Eastern Screech Owl - April 2010

April 2010 REVIEW

This morning following work I made a quick run over to Sanibel Lighthouse to see if any migrants could be found.  I figured that it would either be hopping or dead and I was right.  It was dead. Seems that the winds are blowing the birds past.  We had a weak storm front overnight, that proved not to be a stopper. Found zero warblers and the only other birder on-hand, John of Ft Myers, did have a male summer tanager. I dipped on the tanager, but John lead me to the Eastern Screech Owl, who posed nicely for us, out of her nest hole in a dead palm. Magnificent Frigetbirds were also on hand.
  Another interesting sighting that John mentioned was a trip to Harns Marsh a couple of days ago were he had a flock of eight Boblinks fly-in to enjoy the grassy berm surrounding the marsh

Eastern Screech Owl at Sanibel Lighthouse - 4/30

Had only paid for an hour's parking, so I was on my way home by 9:00am. But I could not resist a brief stop at Bunche Beach. Found several Black-bellied Plovers, Sanderlings, Semipalmated Plovers and Dunlins. Had a few Brown Pelicans, Laughing Gulls and a lone Ring-billed Gull. Not many Ring-billed Gulls on hand these days. On the flats to the south rose a huge flock of Black Skimmers, perhaps 200 or more. A Bald eagle was sitting in one of the snags nearby the skimmers. This all about ended my birding for April laving me with a count of 141 birds. Had attempted to locate the scarlet ibis at Lakes Park last Tuesday morning were Bob Pelkey had the bird.  Saw lots of Anhingas, White Ibis and other waders, but the scarlet ibis was not to be seen from the trails..

Black-Bellied Plover at Bunche Beach - 4/30

Note the dark feathers of the axillaries (under the wing) This a good way to differenceate the Black-Bellied Plovers, common here and American Golden-Plovers, which are not commonly seen in Southwest Florida. Both of these plovers can be very difficult to diferenceate while in Basic molt.

My April List (139) -

1. Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
2. Wood Duck
3. Mottled Duck
4. Blue-winged Teal
5. Lesser Scaup
6. Ruddy Duck
7. Wild Turkey
8. Pied-billed Grebe
9. American White Pelican
10. Brown Pelican
11. Double-crested Cormorant
12. Anhinga
13. Magnificent Frigatebird
14. Great Blue Heron
15. Great Egret
16. Snowy Egret
17. Little Blue Heron
18. Tricolored Heron
19. Reddish Egret
20. Cattle Egret
21. Green Heron
22. Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
23. Black Vulture
24. Turkey Vulture
25. Osprey
26. Swallow-Tailed Kite
27. Snail Kite
28. Bald eagle
29. Red-Shouldered Hawk
30. Short-Tailed Hawk
31. Crested Caracara
32. American Kestrel
33. Peregrine Falcon
34. Common Moorhen
35. American Coot
36. Limpkin
37. Sandhill Crane
38. Black-Bellied Plover
39. Wilson’s Plover
40. Semipalmated Plover
41. Piping Plover
42. Killdeer
43. American Oystercatcher
44. Black-necked Stilt
45. Spotted Sandpiper
46. Greater Yellowlegs
47. Willet
48. Lesser Yellowlegs
49. Long-billed Curlew
50. Ruddy Turnstone
51. Red Knot
52. Sanderling
53. Least Sandpiper
54. Dunlin
55. Short-billed Dowitcher
56. Laughing Gull
57. Ring-billed Gull
58. Herring Gull
59. Least Tern
60. Common tern
61. Forster’s tern
62. Royal tern
63. Sandwich tern
64. Black Skimmer
65. White Ibis
66. Glossy Ibis
67. Roseate Spoonbill
68. Wood Stork
69. Rock Pigeon
70. Eurasian Collared-Dove
71. White-winged Dove
72. Mourning Dove
73. Common Ground-Dove
74. Black-hooded Parakeet
75. Eastern Screech Owl
76. Great Horned Owl
77. Burrowing Owl
78. Barred Owl
79. Common Nighthawk
80. Chimney Swift
81. Belted Kingfisher
82. Red-headed Woodpecker
83. Red-bellied Woodpecker
84. Red-cockaded Woodpecker
85. Pileated Woodpecker
86. Eastern Wood-Pewee
87. Great Crested Flycatcher
88. Eastern Kingbird
89. Loggerhead Shrike
90. White-eyed Vireo
91. Blue-headed Vireo
92. Red-eyed Vireo
93. Blue Jay
94. American Crow
95. Fish Crow
96. Purple Martin
97. Barn Swallow
98. Tufted Titmouse
99. Brown-headed Nuthatch
100. Carolina Wren
101. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
102. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
103. Gray Catbird
104. Northern Mockingbird
105. European Starling
106. Cedar Waxwing
107. Northern Parula
108. Yellow Warbler
109. Chestnut-sided Warbler
110. Black-throated Blue Warbler
111. Black-throated Green Warbler
112. Blackburnian Warbler
113. Yellow-throated Warbler
114. Pine Warbler
115. Prairie Warbler
116. Palm Warbler
117. Black-and-white Warbler
118. American Redstart
119. Prothonotary Warbler
120. Worm-eating Warbler
121. Northern Waterthrush
122. Common Yellowthroat
123. Hooded Warbler
124. Summer Tanager
125. Scarlet Tanager
126. Eastern Towhee
127. Bachman's Sparrow
128. Savannah Sparrow
129. Northern Cardinal
130. Rose-breasted Grosbeak
131. Blue Grosbeak
132. Indigo Bunting
133. Painted Bunting
134. Red-winged Blackbird
135. Eastern Meadowlark
136. Common Grackle
137. Brown-headed Cowbird
138. American Goldfinch
139. House Sparrow