H.J. Ruiz – Avian101 – Page 933 – "My Backyard Visitors" – All about birds

House Sparrows & Sarasota Bay-front

One of the nicest places in Florida is the Sarasota Bay-front. The beautiful marinas filled with wonderfully elegant yachts, sailboats and speedboats that make your jaw drop. There’s a colorful park with a nice fountain of sculptured dolphins. It has other sculptures and ample gardens filled with tropical flowers and exotic plants. I was very impressed with the architectural and design of the area.

House Sparrow

What I’m trying to do is giving you the preamble to the main story.

I noticed some small birds hopping around the parked cars and also going into the hedges they moved very fast and concealed themselves quickly. I was real intrigued by them because I couldn’t see them long enough to figure what species they were, until one flew to a ledge that is part of a large arched gate to the Sarasota Bay-front.

(See photo below with the red arrow pointing at ledge) Then I could see that It happened to be a House Sparrow, seems like they are very abundant in Sarasota, they feed on scrap from the picnic areas, tourists and anything that they can find.

They have adapted to the urban area as well as the presence of humans, they go almost unnoticed but for example, if someone is eating a ice cream and a piece of cone falls to the ground, in matter of a few minutes it will be gone. Some House Sparrow comes out of the brush and very discretely picks up the dropped food scrap. In a way they are helping humans to keep the streets clean. It’s cool don’t you think? 🙂

See the red arrow

All photographs are © H.J.Ruiz – “My Backyard Visitors” Shot in Sarasota, Fl.

Tags: birding, birds, House Sparrow, photos of birds

Heat wave

We are going through a considerably high temperatures heat wave all across the Country. It’s not a small thing, it really poses great danger in many ways:

We have had very extensive forest fires going across several States. Devastation of green areas, forests,private property, road and countless loss of wild life. Among them large quantities of birds and their habitats.

In 2010 Tom Albright presented studies and analysis that pertains to heat wave effects and climate related changes:

“We are living in a changing world, and so does wildlife. Current climate change not only increases mean temperatures, but also affects the global and continental distribution of extreme weather events, says Tom Albright, a postdoctoral researcher at the SILVIS ( Spatial Analysis for Conservation and Sustainability) lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Change in weather patterns can expose areas to increases in extreme events such as heatwaves and droughts, which in turn may affect wildlife such as birds. Having a background in physical geography as well as ecology, and strong skills in remote sensing, Tom Albright thought that was an exciting and important issue to address. Combining records from the North American Breeding Bird Survey with precipitation records and temperature data from NASA satellites, Albright analyzed changes in avian abundance and community diversity in relation to the occurrence of heatwaves and droughts in the conterminous United States. “The North American Breeding Bird Survey data set is amazing”, tells Albright ,”bird watchers, as citizen-scientists, make a big effort and check bird presence by visiting the same road-side transects at the same time of the year, year after year – and the data go back as far 1960s”.

Birds refreshing themselves

As you can read above, all of us contribute to important studies by simply recording data of our observations and keeping our interest alive. This is why is also equally important that you write your comments and create a dialog which believe it or not, people learn from that too, also encourage others to participate.

All photographs are © H.J. Ruiz -”My Backyard Visitors”

Exerpts quotes © SILVIS

Tags: birding, birds, important information

High Falls State Park

In the early 1800s, the site where now is known as High Falls State Park was a prosperous industrial town with several stores, a grist mill, cotton gin, blacksmith shop, shoe factory and hotel. High Falls became a ghost town in the 1880s when a major railroad bypassed it. Today, park visitors can enjoy the scenic waterfall on the Towaliga River and hike to the remaining grist mill foundation. A campground, picnic areas and canoe rental are also available.

“In my last visit to the park, I spotted two Great Blue Hurons fishing in the river. After a while of observing them eat some fish, their behavior changed of a sudden and began doing some kind of dance while they waded the river at about 30 feet apart. They both opened and lowered their wings to the ground, with their heads pointing up they straightened their necks and teased their long feathers strangely.

The episode went on for about 10 minutes. Later they simply went their own separate ways. Was it a duel between males?, Perhaps a courtship dance between male and female? I have no idea what it was what I saw.

The area that this State Park covers is 1,050 Acres that includes a 650-Acre Lake, a man-made cascade and natural falls. It is a great place to go camping, canoeing, swimming or simply for a picnic. Excellent place for photography too!”

All photographs are © H.J. Ruiz – “My Backyard Visitors”