Saturday May 30th
Today I went birding at the West Marsh Preserve in Lehigh Acres. Took the path around the impoundment, about 2 miles. The target today was to find a snail kite. The Everglades Snail Kite is a resident to the enviros here and at the adjacent Harn's Marsh Preserve, were their primary food source, the Apple Snail, thrives. Limpkins need the snails too.
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| Snail Kite |
https://ebird.org/checklist/S349384411
SOME HISTORY
Located on Romero Ave, in Lehigh Acres, the property was first obtained by the Lee County 2020 program, which buys environmentally sensitive properties for conservation, around 2008. The land sits across the street from the Lee County Firing Range and lies between the Lee County Mosquito Control District and the Lehigh Acres Water Control District property.
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| Burrowing Owl |
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| Female Snail Kite |
More than eighty years ago, this entire property was part of Buckingham Fields, a United States Army training base where thousands of servicemen learned to serve as aerial gunners defending bombers during World War II. Over time, much of the 7,000-acre site was gradually developed. Today, the Lee County Mosquito Control District owns the original runway and uses it for aerial spraying with drones, helicopters, and planes. In the past, the district also used DC-3 aircraft for spraying. When we first moved to the area in the 1980s, we were startled by the noise of the DC-3s flying at treetop level over our house at dawn.
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| Black-necked Stilt |
In the 1980s the Water Management District developed Harn's Marsh as a storm water retention site, which has become popular for walkers, fishing and birding.
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| Snow Goose was a rarity seen in 2021, found by Ron Bishop but only stayed a few days. |
Prior to the redevelopment of the West Marsh Preserve into a water retention wetland managed as a joint partnership between Lee County and the Lehigh Acres Municipal Services District, it was a reliable location for Bachman's Sparrows. So, when the property was cleared and dredged for water retention there was great disappointment with the loss of this venue.