186 



THE OOLOGIST 



AN ANNOTATED LIST OF BIRDS 

 OBSERVED IN SOUTH FLORIDA 



The following is a list of birds ob- 

 served by the writer during the period 

 from November 1920 to July 1922 in- 

 clusive, during my tour of duty at the 

 Army Air Service Station at Carlstrom 

 Field, situated about seven miles south 

 and east of Arcadia, Florida. 



These notes are not the result o^: 

 painstaking study but rather the 

 casual notes jotted down while on 

 brief fishing or hunting trips, and in- 

 spired by the abundance of bird life 

 or perhaps more accurately the facili- 

 ty of observation afforded by individ- 

 uals of the species noted by reason of 

 their numbers and their seeming lack 

 of fear at the approach of humans. 



The localities visited are included 

 between the 28th and 26th parallels of 

 north latitude, and from the Gulf 

 coast on the west at Punta Gorda to 

 the western shore of Lake Okechobee 

 on the east; comprising Fisheating 

 Creek, Charlotte Harbor, Sugar Bowl 

 City, Peace River, Caloosahatchee 

 River, Prairie Creek, and various other 

 small marshes and streams, included 

 in the counties of DeSoto, Polk, Lee, 

 Punta Gorda, and offers a typical cross 

 section of South Florida. 



De Soto County which is representa- 

 tive of all the territory visited has 

 much typical Savanna landscape, ex- 

 tensive stretches of level flat land 

 covered with wild grasses and low 

 growths of Saw Palmetto, with many 

 Hats or small marshes which are 

 covered with pools of shallow water 

 in which marsh vegetation grows 

 abundantly, these pools or marshes are 

 bordered by tall clumps of sage grass, 

 and support cat-tail rushes, blue flags, 

 water lilies, and pickerel weed which 

 makes good breeding sites for Rails, 

 and hunting grounds for Herons, Ibis, 

 etc., and usually to one side of these 



marshes is found a clump of oak, ald- 

 er, myrtle and willow in which the 

 Niglit Herons find refuge. 



On the open prairie the most strik- 

 ing features of bird life are the Sand- 

 hill Cranes, Florida Burrowing Owl, 

 and Southern Meadowlark. 



Occasional "islands" of pine forest 

 varying from a few acres to several 

 square miles invade the prairie and 

 break the monotony of the flat level 

 grassland. "Hammocks" or clumps of 

 live oaks, cabbage palms, and other 

 arboreal growth are a distinctive feat- 

 ure of this country. 



Along the rivers and smaller streams 

 are belts of forest, composed on the 

 outer edge of pines, and an inner zone 

 of palms, tupelo, oak and cypress, the 

 different trees predominating accord- 

 ing to the nature of the soil and other 

 conditions so that one finds groves 

 composed exclusively of palms in one 

 place and in others nothing but cy- 

 press. The pine forests are open and 

 light with a carpet of grass and saw 

 palmetto, while the palm groves have 

 bare floors or little growth and the 

 tupelo and cypress are usually swampy 

 with little or no undergrowth; inter- 

 spersed among these are thickets of 

 alder, myrtle, scrub oak and green- 

 brier. 



The larger trees are all hung with 

 streamers of Spanish moss which 

 gives the cypress and pine groves a 

 splendid cathedral effect, while the 

 presence of air plants and trumpet 

 creepers in the trees along the 

 streams remind one that this is the 

 tropics. 



1. A. O. U. No. 6. Podilymbus podi- 

 ceps. Pied-billed Grebe. Often seen in 

 small open pools, locally called 

 "dappled Diver," observed every 

 month in the year. 



2. A. O. U. No. 70. Sterna hirundo, 

 Common Tern. Seen at Tampa, Ft. 



