Corkscrew Five species seen in

Swamp Sanctuary
record numbers in
Along the Corkscrew CBC
Boardwalk The annual Corkscrew Christmas
January, 2010 www.corkscrew.audubon.org Bird Count (CBC), held all day on Sat-
urday, December 19, yielded 116 spe-
New staff joins Corkscrew family cies and 13,102 individual birds.
Thirty-nine participants covered
Two new part-time staff members began working at Corkscrew in December, over 550 miles of territory on foot, in
a move made possible when intern positions were eliminated. cars and trucks, and in swamp buggies
Kathy Broyard Samantha Follis on a cool day. Overcast skies with a
brings a long and recently earned a steady 15 mph wind and gusts to 32
diverse history of degree in Geogra- mph may have affected some of the spe-
working with non phy with a minor in cies numbers.
profits and mission Environmental Some surprises arose when the
based efforts. For Studies from the numbers were tallied.
years, she worked University of Min- Five species had the highest counts
with various disas- nesota in Duluth. on record: Mottled Ducks, Bald Eagles,
ter relief efforts, and Samantha has or- Wild Turkeys, Loggerhead Shrikes, and
she currently serves ganized green de- Florida Scrub Jays. The nine Scrub Jays
as state coordinator for Presbyterian Di- velopment and design events and has almost doubled the previous Corkscrew
saster Assistance. served as a natural history interpreter CBC record while the 12 Bald Eagles
She has spent most of her life in at Independence Mine State Historical (nine adults and three immature) were
Florida and enjoys working in the field Park, coordinated a project for the west- nearly a 50% improvement over the
of natural resources. ern Waterfront Trail Extension, and se- previous record high.
Kathy is currently working toward cured grant funds to support the trail Conversely, counts for three spe-
her Masters in Environmental Science project. Through this project, she had cies were unusually low. Only 520 Tree
at FGCU. She volunteers with CREW experience working with local volun- Swallows were seen while the average
and has participated in research projects teers, community members and also count over the last five years has been
at FGCU, with Florida Fish and Wild- elected officials. about 6,000. Only 19 Common
life, and as part of the Wood Stork re- At Corkscrew, Samantha will fo- Moorhens were recorded versus the
search team at Corkscrew. cus on developing continuing education five-year average of 115; and only 718
Kathy will work with Mike and opportunities for volunteers as well as American Robins were recorded ver-
Allyson on back country projects and designing interpretive programs for sus the five-year average of just over
with education and center needs. general boardwalk visitors. 3,200.
Interesting observations included
eight Crested Caracara, 20 Black-bel-
Join us for lied Whistling Ducks, one Snail Kite,
Corks & Storks three Red-headed Woodpeckers, three
Caspian Terns, one Black-throated
A dinner celebration of Green Warbler, six Indigo Buntings,
ED CARLSON’S and ten Painted Buntings.
35 years of service to The four highest counts this year
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary were Common Grackles (1,257), Tur-
key Vultures (1,242), White Ibis
Wednesday, January 20, from 6-10 pm (1,076), and Mourning Doves (1,041).
Hilton Hotel ~ 5111 Tamiami Trail North The 2009 CBC was the 110th na-
tional count sponsored by Audubon.
Tickets $125/person. RSVP by January 6 to Results will be reviewed and then pub-
Doug Machesney or Candace Forsyth lished in the fall. Information for this
(239) 348-9151 ext. 111 count and previous ones is available at
www.audubon.org/Bird/cbc/.
 In Case a Visitor Asks
Will the storks successfully nest this year?
In spite of a really good summer
rainy season with above average rain
fall, a dry spring kept the water table
well below its average for this time of
year. Water levels at the north lake are
the second lowest on record since 1995.
Although rain has fallen at Cork-
screw, it has been dry to the north and
northeast, so there hasn’t been a sheet
flow of water into the swamp.
Right now, it is not possible to pre-
dict whether or not storks will nest, and
if they do, how successful the will be.
There are three possible scenarios.
First, most hopeful and most prob-
able, other areas within the storks’ range
do have enough water to support for-
aging, so the storks could successfully
nest. But they would have to forage
further from Corkscrew and not be vis-
ible from the boardwalk.
Second, they could begin nesting
but not find enough adequate foraging
areas, and finally, the storks might skip
nesting at Corkscrew altogether.
If history is any indication, nesting
efforts at the Sanctuary would begin in
late January or sometime in February.

December Sightings

Pine Warblers challenged birders with colors The released female Big Cypress Fox Squirrel A Great Blue Heron waits for prey between the
from bright yellow to pale tan (December 8). chews a White Vine leaf (December 22). two lakes (December 1 ).

Birding Research
Back yard bird feeders, feeding may influence course of evolution
New research details how people
putting out bird feeders have influenced
the evolution of one song bird species.
European birds called Blackcaps
(Sylvia atricapilla) are following a dif-
ferent “evolutionary path” if they spend
the winter in more northern areas eat-
ing from bird feeders in people’s yards.
The birds’ natural wintering ground is
southern Spain, where they feed on the
fruits that grow there.
Dr. Martin Schaefer from the Uni-
versity of Freiburg in Germany led the
research which found that Blackcaps
that migrated to the UK for the winter
were in the very earliest stages of form-
ing a new species. Their wings have
become rounder and longer and their
bills narrower than those of the south-
western migrating Blackcaps. The
physical changes are adjustments to
their shorter journey and different food
supply.
“Some Blackcaps would always
have migrated a little further north than
others and eventually ended up in Brit-
ain in the winter,” Schaefer said, “but
those birds would have had nothing to
eat.” When garden bird feeders became
more popular in the UK, an evolution-
ary division began to emerge.
“As soon as the British provided a
lot of bird food, those birds would have
had a much higher probability of sur-
viving the winter.” And because the UK
is closer to their breeding ground, those
birds would also have returned earlier
to claim the best breeding territory.
“To a very large extent the birds
only mate [with] birds with the same
overwintering grounds as them,” writes
Schaefer. This initial reproductive iso-
lation is the very first step in the evolu-
tion of a new species. “This tells us that
by feeding birds in winter, we produce
an evolutionary split. And we have pro-
duced these initial steps in as little as
50 years.”
In this case, Dr. Schaefer thinks the
human impact on Blackcaps has been
a positive thing. The birds have “found
a better overwintering area that is closer
to the breeding ground, where they can
obtain food easily. And I also think its
positive news for us, because it means
not all the changes we produce are nec-
essarily bad, and that some species have
the potential to adapt quickly to the
changes.”
Reported in the journal Current Biology

Great Egret
Ardea alba
The Great Egret is the largest of the
all-white herons/egrets found in Florida,
aside from the rare white morph of the
Great Blue Heron.
Although wooded swamps and wet-
lands are the preferred location, Great
Egrets can be found near any form of
water: streams, lakes, ponds, mud flats,
and saltwater and freshwater marshes.
The Great Egret can reach over three
feet in height and weigh a little over two
pounds. It can be distinguished from
other white egrets by its yellow bill and
black legs and feet. Males and females
are identical in appearance; juveniles
look like non-breeding adults. T h e
smaller Snowy Egret has a black bill and
legs with bright yellow feet.
In flight, the Great Egret’s neck
hangs down more and the legs protrude
longer than other egrets. Its wing beats
are deep and leisurely.
As the Great Egrets come into
breeding condition, the color of the
featherless parts of their heads changes.
The lores (skin by the eye) turn from
yellow to lime green, and the bill be-
comes dark along the top. The lores
change back to yellow after the egrets
finish laying eggs, but the bills retain
some of the dark color for most of the
breeding season.
Since they are frequently hunting in
water, Great Egrets need to compensate
for refraction, which is why they move
their heads from side to side and back-
ward and forward. When hunting, they
also tilt their heads towards the shaded
side of their bodies and strike into their
shadows to avoid the glare of the sun on
the surface of the water.
Prey is mostly smaller aquatic and
terrestrial insects and vertebrates, small
fish, and crayfish. The most common
feeding technique is to stand motionless
in shallow water and wait for prey to
come close enough to catch. Standing
upright, they have a better field of vi-
sion; crouching permits the bird to put
the bill closer to the intended prey.
Profile
Studies have found that Great Egrets
catch more prey of intermediate size by
staying in one spot rather than moving
around, which suggests that their goal
is not to catch the largest quantity of
food, but to catch high quality food.
The Great Egret reproductive strat-
egy for survival is brood reduction – they
lay a large clutch of three to five eggs
and let sibling competition and food
abundance play a large role in how many
survive to fledge. Eggs are laid at two
to three day intervals. As a result, the
eggs hatch days apart and there are sig-
nificant size differences between chicks
of the same brood. Incubation is usually
performed by both sexes and begins af-
ter the first or second egg has been
laid. Both parents feet the chicks once
they’ve hatched.
Competition for food among chicks
is fierce. At feeding time the older
chicks may peck at their smaller nest-
lings and try to monopolize the
food. The larger chicks will be more
successful at competing for enough food
for themselves; if food is scarce, the
smallest chick starves. In an unusually
good year with abundant food, all the
chicks may fledge. The youngest chick
may also be considered an “insurance”
chick to replace an older sibling that
dies or an egg that doesn’t hatch.
Mosquitofish were the primary prey
items offered to nestlings, followed by
crayfish, sailfin mollies, bluegills, and
shad.
The eggs are incubated by both the
male and female for about 23 to 24 days.
Nestlings usually fledge 2-3 weeks af-
ter hatching.
With a clutch size of only 3-4 eggs,
Great Egrets will lay replacement eggs
if any of the first eggs are damaged.
Great Egrets are capable of reproduc-
ing after two years and raise one brood
per year.
Mortality of Great Egrets is high in
the nest and in the first few months af-
ter they fledge. After the young leave the
nest, they do not stay near their parents
and must find good foraging areas and
learn to capture prey on their own.
Estimates for Great Egret mortality
are 76% in the first year, then 26% a
year. The longest life span recorded in
the wild was just under 23 years, but the
average life span is a little over five
years. So an egret that reaches the re-
productive age of two years will typi-
cally live to breed for three more years.
Adult great egrets have no non-hu-
man predators. However, eggs and nest-
lings are exposed to numerous predators
including crows, vultures, and the most
threatening, raccoons.