Collection 1 - Jan 2020, Jonathan Dickinson State Park

Happy 2020!

This year I'll be introducing something new that I've been wanting to do for a while. I've been thinking and planning and decided I'll make collections of birds every month that will be inspired by a specific location. My January 2020 collection is complete and I took the pieces out into their natural habitat which they were inspired by and photographed them. I also made a short video showing my birds with some scenes during the photo session. Please have a look and I hope you enjoy!

Pond Cypress Studio

Collection 1 - Jan 2020

Location: Martin Co, FL

130 - Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis ssp. floridanus

131 - Bachman's Sparrow, Peuceae aestivalis ssp. aestivalis

132 - Bachman's Sparrow, Peuceae aestivalis ssp. aestivalis

133 - Bachman's Sparrow, Peuceae aestivalis ssp. aestivalis

Seaside Sparrow Carving 123

On Sept. 3rd, 2019 South Florida started to feel the effects of Hurricane Dorian.  We had about a week to prepare, buying water, supplies, and gas, as the slow moving storm headed toward Florida. The day it was closest to Florida, and was starting to hit the state, I went to the beach, in hopes of possibly seeing rare seabirds blown in with the winds. I suppose I should have been more specific in my wish, because of getting a rare Tern, Storm-Petrel, or Shearwater, I got another "sea"bird. 

Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park on Sept 3, 2019 

during Hurricane Dorrian.  As you can see it was quite calm with 

a few bands of rainclouds passing by.  A pretty nice beach day for bird watching,

especially with the Fort Lauderdale Hollywood Airport closed for the storm.

Usually its very noisy here as the planes take off over the ocean. 

A band of rain from Hurricane Dorian.  While walking down the beach

 a band of rain came and I took shelter underneath a Cabbage Palm.  While standing

watching the rain I noticed out of the corner of my eye a small bird emerge from a stunted seagrape tree right on the edge of the dunes. The bird popped out and fed in the sand. I took some photos of it, knowing it was a sparrow, and to help with later identification. 

This is the exact area I saw the bird. It appeared right behind the sea turtle nest, and it used the seagrape as a sort of walkway for it to get further out onto the beach, but still remained covered. When the waves came up to the dunes the bird would come out and peck around at the sand. I suppose eating all the little amphipods that were abundant on the sand. When I crouched down I brushed the sand gently and many of the clear shrimp-like amphipods started jumping around and fleeing. They about the size of a grain of rice, so prefect for a small bird. 

And here is the bird. Its a Seaside Sparrow! I originally thought it must be a Savannah Sparrow because that was the only sparrow eBird did not deem rare for this time and location. Its quite rare here, and had only been seen 3 other times in Broward County. I did see another one on eBird that one was spotted here almost exactly 4 years ago, and of a similar plumage, and also photographed on a seagrape tree. It was found and photographed by Steve Kaplan and Bruce Pickholtz. Both of whom I'd meet the following day when I returned to look for this Seaside Sparrow again. 

This is when the Seaside Sparrow was out feeding on the exposed beach where the waves would come up too. I never expected to see this "sea" bird, and that is what I mean by be careful what you wish for, even with bird watching! But I am thankful I saw it! So after this whole event I had to make a carving of this bird. Luckily Bruce and Steve, and other eBirders took much better photographs and posted to their eBird checklist, which helped so I could get the plumage right. 

Seaside Sparrow - Ammospiza maritima,carving 123, at the spot I found this individual bird. 

I tried to get the plumage as close to the actual bird as possible, and made a sand base to match the sand at Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park, in Dania Beach, Florida. 

Another shot of my Seaside Sparrow - Ammospiza maritima. This time close to some seagrass, I believe Sea Oats, and with a coconut in the background. As you can see in this photo the bird looks quite dark, and in my photos it looks quite dark too, especially because the real sparrow was a little wet, but in other eBird photos of the same bird the next day it appears lighter. Here I photographed the bird on the same day with different lighting, and it almost looks like 2 differently painted birds. This is one thing that makes bird watching very challenging, is that: what the mind thinks it sees, might not be exactly what it appears. It can make identification very difficult, and mind boggling sometimes. 

And a final close up. 

I do wonder a few things about this Seaside Sparrow:

-Was it was related to the one spotted 4 years ago at the same spot?

-Which subspecies of Seaside Sparrow is this? Florida does have a resident Seaside Sparrow subspecies, the Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow  (which I don't think this is) and an extinct subspecies, the Dusky Seaside Sparrow, that was once found a few counties north of Broward County, FL. There is also a few Gulf Coast subspecies and a few Atlantic Coast subspecies. I suppose it could be one of the Atlantic subspecies that migrated south after the breeding season, or if it is a juvenile bird, dispersed south to Florida, as the one spotted four years ago may have did. 

-Where is it now?  The bird hasn't been spotted since Hurricane Dorian, and its been two months. I wonder if it migrated further, or it's just living its secretive (seacretive ? ) Seaside Sparrow style. 

Thanks for reading and I hope you'll keep in touch, there's many excited projects coming soon, including a trip to Asia and a very special project. 

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. 

Bachman's Sparrow Carving 112

I finally finished my carving of the Bachman's Sparrow I saw this spring at Jonathan Dickinson State Park, in Martin County, Florida. This carving was carved in my usual style of basswood, and then painted with acrylic paints. I made the legs out of wire and the eye is a german glass eye. I used a naturally charred piece of pine I found as its base and coated it with enamel to prevent any more decay and make it more durable.

A pic from my Instagram @pinecypressstudio showing the beginning stages of painting and preparation of the base.

More progress of the Bachman's Sparrow. This is my 112th bird carving, but only my 4th carving this year. Im trying to carve one bird a month depending on the size and use the addition time after Im finished to make more flat pieces. 

The Bachman's Sparrow is found in open pine woods where it feeds on the seeds of various native species of grasses and insects. Throughout much of its range it relies on wildfires, in the form of prescribed burns, to keeps its habitat open where grasses can flourish. Because of loss of habitat, the Bachman's Sparrow has become uncommon and quite local. 

Bachmans Sparrow

Peucaea aestivalis ssp. aestivalis

Carving 112 - Pond Cypress Studio

David K. Kramer