by Mary Wakefield Buxton –
URBANNA —
W
hen I received an invitation to join Windstar Birders on a “bird walk,” I signed up for the event. I had never been on a bird walk before. I assumed such an event would identify birds as we walked through a nature preserve.
The bird walk turned out to be a bird ride, however, not through a nature preserve but an 18-hole golf course interspersed amongst 15 lakes. We were a group of 28 seated up to two to a cart, in a line of 20 golf carts. This was bird walk, “Naples style.”
Our leader, a retired zoology professor, passed out a paper listing birds we might see on our journey. “This is the largest turnout we have ever had,” he announced.
I laughed as we took off following our leader single file. We must have looked terribly silly to any awaiting birds. It struck me we must have appeared like baby ducklings following Mother Duck. Every time the professor spotted a bird he would stop, and we would circle around him to hear the traits of the specie.
It was the first time I had ever ridden in a golf cart and I felt like a child again in Ohio riding a car in “Dodgems” at an amusement park. I imagined what the birds must have thought of us as we observed them.
Surely human beings observing wildlife must be hilarious to watch.
I carefully noted the characteristics of the following birds on my bird sheet:
- Anhinga.
- American crow.
- Cattle egret.
- Common gallinule.
- Cormorant.
- Egret.
- Great blue heron.
- Grackle.
- Mottled duck.
- A rare, all-white muscovy duck.
- Mourning dove.
- Osprey.
- Pileated woodpecker.
- Red winged black bird.
- Shrike.
- Snowy egret.
- Starling.
- White ibis.
- Black vulture.
- Kestral.
- A bandit bird, sometimes called a butcher bird.
We even came across an alligator sunning himself next to an anhinga that was foolishly drying his wings in such a precarious spot. Our army of golf carts circling the alligator scared it back into the lake, however, where he surfaced and watched us with his ping pong eyes protruding just at the water’s surface — a very scary sight. The anhinga finally got the message and, his wings dried, flew off. It felt good to know we had saved an anhinga from a most unpleasant end.
I learned so much. For example, did you realize everyone should keep a dead tree on his or her property so woodpeckers can enjoy a source of insects?
And that every inch between an alligator’s nose and eyes can be converted to feet to determine length? I estimated our alligator was a 10-footer, not as big as “Big Al” who lived in the lake off our condo.
The professor told us the same birds tend to return to the same spot at the same time each day. Cormorants can dive up to 40 seconds underwater in search of fish. In Indonesia cormorants are kept as pets tethered to a boat. Rings are attached around their necks so they cannot swallow caught fish, which is carried to its owner. One would hope at the end of the day the birds are released from their neck rings and can enjoy some fish on their own.
I liked the ibis best, a white bird about the size of an egret with yellow legs and a long-curved bill that can dig for delectable insects.
The bird has excellent hearing, and I could see it cocking its ear and listening for insects underground before taking a stab. The ibis is also interesting because its beak and legs turn a bright fuchsia during mating season.
We stopped in front of several platforms erected for ospreys: In Florida, in December they make nests, January, lay eggs, 45 days later eggs hatch, and 45 days later fledglings learn how to swim and fish for themselves.
The strangest bird seen on our bird walk was the bandit bird. This devilish bird likes dragonflies and when he captures one, he impales it on the thorn of bougainvillea. After he has impaled three or four, he returns to his shrub and enjoys a feast.
We learned that a flock of wild parakeets lived in Windstar. I kept hoping we would see them, but the freshening wind had sent them to shelter.
But the big thrill of the day was simply seeing three red-headed birds swimming by our condo that evening. “There go three common gallinules!” I said proudly. I had really learned something about birds! (Continued in next week’s Sentinel.)
© 2021.
