Swarming is the process by which a new honey bee colony is formed when the queen bee leaves the colony with a large group of worker bees. In the prime swarm, about 60% of the worker bees leave the original hive location with the old queen. This swarm can contain thousands to tens of thousands of bees. Swarming is mainly a spring phenomenon, usually within a two- or three-week period depending on the locale, but occasional swarms can happen throughout the producing season. Secondary afterswarms may happen but are rare. Afterswarms are usually smaller and are accompanied by one or more virgin queens. Sometimes a beehive will swarm in succession until it is almost totally depleted of workers.
Swarming creates a vulnerable time in the life of honey bees. Cast swarms are provisioned only with the nectar or honey they carry in their stomachs. A swarm will starve if it does not quickly find a home and more nectar stores. Honey bee swarms are not highly dangerous under most circumstances. Swarming honey bees feed prior to swarming, reducing their ability to sting. Further, bees away from the vicinity of their nest (offspring and food stores) are less defensive and are unlikely to sting unless provoked
This is the smallest swarm I have ever seen. It was about the size of a Pine Cone and was on a small twig along the side of Joe Overstreet Road in Osceola County. Florida.
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The Common Nighthawk is a common summer resident
throughout Florida. This species is most active during the
early daylight hours and in the late afternoon, flying an
erratic path over fields and pastures as it searches for
insects. During the midday hours this bird usually rests on horizontal tree limbs, fences, and utility wires.
The Common Nighthawk is sometimes called a "bull-bat", due to its perceived "bat-like" flight, and the "bull-like" boom made by its wings as it pulls from a dive. Another name is "goatsucker", from an archaic, erroneous idea that the birds would fly into barns at night and suck dry the teats of goats.
We always called them "Bull-bats" when I was a kid growing up in Florida.
I found this one perched (asleep) on a fence post at Three Lake Wildlife Management Area. Osceola County, Florida.
Another first for me!
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The Loggerhead Shrike is a songbird with a raptors habits. A denizen of grasslands and other open habitats throughout much of North America, this masked black, white, and gray predator hunts from utility poles, fence posts and other conspicuous perches, preying on insects, birds, lizards, and small mammals. Lacking a raptors talons, Loggerhead Shrikes skewer their kills on thorns or barbed wire or wedge them into tight places for easy eating. Their numbers have dropped sharply in the last half-century. I found this Juvenile at Joe Overstreet Landing in Osceola County, Florida.
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The Bald Eagle is the only Eagle unique to North America. Its distinctive brown body and white head and tail make it easy to identify even from a distance. When flying, the Bald Eagle very rarely flaps its wings but soars instead, holding its wings almost completely flat. Its hooked bill, legs and feet are yellow.
Immature Bald Eagles have a mixture of brown and white feathers, with a black beak and brown eyes in younger birds; some immature Bald Eagles have more mottling than others. Adult plumage develops when a bald eagle become sexually mature; it takes five years for a bald eagle to attain solid white head and tail feathers. For the first five years they gradually change; the beak turns from black to yellow, the eyes from brown to pale yellow, body feathers from mottled to dark brown, and head and tail feathers from mottled to solid white.
I found this one along Joe Overstreet Road in Osceola County, Florida.
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The Northern Bobwhite, sometimes called Bobwhite Quail, occur throughout Florida in appropriate habitat. It is one of the signature species of upland long leaf pine forests.
Named for its loud ‘Bob White’ call, this quail is a small chunky bird with short rounded wings. Males have a black cap, white throat and chin, and a white stripe through and above the eye to the back of the head. Females have a tan colored throat and no black neck collar.
Bobwhites are commonly seen in groups known as coveys. Coveys usually consist of about 10-30 birds, depending on the time of year. Bobwhites are active during the day; they feed on seeds, fruit, insects and green plants. Every night, for safety, the covey forms a circle with their heads facing outwards, away from each other and their tails together. If a predator startles them, the covey flushes in all directions.
I found this lone male perched on a fence post along Joe Overstreet Road. Osceola, County, Florida.
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