Collection 3 - March 2020, Archbold Biological Station

Lately I've been obsessed...

Obsessed with a habitat which I knew about but until recently didn't realize how little I know about it.  Its the Florida Scrub!

I suppose it all started when I started researching where in Broward County I wanted to buy a house, and I started to look at elevation maps, because I don't want to live in an area that will flood or historically was a swampland, and I found that mostly just eastern Broward was not part of the Everglades. For example, areas like Weston, and parts of Davie, were wetlands, wet grasslands, and cypress swamps. Eastern Broward County, closer to the ocean, is actually higher in elevation, and historically consisted mainly of pine flatwoods and a few areas of scrub habitat. 

Florida scrub habitat is mostly areas that are higher in elevation and consist of mostly well draining sand. They may have been created when sea levels were higher and they may have been a sand dune or island. They support a very unique variety of animals and especially plants, which evolved during these times of higher sea level, when they were cut off from the mainland. So this got me interested in finding a house that may have been in one of these areas, for the practicality of flood avoidance, and also the challenge of gardening with natives here, where many plants are rare or extirpated from Broward already. 

One of the birds that are included in this category is the endemic Florida Scrub-Jay. It used to be found in this county, as well as Miami-Dade, but now they cannot be found in either. They are extirpated, which means locally extinct, and have been since the 1980's (60's for Miami-Dade). 

So as you may have guessed this is what the next collection will be on. The scrub habitat and the only bird that can be found exclusively in this habitat, the Florida Scrub-Jay. Im off to look for the jays and to get inspiration at a scrub stronghold, the Archbold Biological Station in Highlands County. 

I hope when I do find my house I can restore the yard to what a Broward County native scrub would look like.  And can you imagine what would happen if all my neighbors did too?  Maybe the Florida Scrub-Jays could come back to Broward County, and people and jays could live harmoniously...

Anyway, Im off to the Lake Wales Ridge and Archbold Station!

Here is one of the main buildings in front of the visitor center. It's full of native scrub grasses and wildflowers. It is the end of the dry season, but it would be interesting to see when the native wildflower are in bloom. 

One of the many informative signs around Archbold. They do a good job of labeling plants and also having signs explaining a lot of information on the trails. 

A Sand Pine - Pinus clausa and Scrub Hickory - Carya floridana, 

two of the taller trees of the scrub habitat, the hickory is still dormant. 

More view of the habitat, with Scrub Oaks - Quercus sp., Palmettos, 

and Slash Pine - Pinus elliottii in the far back. 

I didn't see any Scrub Jays on my hike at Archbold, but on my way there I did see one sitting on a power line along the highway, so I decided to go back to that area and see if I could get a closer look.

There ended up being a family group of about 15-20 birds. 

Heres a group of 3 Florida Scrub-Jays, Aphelocoma coerulescens. This group was not as tame as a group I've encountered before in Sarasota County, FL.  I didn't notice any were banded. But it's good that they are not exposed to too many people and can live in a more natural state. 

This particular bird was the most visible the whole time. I think it was keeping watch while the other birds were in the scrub below. This area seemed to be a little over grown, maybe it will need a burn sometime soon. 

A watercolor sketch I made of the Florida Scrub-Jay - Aphelocoma coerulescens, at Archbold Biological Station. In my painting, I have a variety of scrub plants from this habitat including:

-Scrub hickory, Carya floridana,  in the back left

-Sand Pine, Pinus clausa in the back right

-Scrub oaks, Quercus geminata and Q. myrtilifolia 

-Rusty Fetterbush, Lyonia ferruginea

-Silver Saw Palmetto, Serenoa repens

-Eastern Pricklypear cactus, Opuntia humifusa 

-Florida Rosemary, Ceratiola ericoides

-Skyblue Lupine, Lupinus diffusus

The blank area is the bright white sand. 

I hope you enjoyed this post, I'll be working on this bird this month, and hopefully on a new garden. This year has been very hectic for sure, and I hope things will calm down. I think being in nature would help a lot for everyone. 

Collection 2 - Feb 2020, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens

Collection 2 - Feb 2020

Location: Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens, Coral Gables, Miami-Dade County, FL

134 - Ruby-throated Hummingbird

135 - Palm Warbler, Western ssp.

136 - Gray Catbird

This months collection is inspired by the wonderful and well known Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables. These birds are fairly common and easily found at the garden this time of year, where they spend the winter. The idea of the collection was based on birds here in South Florida, that can be seen in residents personal gardens at their homes and in their neighborhoods. Common winter migrants.

Watercolor sketch of the birds and habitat for Collection 2.

134 - Ruby-throated Hummingbird

135 - Palm Warbler, Western ssp.

136 - Gray Catbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Archilochus colubris

flying male, carving 134, with Scarlet Sage - Salvia coccinea.

There was actually a female here, with a flock of American Goldfinches

eating the seeds of the sage.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Archilochus colubris
flying male, carving 134, at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.
At this very moment there was a Ruby-throated Hummingbird here.  I feel like this place is the most reliable spot to see a Ruby-throated Hummingbird in the winter in South Florida.

Palm Warbler, Western ssp. - Setophaga palmarum

winter plumage on a grassy base, carving 135

Beggarsticks - Bidens alba, blooming in the lawn.

Palm Warbler, Western ssp. - Setophaga palmarum

winter plumage on a grassy base, carving 135,

at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens, in the lowlands looking up toward the 

Bailey Palm Glade. 

Gray Catbird - Dumetella carolinensis

with Pine-Rockland base, soil, grasses, oak leaves, tiny snail shells,

and the endemic and endangered Small's Milkpea, Galactia smallii,

carving 136, at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in the lowlands amphitheater. 

Pond Cypress Studio - Collection 2

Thanks for visiting my blog, I hope you enjoyed!

Bachman's Sparrow Carving 112, part 2

In my recent post about my Brown-headed Nuthatch carving I wrote about how I was inspired to plant Longleaf Pines, Pinus palustris, after reading about the habitats of Florida. This pinewood were vast and seemingly endless at the time, but now, they are scattered and remnant patches. Longleaf Pine used to cover 90,000,000 acres, from Virginia to Florida, and over to Texas, now less than 5% of this habitat remains. The Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Brown-headed Nuthatch, and Bachman's Sparrow, were three signature birds of this habitat.

A few years ago, while flipping through the pages of my Sibley's Guides to Birds, I was looking for resident birds of Florida, that I have not seen yet. One that caught my eye was the Bachman's Sparrow. I had never seen one, or heard one, and after looking up the sightings on eBird, I learned that this bird was spotted recently down the road from my parents house. This got me thinking that if I made a suitable habitat for this bird maybe I could get them to return. My parents have 5 acres, and about half of it is Slash Pine/Palmetto habitat. There was a section, close to the pond, that I adopted to by my "prairie" and I would work on it to make an open pine forest with native grasses and wildflowers. The first and most important step was to remove all the non-native, invasive plants (Brazilian Pepper, Japanese Climbing Fern, non-native grasses such as Bahia and Cogon). Once these plants were removed native plants started to fill back in naturally, such as Coreopsis, Sundews, Bladderworts, Skullcaps, Polygala, Bog-Buttons to name a few!).  I also planted more native wildflowers and ferns, including the Hooded Pitcher Plant, Sarracenia minor, that was once found at a sight down the road, but the sight was destroyed by mining. Most recently I planted native blueberries, shiny fetter bush, Liatris, and three Longleaf Pines. Even though a few years have gone by, I still have not seen any Bachman's Sparrows here at my parents house. I think there just isn't enough suitable habitat, and my small prairie can not support them, though it does get visited by many other birds. It is an ongoing work in progress...

Bachman's Sparrow carving with a Hooded Pitcher Plant, 

in my restored pine land habitat.

Bachman's Sparrow carving among some wildflowers:

Hypericum, Scutellaria, Sarracenia minor, Polygala. I've recorded 60 species 

of native plants in just this few hundred square feet. 

Bachman's Sparrow carving with a newly planted Longleaf Pine, Pinus palustris, and to the left a Slender Gayfeather, aka Blazingstar, Liatris gracilis. Both plants were bought from Sweetbay Nursery, in Parrish, Florida. 

Ruby-throated Hummingbird Carving 122

At my parents house I designed and planted a Hummingbird Garden, which has nectar plants to attract hummingbirds, but also attracts a wide variety of nectar feeding insects and other native wildlife. This garden is planted with different species which I will list below and is very low maintenance except for annual pruning and occasional weeding. It doesn't get any supplemental watering except maybe during the winer dry season.

Hummingbird Garden Plant List for my garden in Manatee County, Florida:
Darlington Oak - Quercus hemisphaerica
Slash Pine - Pinus elliottii
Firebush - Hamelia patens
Walter's Viburnum - Viburnum obovatum
Coral Honeysuckle - Lonicera sempervirens
Rangoon Creeper - Combretum indicum (not native - bought because I saw a hummingbird on it at the nursery. Is beautiful and fragrant)
Corkystem Passion-flower - Passiflora suberosa (supports a colony of Zebra Longwing butterflies)
Firecracker Plant - Russelia equisetiformis
Shrimp Plant - Justicia brandegeena
Scarlet Sage - Salvia coccinea
Sage - Salvia x 'Wendys Wish'
Sage - Salvia x 'Mystic Spires'
Coleus various cultivars
Common Violet - Viola sororia
Wild Boston Fern - Nephrolephis exaltata
Florida Butterfly Orchid - Encyclia tampensis (I've only seen tiny bees on these)
Giant Airplant - Tillandsia utriculata
Northern Needleleaf - Tillandsian balbsiana

So since the winter of 2018 I've been seeing a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Archilochus colubris, feeding in a large Laurel Oak, I think picking off insects. It spend a lot of time searching all the branches of the trees and making short quick movements and then hovering throughout the tree. Later I saw her in my Moms vegetable garden feeding on some nice healthy Scarlet Sage. Then this spring and summer I saw her in my hummingbird garden and also feeding on the other fire bush I've planted around the yard, and defending the bushes from a juvenile male hummingbird (which Im wondering if its her son).  Here is her carving. I made her with a slightly turned head, and siting on a wood finial.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Archilochus colubris

Finished carving made of basswood, acrylic paint, and glass eyes,

sitting on a wood finial base. 

David K. Kramer 2019

Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Archilochus colubris

Here is carving in my hummingbird garden where I saw her, feeding on

Coral Honeysuckle, a beautiful native vine. 

David K. Kramer 2019