Journal Birds on Gottfried Creek
Sunday October 17, 2021
Birds on Gottfried Creek:
Gottfried Creek flows into Lemon Bay. At this point (my backyard) it is about a mile to the mouth. The creek here makes a wide lagoon; it is affected by the tides, which at this time of the year are usually about one-foot, but it can be two or more feet is a cycle. From this point south the banks are lined with mangroves. Occasionally manatees and otters come up this far. More commonly, alligators use the creek as a safe passage to upland ponds, but the water is too salty here for them to stick around for long. Tarpon spawn here, and mullets are everywhere.
But in the evening, especially in the winter or the fall, like now, the stage belongs to the birds. Neighbors on this bank and across the creek have groves of Australian Pines which provide regular perches for Osprey, and sometimes a Bald Eagle. An osprey comes every evening to the tree on my side, sometimes swooping into the water for mullet, sometimes, like now, calling (loudly chirping) to another bird across the water. A mate? A competitor? Don’t know.
A flock of Ibis headed south, their bellies appear black against the sun. Herons also flying south. They fly in a “V”, followed after a minute by stragglers.
A flock of Whistling Ducks, making a racket, go south, then hard right, then a U-turn, on some sort of chaotic journey that makes sense only to them.
A Woodpecker is whacking away at a tree not too far inland. We commonly see Red-Bellied Woodpeckers here, and that’s what this one likely is. A Pileated Woodpecker, which sometimes shows up, would probably hammer more noisily. Though I am sitting only a few feet from the water, there is a mockingbird nesting in a ficus tree right beside me. I know because it made a pass over my head, not too pleased that I’m here. And there’s a male cardinal. And a blue jay just visited a nearby oak tree.
The tide right now is very low, which exposes a sandbar at the edge of a mangrove island across the lagoon, and a blue heron is pecking about, for small fish I’d guess.
We had a Great Horned Owl in one of the pines last night – making spooky sounds. Maybe it will come back tonight if I stay out here long enough.
Interpretive Idea:
Make sure everybody has binoculars. See what birds you can spot and identify. Hopefully someone in the bunch will know more than me. Even better if she can identify birds by their calls, since I have to see them to have any chance at identification.
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