay fence; they
were very healthy looking, a gorgeous russet blond, with velvet covering their
antlers. There were many Indigo Buntings and Red-headed Woodpeckers near the
south end of the Wildlife Woods, Pileateds were calling, Bobwhites were whistling.
Our wildlife persists; individuals are going about their lives, apparently
successfully and in spite of difficult conditions—still singing.
-KDB
Bird Window
Notes
Many of our common residents have been bringing their young to the Bird Window
and spending a lot of time in the mister and pool! We have many young Cardinals,
Blue Jays, Chickadees and Titmice. This year we have three immature Eastern
Towhees who are very speckled and oddly colored but easily recognizable as
Towhees especially when they use both feet to try to scrape corn out of the
gravel near the harrow disc feeder.
Occasional
visitors include Indigo Buntings, Summer Tanagers, Great-crested Flycatchers,
White-breasted Nuthatches, Bluebirds, Bobwhite Quail and one immature Blue
Grosbeak. The Fish Crows and Common Grackles are constantly trying to fly
off with our suet and in response we have tried to place a hardware cloth
screen over the suet. Our attempts have not been successful; usually the Grackle
or the Blue Jays use beaks and feet to remove it.
We have at
least two, and often four hummingbirds battling over the feeder at the Window
and the feeders near the office. Butterflies are often seen flitting by and
sometimes puddling by the Window pool, and turtles, snakes, rabbits, raccoons
and foxes have been spotted sipping at the pool as well.
-Chris Bittle
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