Burrowing Owl count 2020

I took part in the Burrowing Owl count of Cape Coral, Florida this past summer. Volunteers checked every burrow they could find. The grand total for the 2020 count was 2,809 burrowing owls.

Many of the owls found have yellow eyes like the one featured here. The image with mosaic eyes below are due to inbreeding.

Burrowing Owl © Meg Rousher

Burrowing Owl w/mosaic eyes © Meg Rousher

Unlike other owls these birds are active during the day. Here is a parent is feeding frog bits to its young. They will seek shade in the heat of the day so the best times to watch them is around dawn & dusk.

Burrowing owls eating a frog © Meg Rousher

Other names include "Billy Owl", "Ground Owl", "Howdy Owl", and "Prairie Owl". A group of  owls may be called a bazaar, stopping or wisdom of owls.

A wisdom of owls © Meg Rousher

Harns Marsh

I took a five mile walk around the marsh today. Watching this Snail Kite searching for apple snails was a great site to see as their numbers seem to be declining here. In the US they can only be found in Florida.and are also known as the Everglades Kite.

Later I met some friends and we photographed Sandhill Cranes. They live at this preserve year round and are always a pleasure to shoot in the early morning light. They will let you and everyone else in a 2 mile radius know if you get too close with their loud rattle call, but if you keep your distance they will let you take a few pictures.




Hooded Mergansers are also found here in the winter months in small numbers. They won't let you get very close but if you're lucky they will fly by you as they leave.



Eastern Phoebes are fun to watch and almost always return to the same perch when hunting as this one below did. It's one of those wonderful birds that actually say its name when it calls (fee-bee).



Lastly I photographed this flock before I left. In it are Northern Pintail, Green and Blue Winged Teal.

Least Terns in the Summertime

A straightness of terns arrive from South America tired and hungry. They have had many names such as Little Striker, Little Tern, Minute Tern, Sea Tern & Silver Ternlet now called Least Tern.
You can hear the zr-e-e-e-p calls while they hover over the water searching for fish. They also eat crustaceans, sand eels, shrimp & prawns but they will need a fish to attract a mate.

Once found the offering begins. He stands behind her waving the fish from left to right. She sits in front turning her head in the same manor. Eventually she will reach up and he gives her the fish and the mating begins unless...
Noting the sexes is very difficult as the only external difference is a female is smaller then a male. They have a difficult time telling each other apart, sometimes the female in front is a male looking for an easy meal or offering for his potential mate.

The nest is on the open beach made by the bird bending over and kicking its legs behind as it turns in a circle. This makes a small bowl shape in the sand called a scrape. These scrapes are sometimes decorated with bits of broken seashells. Eggs are laid one at a time over a few days and incubation begins after the last egg is laid. If successful the eggs hatch about 23 days later, Adults defending a nest will team up and dive bomb you screaming or flying directly at your head & at the last minute drop excrement (poop) with great accuracy.

They start running a day or two after hatching. At first they can only run very short distances and must stop to rest but before long they scatter in all directions and will be fledging in about 15 days. They need a lot of food as their first flight is only 28 days away. A sea of parents fly back and forth bringing in food trying to get them ready for the long trip back to South America for the winter to rest and start it the process all over again. 

The oldest know Least Tern was 24 years old when it was found in New Jersey in 1981. It had been banded in Cotuit, Massachusetts in 1957.

Description:
. . . Adult (breeding (with non-breeding notes)) is 8½ to 9½ inches long, white with silvery/gray back & wings (leading edges are black and they span 20 inches)  a black cap (reduced to the back of the head in winter), white forehead, black eyes, yellow short thin bill with a black tip (turns dusty/black in winter), short yellow legs

IUCN Status: Least Concern
Florida Status: State-designated Threatened
Federal Status: Endangered in Midwest and Great Plains states

Distal Rhynchokinesis

Distal Rhynchokinesis is an ability possessed by many (if not all) shorebirds that allows the bird to move the distal part of the upper jaw with respect to the cranium, basically flexing the tip of its upper mandible up or down. This helps shorebirds feed more efficiently as it cuts down the need to remove the bill and re position it or open the entire bill under sand/soil. It is rarely photographed as the action is mostly done under water, mud or sand but I watched the Marbled Godwit pictured below do this several times while preening and the Least Sandpiper pictured below do this while bathing. The following images were taken by me of wild shorebirds at local beaches in SW Florida.

Least Sandpiper @ Bunche Beach

 Red Knot EU5 (banded in 2007 on Sanibel Island, FL) @ Bunche Beach

Marbled Godwit @ Bunche Beach