Thursday, November 18th

Caracara

Was checking out the orange groves and fields along Church Road at Felda, looking for interesting birds.  This is a great location for finding Crested Caracara and Turkeys. Can often find Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and Western Kingbirds this time of year when they arrive for winter.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Red-bellied Kingbird

Western Kingbird

Oystercatcher

 Tuesday August 11th

American Oystercatcher

I had recently moved a bit further away from the beach, looking for a more affordable place to live.  So I have not visited the beach as much as I used to.  I've also been dipping on spotted on some of the birds you'd expect to locate. American Oystercatchers had been a nemeses bird for me these past couple of years. Just haven't seen them as often these days. Today was my FOS sighting for 2020, at Bunche Beach.  Too hot to stick around long. But did have a nice variety of birds available to enjoy.  Reddish Egrets, Red Knots, Semipalmated Plovers and Sandpipers etc.

Common Nighthawk

Yesterday was a return visit to the Everglades Ag Area.  Lots of American Avocets on the flooded cane fields as well as Long-billed Dowitchers.  Also had Roseate Spoonbills, Wood Storks,  Common Nighthawks, Black Terns, Gull-billed Terns, Stilted Sandpipers, Petrol Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers, Ruddy Turnstones, Black Skimmers, Fulvous Whistling Ducks, Yellowlegs, Cliff Swallows, Cave Swallows, Barn Swallows, Common Yellowthroats, a Caracara, a pair of Barn Owls and a King Rail. Lots of baby Black-necked Stilts and Common Gallinules

Stilt Sandpiper

What was missing yesterday, were Upland Sandpipers, Wilson's Phalarope or Brown-headed Cowbirds. Had hundreds of these cowbirds two weeks ago.

Lots of Common Gallinule chicks

Long-billed Dowitcher with a Stilt Sandpiper

Black-necked Stilt. Had many stilt chicks present

Common Guava growing along a canal

Crested Caracara at the Miami Canal

Wood Stork

Sleepy Orange Butterflies

Crested Caracara

Wednesday January 9th

Made a run out to Church Road near Felda in Hendry County, in search of any Wild Turkeys and to check on the scissor-tailed flycatcher/ western kingbird spot.

This stretch of road from State Road 82 in northeastern Collier County to State Road 29 in Hendry County, is roughly about an eight miles of rural settings featuring orange groves, pastures and a regional solid waste dump site.

Several Crested caracaras were spotted along the road, 

attracted to the carcass of dead possum,

A pair of scissor-tailed flycatchers seen along Church Road 

in November 2018

The location noted as 1881 Church Road became a popular birding spot after reports of Western Kingbirds and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers back January of 2014. It is a very reliable location for Crested Caracaras and Wild Turkeys. The turkeys sometimes can be seen in abundance or, like today, not at all.  As for the caracaras the winter months can sometimes find concentrations of the birds, especially near road kills.




From Bob Pelkey's Blog -  March 2014 and January 2015  and February 2014 featuring an excellent review of the birds of Church Road

Tom Obrock with Hemant Kishon birding 

1881 Church Road in Feb 2014

Photo by Bob Pelkey

Brown Thrasher

Lately the flycatchers and kingbirds don't seem to be using this site.  I was lucky to spot a pair of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers back on November 3rd.  But seems no one has relocated any to date. 

 Other special sightings here include an almost bi-annual appearance of Lark Sparrows, during fall migration. Vince McGrath had first located a pair back in February 2014. Painted Buntings, Eastern Towhees, White-winged Doves and Short-tailed Hawks have been seen.

Back to the Tomato Fields

Wednesday December 6th

A Crested Caracara dining on a road killed Spotted Skunk along Church Road

After work Wednesday morning, I headed back to the flooded Tomato Fields along Oil Well Road near Ava Maria. The water levels at the Tomato Fields are usually drying up by now, but we still have water and birds. A scope is important here.

Greater Scaup

Mostly American Coots, Mottled Ducks and Blue-winged Teal are present with a few Green-winged Teal on hand.  The numbers of Northern Shovelers had risen, and other water fowl remained a bit sparse. Included A male Greater Scaup a few Lesser Scaup, and a lone Northern Pintail.  A ruddy duck has been reported, but I hadn't seen any. 

Northern Pintail

Also in much lower numbers was a mere eight American White Pelican. Other species seen included Common Gallinule, hundreds of Glossy Ibis, Rosette Spoonbills, and the usual waders. A pair of Bald Eagles are nesting in a tall pine on the back side of the field.

Also made a stop at the two bridges location. Sighted a Snail Kite, Limpkins, Black-belled Whistling Ducks and large numbers of Anhingas and Cormorants.  Had stopped to look for any western kingbirds, but none spotted today.

Lesser Scaup with the male Greater Scaup

Great Crested Flycatcher seen along Oil Well Road

Tricolored Heron seen at the Bridges

White-winged Dove seen along Church Road

Storm Damaged

Monday October 16th

One of the fun things about birding are the seasonal trends.  Every month we can see a fluctuation in the diversity of our resident birds.  We have Spring Migration peaking in April and are looking for wintering waterfowl starting in November.  January is a good time to look for sparrows and in August we see the early start in Fall Migration, like Kites, Swallows, Shorebirds, Terns and Grass Peeps. Right now is the waning weeks of the neo tropical bird migration.

Swainson's Thrush see at Hickory Swamp Preserve,

In Lehigh Acres

But due to damage from Hurricane Irma last month, our best local Hotspot to look for these neo tropicals - Six Mile Cypress Slough  Preserve - is closed. A bit of a disappointment. But it is a minor concern when compared to the difficulties so many people having because of these storms.

Rotary Park in Cape Coral has been open and we're  seeing some migrants. A Canada Warbler has been seen there the last couple of days. We seen a few good birds at Hickory Swamp Preserve in Lehigh Acres too.

We still have other good venues to explore locally like our beache's and Harns Marsh.

Hopefully, Lee County will have Six Mile open soon.

                                                   Gallery

Crested Caracara

Wilson's Plover on Ft Myers Beach

Marbled Godwit on Ft Myers Beach

Blue-winged Teal and Greater Yellowlegs

at Punta Gorda Airport Pond

Northern Shoveler seen

at Punta Gorda Airport Pond

At Punta Gorda Airport Pond

Great Egret

at Punta Gorda Airport Pond

Upland Sandpipers

Tuesday, August 23rd

Its been three years, but I've finally succeeded in sighting Upland Sandpipers. I had dipped on the species the past two years, but today Bob Pelkey and I arrived at the correct sod farm for some rather distant views. This field, south of South Bay, in the Everglades Ag Area, had been well documented on eBird of reports of Uppie sightings. Other grass-peeps were several small flocks of Pectoral Sandpipers.

Upland Sandpiper

On the way back to Ft Myers we stopped at  the Barn Owl Cypress Stand at the junction of Miami Canal Road and Bolles Canal Road were we have on occasion actually seen a barn owl. We maybe, kinda-sorta spotted the flash of white wings of a large bird fleeing the scene that may or may not have been a barn owl. It probably was one, but maybe it wasn't. Just don't know for sure. Further investigation failed to reveal any other sight or sound of the elusive birds. So we settled for an Eastern Kingbird, a couple of Prairie Warblers, a couple Gnatcatchers and a bunch of Barn Swallows. 

Crested Caracara

Other sightings on the day included Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks, snoozing Common Nighthawks, Wood Storks, Crested Caracaras, Belted Kingfishers and Sandhill Cranes

Crested Caracara along Church Road

Saturday, October 11th

A dozen Crested Caracara remains roosting in a single tree.  Earlier there were fifteen of them

 At day break, on Saturday, I traveled Church Road, in Hendry County in search of whistling ducks, turkeys and early flycatchers. Dipped on the targets, but did find FOS Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Towhees, Tree Swallows and lots of Crested Caracaras. Spotted a bare tree decorated with fifteen caracaras at roost, waiting for the air to warm up. Seems that there is a nice concentration of these birds roosting in the orange groves along Church.

Did you see that?

I'm not sure. What did you see?

Some of Today's Sightings

Crested Caracara from Church Road, Hendry County

                                                    

A pair of Red-Tailed Hawks from eastern Lee County

Red-headed Woodpecker from Lehigh Acres

Great Crested Flycatcher from Lehigh Acres

Florida SCrub Jay fro Cape Coral

Burrowing Owl from Cape Coral

Zebra on private property along North River Road