Top Photo: Yellow-rumped warbler scans the willow branches for food. Yellow-rumped warblers are on the scene in force. If you happen to be in the area of our Main Wetlands Overlook first thing in the morning, walk to the end of the platform, turn so your back is to the sun and watch the willows, wax myrtle, groundsel and bald cypress for movement. If you’re lucky, and there at the right time, you’ll likely see many small, gray-brown birds withRead more
Posts tagged: #myrtle warbler
Fall Update
Top Photo: Eastern phoebe awaits airborne insects. These hardy flycatchers will be with us for most of the winter. The weather is delightful and so are the sights outdoors at the museum. But, you have to be there to see them. Abelia is still blooming and attracting visitors at the Butterfly House Garden. It’s a non-native species but not considered invasive. A carpenter bee buzzes by goldenrod in the garden along the stairway and ramp leading to the Butterfly House.Read more
More Stuff You Might See
Top Photo: On a cool fall morning, Eno, one of our red wolves on display, yawns deeply before resting his weary head. Bald cypress, carpenter bees, musk turtles, ground hogs and others headline Nature Watch this week. Bald cypress has put out an impressive amount of cones this year. Carpenter bee activity is far greater in the spring when over-wintering adults emerge and vie for territories and nest sites. However, they’re still active now. The bees drill nice, neat 3/8”Read more
Bears, Burls, and Butter-butts
Top Photo: Mimi bear (right) and Gus bear. After grazing on some winter grass, Mimi bear seemed to be headed for the culvert pipe attraction in her enclosure to slip inside for a nap. Gus bear was already engaged. With a sidelong glance at the slumbering male bear, Mimi slinked off to greener pastures. Recently, Ranger Brooke found a small piece of pine branch with a growth attached. She asked me what I thought it was. I reasoned it aRead more
Waxy Fruit Eaters
Above: Yellow-rumped warbler on wax myrtle. Yellow-rumped warblers (also know as myrtle warblers) are not the only animals that eat wax myrtle fruit. I read somewhere that some 42 bird species consume the wax-coated seeds of the shrub. Besides the above mentioned warbler, I can only remember seeing a handful of species of bird partake, ruby-crowned kinglet, eastern phoebe, and a few more. Regardless of how many birds or other animals eat the wax myrtle fruit, the grand prize winnerRead more
Steamrolling Along
Spring just keeps on rollin’ along, and the pace is quickening. Many insects are emerging, flowers blooming, and birds migrating, whether returning to the local habitats or just passing through on their way further north. Here’s some of what’s been happening over the last week or so here at the Museum, in no particular order. An early season dragonfly. The blue corporal is named for the mature male’s blue color and the two stripes on the insect’s “shoulders,” one onRead more
More Cedar Berries
The cedar trees which line the fence at the Red Wolf Overlook have been, and still are, prolific in berries. The birds have noticed. This is a good spot to stand by and watch the avian parade. The birds move around in loose, mixed flocks searching for forage. And here, they have found what they were looking for. Most of the birds are migrants who will most likely spend the winter with us, if they don’t move further south laterRead more
In Celebration of Yellow Rumps, Ruby Crowns, and Blue Heads.
I saw the first Yellow-rumped Warbler of the season here at the Museum on October 10, just two weeks ago. The chilly northwest winds of the latter part of last week brought in masses of them. When this occurs, as it does every year at this time, I usually sift through them for other migrants and take photo after photo of the birds. The birds are typically very hungry from a long night’s flight so they’re not as concerned withRead more
Fall Again
I was walking past the Wax Myrtle that grows along the edge of the Wetlands and remarked about how the fruit is ripe and ready to be eaten by the warblers, the Yellow-rumped Warblers. I hadn’t seen any yet this year, but about thirty minutes after making my remark about that waxy, myrtle fruit, there it was, my first sighting of a butter butt this season (10/10/13). The fruit of the Swamp Rose is ready for consumption as well, roseRead more