Bob's Gone Birding: Getting Back to Marion County ... And to Blogging

Lake Kerr

Swamp Sparrow on Black Sink Prairie

There are occasions when time slips by too quickly. You intend to do something soon, and you don't get to it for a long, long time. Sometimes there are too many other priorities; sometimes it's just neglect. Like all of us, I've had a little bit of each, and two examples come to mind. Last November I published one of these blogs and had loads of ideas for the next essay. I never got to them. Who knew that retirement could be so busy? And years ago - 7? 8? - I visited Black Sink Prairie in Marion County. It was during a driving rainstorm and I kept saying to myself, "I've gotta get back here soon, maybe in winter when there could be ducks on these ponds." Didn't happen. Fortunately, I was able to fix the latter last Thursday, and that gave me the impetus to fix the former lapse as well.

The Big Red Van headed out a little later than usual, and traffic was annoyingly heavy. Nonetheless, we reached NE 175th Street before the early February air began to warm. A roadside pond produced a couple of Hooded Mergansers, an Eastern Phoebe and both Great and Little Blue Herons. It was a good start to what would be a productive day.

I mean no disrespect to the city fathers of Marion County, but I soon ran into something that was really odd. I wanted to turn south on NE 35th Ave. Rd. The name's a bit redundant, but finding it should have been easy enough. I expected to find it nestled between 34th and 36th, or at least a higher number and a lower number. Not so. I passed 32nd and then 37th. No 35th. I went back ... no 35th, and so I went on. I passed 47th, 48th and 49th and then found 35th just before 52nd. Go figure.

Black Sink Prairie

Very quickly I realized why I wanted to come back to this little dirt road. Both sides are peppered with ponds and stretches of prairie. One stop produced a nice little mix of birds including a curious Common Yellowthroat, a bunch of frantic Yellow-rumped Warblers, and a Northern Cardinal that was singing proudly from the top of a willow. A little farther along the road we found a Tufted Titmouse, a noisy House Wren, and a secretive White-eyed Vireo. Meanwhile, a Northern Harrier glided by looking for a snack.

Next, a flooded field produced the day's biggest surprise. I scoped the pond ticking off some Coots, a couple of ducks that I believe were Mottled, a Pied-billed Grebe, and then passed over something that I assumed was a Wilson's Snipe. But that ID didn't sit well with me. There were no stripes along the bird's back, the bill looked too long, and the bird looked grayer than I expected. Also, it walked with a hunch-backed appearance. I asked my companions to check out the bird, and they agreed that it was a dowitcher, probably a Long-billed Dowitcher, and my only county lifer of the day.

Yellow-rumped Warbler taking flight

We continued through the prairie adding to a growing list of day birds. There was a Bald Eagle, all of the expected waders including a beautiful Green Heron, Ring-necked and Ruddy Ducks, and some Lesser Scaup. There were Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks; Chipping, Savannah and Swamp Sparrows, and what seemed to be hundreds of Tree Swallows.

In planning the day, I had hoped to investigate a second road that seemed to run along the western side of the prairie. That didn't turn out so well. The road, NE 21st Ave. Rd., was bordered on one side by a railroad track that was on ground that was built up to be higher than the road. On the other was a series of homes, but no view of the prairie. Disturbingly, most of the homes prominently displayed "No Trespassing" signs that threatened to KILL violators. Not prosecute -- KILL. I'm sorry, but that's not funny and not appropriate.

Florida Scrub-Jay

Anyway, we drove into Fort McCoy, grabbed sandwiches at a Subway, and ate them in the adjoining park. Then we continued east over CR 316, crossing the Ocklawaha River. About a quarter mile later we pulled over to look for Scrub-Jays. As soon as we got out of the van, we saw a Loggerhead Shrike on the wires, my first of the year. Soon the Scrub-Jays popped up followed by a red-eyed Eastern Towhee. I love watching Florida Scrub-Jays. They're smart, curious, active, and gorgeous. Unfortunately, I've struck out on finding them in the Cedar Key Scrub Reserve for the last two years. I'm really happy they're easier to find in Ocala.

Our next stop was in the Ocala National Forest at the intersections of FR 88 and CR 314 where we hoped to find a Bachman's Sparrow and a Red-cockaded Woodpecker. Despite trudging through wire grass and blackberry bushes, we had very little luck. We saw a few Pine Warblers, Red-headed and Pileated Woodpeckers, but no Red-cockaded. One bird that I thought might be a Bachman's Sparrow dove from the top of a palmetto bush into the deep grass and disappeared. It was dark and sparrow-like, and the habitat was correct, but I never saw or heard the bird again.

We tried to find a hiking trail near Salt Springs than led toward Salt Springs Run, but the one we found went in the opposite direction and was birdless. We abandoned it quickly and decided to go up to the boat launch area on Lake Kerr. There we capped off the birding day with a Ring-billed Gull, a Boat-tailed Grackle and, finally, two Horned Grebes, the 52nd and last species of the day. Overall, it was a terrific way to spend a Thursday, and a good reason to get back to blogging.