Some Birding in Mid-July

Tuesday, July 18th

The summertime doldrums will be  ending in the coming weeks as when we will start seeing birds migrating back to our local venues. But we still can find interesting birds here in mid-July.

Sometimes I'll check-out Lee and Domestic Streets in the Alico Industrial Area in San Carlos Park in early morning. I'm always looking for any Burrowing Owls and the other day I spotted several atop a privacy wall at the Alginol research property on Lee Road.  The lighting was terrible for photography, but I managed to get a very interesting pic just the same. Other notable birds here included a very large number of Mourning Doves, a few Eastern Meadowlarks and a pair of Red-Tailed Hawks.

Yesterday, I was finally able to get out to Bunche Beach during a favorable low tide. It was interesting to find seven Yellow-crowned Night-herons, six of them juveniles, taking advantage to the large numbers of fiddler crabs on the beach. Spotted a pair of Spotted Sandpipers, the first seen in weeks, and a very early Pectoral Sandpiper. Other sightings included a Magnificent Frigatebird, several Willets, Marbled Godwits, Black-bellied Plovers, Wilson's Plovers, Semipalmated Plovers, Short-billed Dowitchers, Sanderlings, Western and Least Sandpipers, a pair of Reddish Egrets and a lone American Oystercatcher.  Also spotted Laughing Gulls, Least, Sandwich and Royal Terns, Black Skimmers and a few Brown Pelicans. Was keen on finding any returning Piping Plovers, but none seen. They should be back soon.

Fiddler Crab on Bunche Beach

Marbled Godwit

Pectoral Sandpiper

Western Sandpiper

Wilson's Plover

Purple Gallinule

Gray-headed Swamphen

Tricolored Heron

Today Bob Pelkey and I made an early run out to Harns Marsh in Lehigh Acres. This venue has been the go-to spot in our area for Snail Kites and Limpkins. But today in the two hours we spent here, no Snail Kites were seen. They are continuing to become more difficult to see at Harns. Its believed to be a food issue. The managers of the property, it appears, are keeping water level high which doesn't help the Apple Snails in there reproductive cycles. So the kites have been going elsewhere for food.

We did see several Sandhill Cranes, Tricolored Herons, Great Egrets, Limpkins, Mottled Ducks, Vultures, Least Bitterns, Gray-headed Swamphens and Purple Gallinules. One interesting observation was a distant call of what sounded like an Eastern Phoebe. Never found the source of the call, but Phoebes are not expected for a couple of months yet. 

After Harns we checked out the Red-headed Woodpecker colony on Wellington Road in Lehigh Acres, were we spotted at least five, probably more of the woodpeckers, plus sighting of several Northern Bobwhites. This woodpecker colony should continue to be productive until the snags are eventually removed for development or just rot away. This particular location of snags was created by a brush fire that occasionally erupt in the area.

So there are always interesting birds

Red-headed Woodpecker

A Juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker

Horned Grebe at Sanibel Island

Horned Grebe at Sanibel Lighthouse

December 1st

Missed out on lots of birding lately and  even,  reluctantly, had to cancel participating in the Tropical Audubon Society's Exotic Bird Tour this Saturday in Miami.  Had looked forward to this event for months. I had Bob Pelkey physiced up for it too

Yellow-crowned Nightheron

But today I managed to take some time to bird on Sanibel Island. Started at Ding Darling NWR. The tide was very low and we had a lot of wading birds on hand. Most common were White Ibis, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets and a lot of Little Blue Herons. Counted about a dozen Roseate Spoonsbills and nine Yellow-crowned Nightherons. Had several Great Blue Herons, included a Great White Heron. Reddish and Tricolored Herons were on-hand. American White Pelicans were plentiful and several Laughing Gulls were busy harassing any wader to get it's newly caught meal. Lots of Dunlins, Short-billed Dowitchers, Willets and Sanderlings. Located three Spotted Sandpipers and only was able to identify a couple of Least Sandpipers. Double-crested Cormorants were much more numerous than Anhingas today. Ospreys were were numerous and had a Red-shouldered Hawk too. Found a couple of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, a couple of Yellow-rumped Warblers and a Prairie Warbler too. No red-breasted mergansers had been yet here this season.

Juvenile Yellow-crowned Nightheron

Anhinga

Tri-colored Heron

Snowy Egret

Great Egrets, White Ibis, Snowy Egrets and a Little Blue Heron

Ruddy Turnstone

Next I stopped at the Sanibel Lighthouse with the idea of perhaps locating indigo or painted buntings. But actually there were virtually no birds around aside from the beach. But the beach was active. Brown Pelicans, Forster's and Sandwich Terns, Red-breasted Mergansers and an unexpected Horned Grebe were feeding with feet of the shore. Several Ring-billed and Herring Gulls were here too. This was only the second sighting of a horned grebe and the first for Lee County. This makes 198 birds for Lee County for the year. Just need two more.

Snowy Egret

Black-bellied Plover

Red-breasted Merganser

Red-breasted Mergansers

Ring-billed Gull

Herring Gull

Sandwich Tern and Sanderling

Forster's Tern

.

Sanderling



Long-billed Curlew at Bunche Beach

Thursday, July 21st

Early this morning I had a dental appointment, which was located close by to Bunche Beach. So off I went to look for any returning migrant shorebirds. The temperatures were still tolerable, as we are expecting 95 degrees later in the day, and the tide was falling.

Long-billed Curlew at Bunche beach

Walked to each end of the beach and was rewarded with numbers of Marbled Godwits, Willets, Short-billed Dowitchers and Sanderlings. It is too early yet to find any little peeps back from the Arctic. But the migration is underway. The Reddish Egrets were putting on a show and the Black Skimmers were found close to beach. Had a few Brown Pelicans, laughing Gulls and Royal Terns did not see any sandwich terns and a bit early yet to find black terns here. Did find black terns at Gandy Beach in St Petersburg three weeks ago. Had several Wilson’s Plover, most of which seemed to be juveniles.

Green Heron flying across beach



Green Heron

A few Black-bellied Plovers were on hand and had a couple of Yellow-crowned Night-herons including a very young juvenile. Saw my first Spotted Sandpiper in a couple of months and spotted a pair of Barn Swallows too. These are the first swallows I have seen locally for some time now. I had a couple of spots were I was finding purple martins or northern rough-winged swallows regularly through June, but they had moved on a few weeks ago. The best bird of the day was a Long-billed Curlew. About mid-July for the past few years I have been lucky to locate the curlew at this beach.



Reddish Egret dancing for its meal





A pair of Reddish Egrets



Willets

Semipalmated Plover

Black-bellied Plover

Black Skimmers in need of counciling

Sanderling

Marbled Godwit

Willet

Short-billed Dowitchers have returned from the breeding grounds

Yellow-crowned Night-heron

Ruddy Turnstones - A Visit to Bunche Beach

Saturday November 27th

Headed back to Bunche Beach early Saturday morning with the idea of finding any American White Pelicans an a very foggy morning. The tide was low and falling. Very birdy as well. Walked both endsof the beach, finding the usual hundreds of resting Black Skimmers and all the usual shore birds and waders. Did find a FOS first winter Herring Gull among the many Laughing Gulls.  No ring-billed gulls this morning. Only saw a lone Royal Tern a few Sandwich Terns and Forster's Terns.  The fog reduced visibility but an occasional pelican could be seen flying by, but only Brown Pelicans today. Found several Ruddy Turnstones some of which were well camouflaged in the leaf litter they were probing for breakfast.

A foggy morning at Bunche Beach

Piping Plover

Black-bellied Plover

Yellow-Crowned Nightheron on the hunt

Sanderling

Sanderlings

Great Blue Heron

Can you see the Ruddy Turnstone

My Bunche Beach list - ( 30)

Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Reddish Egret, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Osprey, Black-bellied Plover, Wilson's Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Piping Plover, Spotted Sandpiper, Willet, Marbled Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Red Knot, Sanderling, Western Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher, Laughing Gull, Herring Gull, Forster's Tern, Royal Tern, Sandwich Tern, Black Skimmer, Eastern Phoebe

Other sightings over the Thanksgiving weekend included the Monk Parakeets and a Burrowing Owl in Cape Coral at the Pelican Boulevard ballfields. Sighted a Whip-poor-will on a fence post as I was heading into work on Thursday night. Its eye-shine gave it away as my car's head lights caught sight of it. On the way home Friday morning sighted a Great Horned Hawk being harassed by a Red-Shouldered Hawk as it was perched atop a pile of dead timber, awaiting kindling, at the recently cleared construction sight along Airport-Haul Road. I don't have a consistent place in Lee County to find these owls, so they are always welcomed when ever I can come across them. I have also been consistently locating a trio of Redhead duck, over the weekend, hanging with a flock of American Coots at the ponds on Domestic Street. These are my first sighting of Redheads in Lee County. Lesser Scaups, Ring-necked Ducks, Mottled Ducks and a Pied-billed Grebe are seen here too.