Gone South

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Gone South Earl Plato
To my traveling readers I often wonder what you see in nature when you head south or points west. Our neigbours, the Marchands, and others I know had headed again for Florida this past winter. I am always on the lookout for nature stories. This is my tenth year with the Review and I am still interested in writing about the great outdoors. Readers know that I am not a learned scientist but just a person who likes most aspects of nature. Following is an interesting nature scenario.
John Plyley of Stevensville had provided me with a series of unusual bird photos from his winter residence in Florida. I finally visited John at Ridgewood Manor the end of May where he is the seniors’ administrator. Armed with John’s photos we sat down to discuss the photos. Of course there was the anhinga, the “snake” bird. It had caught a large catfish. Normally these birds with the long serpentine-like neck throw the catch into the air and swallow it head first. Not this time. John snapped the poor anhinga trying to swallow the large fish on the grass in his front yard.
So what happened? The next photos show a large hawk take over. “Big buddy” moved in and the anhinga with his webbed feet were no match for this hawk. Armed with talons and a fierce beak he started eating the catfish. Thank you Mr. anhinga.
When John first gave me the photos when he returned from Florida I tried to decide what hawk species it was. I had one time thought that the bird was a Mississippi Kite. C’mon Plato! They are essentially insect eaters and on the fly too as they gobble down cicadas and other flying insects. My Audubon research book says that they occasionally eat lizards. This prey was a huge catfish. Rule out the kite.
I had forgotten my magnifying glass. That would have helped.
“It looks like a Red-tailed hawk.” I said. “Can’t be, they eat voles and mice in our area. Red-shouldered? Not in this area of Florida. With my Peterson Book I looked up the ranges of hawks. Guess what? Red-tails are in Florida all year around!
John said, “Earl, I’ll have the photo blown up.” He did and dropped the photo off. The term “morph” means different colours of the same species. Here was a light coloured Red-tail with a flecked breast. Then I went back to my huge Audubon Reference book. Listen to this. On page 484 in the Hawk section we read this about Red-tails. : “Feeding habits...Carp and catfishes caught at the edge of water.”
Now the list of what they catch and eat is a long list. Pardon me. If you have a friendly “buddy” like an anhinga you don’t have to catch you just have to eat.
Thanks John Plyley for the interesting photos.
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I first visited Marcy’s Woods with the late naturalist, Bert Miller, as a ten year old. Years passed and back in the ‘80’s I again made regular visits to this Carolinian gem. I guess that I have made hundreds of trips to the woods. Today I take a Grade Three Class from Ridgeway Public. My brother, Ed, asked me about my last acle and the falling limb scenario. C’mon Plato did you actually have a branch fall down near you just off the trail? As I walk the Lower Trail I see places where trees and branches have fallen probably by the force from fierce winds. One Blue Beech, a large specimen, has been uprooted. Some large trees that have fallen over the trail have had to be cut and pulled off the path. Broken branches hang in various places on the sand ridges. Potential danger. Yes.
Come with me for a walk and I’ll show you some of these natural incidents. In fact I’ll show you the branch that just missed me!