Wonderful Wally and His Wonderful Birds

Choosing only one of Wonderful Wally’s prize photos to share with readers is becoming more and more a challenge for Nana.  Wally is out shooting birds almost every morning and sometimes makes multiple trips to nearby parks capturing birds and wildlife with his camera, honing his photography skills and improving with each outing.  Thank goodness for digital; he must shoot a thousand frames a day!

Just look at this magnificent photo of an Osprey descending to its nest atop a lighting structure on one of the athletic fields at Polk County’s Christina Park.  Wally stopped there on his way home from a haircut appointment yesterday morning having spotted the nest from South Florida Avenue.

Now, there is nothing rare about seeing an osprey – they are abundant here in Florida.  In fact, the Osprey is found on all continents except Antarctica.  It is one of the largest birds of prey in North America, the bald eagle is larger.  The Osprey eats fish almost exclusively.  That alone may explain our large population.

There was a time when the Osprey was scarce during winter months, but now it is a common and permanent resident of our lakes and phosphate pits throughout the year.  The Lakeland Christmas Bird Count recorded a high count of 114 Osprey in 2006.

According to my friend Chuck Geanangel’s website (http://polkcountybirds.com/), there are more than 300 species of birds in Polk County.  If Wonderful Wally’s zeal for photographing birds continues at the same pace as the last few weeks, he may eventually identify all three hundred species – certainly a worthy goal.  That is, if Chuck doesn’t block his e-mails asking for clues or confirmation of what he has photographed.

Chuck has been an active birder in Polk County for the past 38 years and has traveled the globe in search of birds.  On his last trip to India, he added 135 new species to his worldwide total of 4,005 – now, that is impressive.  He has tallied more than 420 birds in Florida and most of the birds on the Polk County Bird List.

Chuck Geanangel has conducted 10 yearlong bird surveys in Polk County’s parks and reserves, and is a big supporter of the Great Florida Birding Trail.  He is currently a director of Audubon of Florida, Inc., and is chairman of the Sierra Club’s Ancient Islands Group.  Chuck is also on our Friends of the Parks Foundation board and a board member of Green Horizon Land Trust, my new office home two days a week in Lake Wales.

Chuck Geanangel is a very special person.  He is often found under a shade tree along one of the trails at Circle B Bar Reserve where he offers a refreshing drink to passing hikers and happily answers questions about the mounted bobcat, tortoise shell and various other wildlife remains on his tabletop display.

Needless to say, Wonderful Wally was camera ready on our trek of North Lake-in-Water last Saturday, but was not successful in adding to his bird portfolio.  Nana on the other hand had her first “in-the-wild” encounter with a native Gallberry.  Gallberry, Ilex glabra, is a very slow growing medium-sized evergreen shrub native to Florida pine flatwoods.   Had I not been walking alongside Marian Ryan, I might never have known it was a Gallberry with its small blue-purple fruits that I stopped to admire.

Years earlier I had purchased some Gallberry plants (bearing no fruit) from The Natives Nursery in Davenport for table centerpieces, back when Marian and I were conducting Gardening Workshops for our Friends’ Parks Partners Program.  The Parks Partners Program promoted the installation of native and Florida-Friendly plants in our parks by volunteers who landscaped an adopted park.

With the number of Gallberry bushes growing along the trail, I am surprised Wally saw none of the birds known to eat the fruit:  bobwhite, turkeys, bluebirds, brown and hermit thrashers, among others.  Gallberry is also an important honey plant.  Bees feeding on Gallberry produce a very flavorful amber colored honey.  We served the honey with breakfast breads during the morning break at our first Gardening Workshop.

Marian and I are making plans to return to the North Walk-in-Water Creek Preserve in March with our Dirt Days kids.  We’re developing a program with Master Gardeners and Polk County Parks and Natural Resources to enhance the entrance with plantings of native sand cord grass and beautyberry that will culminate with a picnic and bank fishing around the lovely little pond

Even with no birds sited, we enjoyed our trek through the beautiful oak hammock and peaceful respite by the water.

Glenda Mink, a self-taught copycat who learns from others, is now officially retired after 22 1/2 years with Polk County government.  She recently began a new career as part-time executive director of Green Horizon Land Trust, while continuing to co-operate her oldest son’s successful publishing company with soul mate (now also retired) Wonderful Wally.   Nana to two teenage grandchildren, Cameron and CayLeigh, she describes herself as an “expert on nothing,” but hopes readers will find inspiration and a few good ideas from re-invented projects for use around home and garden, along with musings about this and that.

Nana has been gardening in Florida since moving here in 1978 from the Midwest.  Before becoming a certified Florida Master Gardener, she was left on her own to trial and error –  to which she confesses plenty.  Nana hopes to be helpful to Polk County homeowners with the wealth of information available through the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Cooperative Extension Services.   Send your questions and pictures to The Master Gardeners, Polk County Extension Service, PO Box 9005, Drawer HS03, Bartow, FL 33830. Or e-mail questions to gammatwo@ufl.edu. For horticultural information, please visit these websites http://polkmastergardener.ifas.ufl.edu/, http://polkhort.ifas.ufl.edu/, and http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/