West Marsh Preserve

 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. 

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.

Burrowing Owl

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.

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.  

 

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.

But the newly created wetlands have expanded our birding options with waterfowl, shorebirds, snail kites, wading birds, swallows and burrowing owls have now shown up.

My Life List for West Marsh

  

Central Florida

  Thursday January 18th

Osprey seen at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

January 14th 

Central Florida - eBird Trip Report

Began my birding vacation at Lake Apopka.  The wildlife drive on the North Shore of Lake Apopka is a must visit venue for wintering waterfowl and wetlands bird life. Managed by the St Johns Water Management District, this property is an example of taking heavily polluted farmlands, responsible for some terrible bird die-offs, and rehabbing the lands and waters into a much healthier habit for the environment. 

Arrived early in the day and traveled the six miles under threat of rain. Some of the birds present today included thousands of American Coots, Hundreds of Common Gallinules, Black-belled Whistling Ducks, Ring-necked Ducks, plus Purple Gallinules, Swamphens, Sora, Wilson's Snipe, American Wigeons, Pintail Ducks, Northern Shovelers, Blue-winged Teal, Gadwall, Mottled Ducks, Osprey, Northern Harriers, Savannah Sparrows and more.

It rained the remainder of the day as I moved onto Cocoa Beach. Did a little sea watch birding at the cocoa beach pier. Noted that Northern Gannets were on hand offshore.

Wood Stork
Merritt Island

January 15th

Toured Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Birded the Black Point Wildlife Drive and Bio Lab Road.  Lots of Blue-winged Teal were present as well as Northern Shovelers, Common Gallinules, Pintail Ducks, Ring-necked Ducks, Greater & Lesser Scaup. Bonaparte's Gull, Reddish Egrets plus Wood Storks, Rosette Spoonbills, American White Pelicans, Hooded Mergansers, Northern Harriers and Caspian Gull were seen.

Looked for the American Flamingos reported to be seen from the Haulover Canal site in MINWR. Spotted Kestrels and Brown Pelicans, but not the flamingos.

Glossy Ibis
Merritt Island

Snowy Egret
Merritt Island

January 16th

Spent the day in Gainesville, birding at Sweetwater Wetlands Preserve and Paynes Prairie State Park. The weather conditions have remained wet so that when I arrived early at Sweetwater Wetlands, I opted to protect my camera from the rain by leaving it my car. This was a mistake. Had several awesome photography opportunities with a posing King Rail, Ruby Crowned Kinglet and Sparrows. 

One observation was that there were almost no waterfowl present - a pair of Blue-winged Teal and a trio of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. 

Did seen Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Kinglets, Marsh Wrens, Chipping, Savannah, Song & Swamp Sparrows.  Plus Orange-crowned Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, Palm & Yellow-rumped Warblers. I missed on snipe, sora, purple gallinules and bitterns.

Blue-winged Teal
Lake Apopka

The next stop was at the Le Chua Trail where Snail Kites have taken up residence in the area of The Sink.  Counted five today. Had an Ovenbird seen in the parking area as I was leaving.

Orange-crowned Warbler
Sweetwater Wetlands

January 17th  

On my way home made a stop at the Paynes Prairie State Park Visor Center to look for the Whooping Crane reportedly seen out on the prairie. It was only 35 degrees this morning as I checked for any interesting birds. Had some Spanish Horses, Sandhill Cranes and Northern Harrier.  But no Whooping Crane today

Savannah Sparrow
Sweetwater Wetlands

Snail Kite
La Chua Trail - Paynes Prairie State Park

Limpkin

Carolina Wren
Paynes Prairie State Park

Gadwall
Lake Apopka

Little Blue Heron
Lake Apopka

Harns Marsh

Thursday, June 1st

Made my monthly visit to Harns Marsh as a part of my Lee County Bird Patrol assignment. Even with some recent heavy rain, the water levels were still very low. The canals were almost dry. Won't be long till the rains of summer fill them up.

It was fun getting watch a trio of river otters as they were fishing for their breakfast.  

Had several Florida Sandhill Cranes including an adolescent colt. A female Snail Kite was hanging out near the start of the trail. As I was leaving researchers from the University of Florida were on hand to do a survey on the kites.

Other sightings included Little Blue Herons, Mottled Ducks, Black-crowned Night-heron, Gray-headed Swamphens, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Common Gallinules, Limpkins and Anhingas 

Little Blue Heron

Gray-headed Swamphen

Black-crowned Night-heron

Common Gallinule

Anhinga

Limpkin

Snail Kite

Snail Kite

Snail Kites

 Sunday August 7th

Lately, it appears that snail kites have returned to Harns Marsh in Lehigh Acres.  Harns had been known as the go-to spot to locate the kites. It's a bird, formerly known as the Everglades Kite, on the endangered species list

Where Are the Birds?

 Friday, October 22nd

For whatever reason, the Fall Migration has been relatively weak in our corner of Florida this. There have been a few rarities spotted, like warbling vireo, Philadelphia vireo and Nashville warbler, but the number of birds has actually been low. Certainly no fallouts for us.

Not a bird, but there is lots of nature to observe while birding
Green Iguana at Sanibel Lighthouse

 So what's going on? I haven't seen anything yet for an explanation. Seems the winds were more in favor of the birds to fly past and not make a pit stop. Another thought going around is a lack of food. There are plenty of berries and seeds, but we may have a decrease in insects. Some believe that the ecosystem hasn't yet recovered from Hurricane Irma, 2017. Another thought is that cold weather has yet to push many of the neotropical birds to migrate, aka climate change. 

Did get a few photos recently 

Snail Kites at Harns Marsh.
Harns used to be very reliable for finding snail kites,
but they had become scarce here lately

Yellow-crowned Night-heron
Ding Darling NWR - Sanibel Island

Wood Duck at Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve

Pileated Woodpecker at Rotary Park

Eastern Wood-Pewee at Rotary Park

Black-and-White Warbler at Caloosahatchee Creeks Preserve

Northern Parula

Northern Parula

The Gray Catbirds have arrived

Harns Marsh

Saturday June 6th

White Checkered-Skipper

The water levels at Harns Marsh were still low on my visit, but recent rains have begun and are going to fill up the wetlands and canals very soon.  These current conditions are concentrating Limpkins on the shallow lake.  Counted over forty Limpkins, plus a half dozen Roseate Spoonbills and Little Blue Herons.  Only a few of the other expected waders were seen - Tricolored and Great Herons, Great and Snowy Egrets and only one White Ibis. 

Snail Kite

Didn't notice any roosting Swallow-tailed Kites, but as we move into summer this should be a good location when then start to congregate prior to their migration south.

Snail Kites are also much harder to locate at Harns Marsh. Was able to have numerous sightings here in the past, but they have spread out these days.  Did seen a female roosting in a tree along Sunshine Parkway just before the Able Canal bridge.

No Purple Gallinules either.  They have become rare lately, perhaps because of the increase of the Gray-headed Swamphens. Not unusual to have 10 or more Swamphen counts.

Gray-headed Swamphen

Most unusual find was a land snail called a Ghost Bulimulus.  This is an invasive species having arrived here from Argentina.

Ghost Bulimulus

So what's blooming here today - Southern Bee Blossoms, Marsh Fleabane, Marsh Pink, Black Jack and Trailing Daisy

Road Trip

Sunday December 15th

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Its been awhile since I've been able to go on a birding road trip.  But this weekend I headed up to Lake Apopka and Gainesville looking for wintering Sparrows and Waterfowl.

Fulvous Whistling Ducks

Ash-throated flycatcher 

 Arrived on Friday morning at the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive to look for interesting waterfowl and other birds. First task  was to seek out the Ash-throated Flycatcher that has been hanging out close to the entrance gate. Almost got a great pic as the bird fly across the road to pose in a nearby tree. 

There were thousands of American Coots seen here and maybe another thousand Common Gallinules. The most interesting bird of the day was a male Painted Bunting seen near the Pump House. A Merlin was also cruising the Pump House area.

A Male Painted Bunting

A Peregrine Falcon and  Kestrel would be seen later along the drive.

Anhingas, Pied-billed Grebes and Double-crested Cormorants were also very numerous. As for the waterfowl, we had hundreds of Ring-necked Ducks, plus Fulvous and Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, American Wigeons, Blue-winged Teal and Northern Shovelers.  Additional sightings included Swamp Sparrows, all of the expected Wading Birds, Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Yellowthroats, a couple of calling Soras, Palm Warblers, House Wrens, Belted Kingfishers, a juvenile Purple Gallinule and Eastern Phoebes. 

Bur Marigolds were in Bloom

Pied-billed Grebe

Great Blue Herons were numerous

Merlin at the Pump House Area

From Lake Apopka, traveled up to Gainesville with plans to check-out The La Chua Trail and Sweetwater Wetlands located on the northern edge of Paynes Prairie, tomorrow. But today as day was waning went over to an area called Magnolia Parke with the idea to see if any Rusty Blackbirds were coming in to roost. Didn't identify any rustys, among the Red-winged Blackbirds but had a few Yellow-rumped Warblers, Yellow Bellied Sapsucker, Carolina Chickadee and black-and-White Warbler.

Swamp Sparrows dining on Spanish Needle seeds

Snowy Egret

Day two was spent visiting venues in Gainesville.
 First stop was a stretch of the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail - North, walking from SE 4th Street to the Sweetwater Spur and back. Only spotted a single Chipping Sparrow, that was identifiable. Other sightings included Eastern Towhees, Northern Flickers, Downy Woodpeckers, Eastern Phoebes, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Carolina Chickadees, Gnatcatchers, Blue-headed Vireo and Black-and-White Warbler

American Bittern

Next up was the Sweetwater Wetlands Preserve. Haven't visited here in almost two years and there was quite a different experience today. Back then the water level was lower with plenty of exposed muddy shores to attract Long-billed Dowitchers, various Sandpipers, Wilson's Snipes and a rare to Florida, female Ruff. Lots of waterfowl too.

Today the American Coots, Common Gallinules, Anhingas and Double-crested Cormorants are very abundant, But not a lot of other waterfowl - Blue-winged Teal, Mottled Ducks, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and a lone American White Pelican. Heard a Sora and photographed a Purple Gallinule, but dipped on any snipes or other rails

Purple Gallinule

Common Gallinules

Snail Kites have also moved into this venue since my last visit. Which is a good sign that this once threatened species is expanding their range.

 I also  joined a stack-out for another rare in Florida bird, LeContes Sparrow. As I waited on the bird, an American Bittern made an appearance as did a trio of Savannah Sparrows and a Song Sparrow. 

Turns out that the last sighting of the LeContes was made yesterday, before a strong storm, with tornados passed through the area last night. 

Snail Kite at the Sink Boardwalk

It didn't take long to cover the LaChua Trail at Paynes Prairie State Park as much of the area was flooded. The park volunteers I talked with said that the water levels were actually falling, and that the Spanish Horses and the Bison herd had been moved to another area of the park because of the high water.

At the Sink Boardwalk, several Snail Kites were active and very tolerant of the human visitors as were the huge alligators. Other sightings included a White-crowned Sparrow, more American Coots and Common Gallinules, Limpkins, Sandhill Cranes, Anhingas and Double-crested Cormorants

Bluejacket