Busy in the Swamp

The last two weeks of summer camp at the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest have occupied most of our time and made it difficult to post a blog entry.  Therefore, today's entry is a hodgepodge covering that time period and is in no particular order!

Camper-made butterfly houses - Mark Musselman

St. John's Wort species blooming - Mark Musselman

Dwarf Palmetto blooming - Mark Musselman

Eastern Cottonmouth (small) on palmetto frond - Mark Musselman

Red-shouldered Hawk calling - Mark Musselman

Nine-banded Armadillo family at den - Mark Musselman

Nine-banded Armadillo family at den - Mark Musselman

 Nine-banded Armadillos have been in the swamp for a few years, but have only recently taken up residence near the boardwalk just before #2.  Visitors reported seeing them throughout the weekend and summer campers got a good look at these four outside their den.

Fledgling Prothonotary Warbler - Mark Musselman

Male Prothonotary Warbler A287 with prey - Mark Musselman

 Here dad appears to have a cockroach.  In the following series, he appears to have captured a large spider.  All of this parental activity took place within ten feet of the boardwalk and two dozen excited summer campers.

Male Prothonotary Warbler A287 feeding fledgling - Mark Musselman

Male Prothonotary Warbler A287 feeding fledgling - Mark Musselman

Male Prothonotary Warbler A287 feeding fledgling - Mark Musselman

Male Prothonotary Warbler A287 feeding fledgling - Mark Musselman

Male Prothonotary Warbler A287 feeding fledgling - Mark Musselman

Male Prothonotary Warbler A287 feeding fledgling - Mark Musselman

Male Prothonotary Warbler A287 feeding fledgling - Mark Musselman

Male Prothonotary Warbler A287 feeding fledgling - Mark Musselman

Male Prothonotary Warbler A287 feeding fledgling - Mark Musselman

Male Prothonotary Warbler A287 feeding fledgling - Mark Musselman

Male Great Blue Skimmer - Mark Musselman

 The theme of summer camp was insects and campers saw plenty!  One morning was spent with nets out on the power line right-of-way catching and releasing butterflies, moths, and dragonflies.

Greenish Rat Snake climbing - Mark Musselman

 A sharp-eyed camper spotted this large rat snake moving under the boardwalk.  All the excitement from the campers prompted the snake to climb a nearby vine for a safer, eye-to-eye perch.

White-tailed Deer fawn - Mark Musselman

White-tailed Deer fawn nursing - Mark Musselman

White-tailed Deer doe & fawns - Mark Musselman

 We saw this doe and her twins repeatedly during the two weeks of camp.  We have posted a short video of several encounters, including one where the unseen doe eventually appears from under the boardwalk.  You can find the video on our webpage.

Young Yellow-bellied Slider - Mark Musselman

Carolina Wren feeding cowbird - Mark Musselman

 These last two birds shots are from Summerville, but we heard Brown-headed Cowbirds along the boardwalk.  The two Carolina Wren parents were busy feeding the one Brown-headed Cowbird chick, while no wren chicks were present.  Not all species are fooled by the cowbird's parasitism, but these two wrens, half the size of the chick they were feeding, certainly were duped.

Brown-headed Cowbird chick being fed by Carolina Wrens - Mark Musselman

Tropical Storm Debby

Finally, Tropical Storm Debby may be bringing more water to the Four Holes Swamp.  Currently, the storm models cannot agree, with some taking the storm west to Texas, while other models have it tracking across Florida.  Based on its size, any motion to the northeast will deliver rain to the swamp, which is only now starting to show low water levels after Tropical Storm Beryl and the following rain.  Obviously, some people in low areas will not welcome drenching rains of a tropical storm, but it does not bother a swamp and a swamp always looks better when it has plenty of water!

Summer Camp 2012 - Week 1

Summer camp at the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest has begun for the 2012 season has begun! Next week will be the second and final week of regular summer camp with a week of  advanced camp beginning July 23rd.  The regular summer camp theme is insects, but we have seen much more than that while dodging the rain this week.

Eastern Narrow-mouthed Toad - Mark Musselman

Eastern Narrow-mouthed Toads and other amphibians are taking full advantage of the water standing in depressions throughout the upland forest.  The distinctive "waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" call can be heard mixed in with the chorus of other frog species.  The pools of water are without fish predators giving eggs laid there a better chance of survival.  Unfortunately, mosquitoes also prefer the standing water for their egg laying.  In recent days, clouds of mosquitoes have been observed emerging from the shallow water.  The only escape is to go, counter-intuitively, away from the edge and deeper into the swamp where the flowing water deters mosquito presence.

Green Treefrog - Mark Musselman

A Green Treefrog that will not be joining any more choruses around rain-filled depressions is shown above.  We do not know what caused its demise, but it was bloated, near death and was bleeding from wounds near its inoperable rear legs when its bright green color attracted the attention of the campers.  Before retrieving the frog, another camper spotted a small Southern Copperhead in a coil nearby.

Southern Copperhead - Mark Musselman

The copperhead has camouflage perfectly designed for the leaf litter of the forest floor.  It is possible that this snake was the frog killer, though it made no attempt to eat the frog.

Spotted Turtle - Mark Musselman

An aptly-named Spotted Turtle was also discovered near the education boardwalk.  This individual is young and not much more than half the size of an adult.

Spotted Turtle - Mark Musselman

Butterfly camouflage activity - Mark Musselman

While avoiding the rain one afternoon, campers took a white paper butterfly and colored it to camouflage the insect against a background found in old magazines.

White-tailed Deer - Mark Musselman

Twin fawns stuck close to mom for a few minutes and then began chasing each other at high speed through the forest behind the nature center.  Several other does and fawns have been spotted around the boardwalk and nature center.

Creating experience maps - Mark Musselman

This morning's stroll along the boardwalk out into the swamp generated an experience map for each camper.  Whether in drawings or notes, each camper recorded their impressions and observations.  "There is so much to see!"

Mantapede - original art by Ricky Covey

Finally, at the end of the day the imaginary insect hybrids needed a touch of color to bring them to life.

Wading Bird Rookeries

Wading birds of different species can be found nesting in the same rookery.  An ideal rookery location would be an island that would prevent or limit access by mammalian predators like raccoons.  If not an island, then trees or vegetation that provide nest sites over water inhabited by alligators that would eat any predator swimming or falling into the water under the rookery.

Even if the various wading bird species (Wood Storks, Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Little Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets, Tri-colored Herons, Cattle Egret, White Ibis, Yellow-crowned Night Herons, and Black-crowned Night Herons) find suitable nesting sites, they still need to feed themselves and their chicks.  Therefore, quality foraging habitat needs to be located nearby.

The old-growth, cypress-tupelo swamp at the Audubon Center at the Francis Beidler Forest provides foraging habitat, especially for Yellow-crowned Night Herons and for White Ibis whose chicks cannot tolerate the salt contained in a marsh diet.  The ponds (Storks & Corks) at the Silver Bluff Audubon Center and Sanctuary are maintained and manipulated specifically for young Wood Storks, but all wading species benefit from the concentration of prey available in the shallow water.  Although both Audubon sites are high in quality, neither have the salt marsh, which is packed full of food sought by many wading bird species.  We found rookeries and high-quality salt marsh when we visited our friends at the Lowcountry Institute on Spring Island and the new boardwalk at the Cypress Wetlands Nature Trail (see video) in Port Royal.

Here are images of Wood Storks nesting along with other species in a pond along golf course on Spring Island.

Little Blue Herons- Mark Musselman

Black-crowned Night Heron - Mark Musselman

Anhingas and Great Egret- Mark Musselman

Little Blue Heron - Mark Musselman

Little Blue Heron and Cattle Egret - Mark Musselman

Wood Stork - Mark Musselman

Great Egret chicks - Mark Musselman

Great Egrets - Mark Musselman

Great Egrets - Mark Musselman

Great Egret chicks - Mark Musselman

Great Egret chicks - Mark Musselman

Great Egret chicks - Mark Musselman

Wood Stork rookery - Mark Musselman

Wood Stork rookery - Mark Musselman

Little Blue Heron - Mark Musselman

Little Blue Heron - Mark Musselman

Little Blue Heron - Mark Musselman

Cattle Egret - Mark Musselman

Wood Stork rookery - Mark Musselman

Wood Stork rookery - Mark Musselman

Wading bird rookery - Mark Musselman

 Here are images of birds nesting taken during our quick peek at Cypress Wetlands Trail in Port Royal.

Cypress Wetlands Trail - Mark Musselman

Cypress Wetlands Trail boardwalk - Mark Musselman

Cypress Wetlands Trail boardwalk - Mark Musselman

Green Heron - Mark Musselman

Tri-colored Heron chick - Mark Musselman

Tri-colored Heron - Mark Musselman

Tri-colored Heron on nest - Mark Musselman