Fort DeSoto Birds

Tuesday, January 17th

Ft DeSoto Park, in Tampa Bay, is a Go-To place to bird, especially during migration. Currently, though we have a couple of special birds there making it worthwhile for a day trip.

Smooth-billed Ani

We currently have a lone Smooth-billed Ani wintering on the island. This species comes into  Florida from populations in  Cuba. They have historically been uncommon in Florida, but there was a big increase in their population in the southern half of the state in the mid 20th century. However, starting in the 1970's their population has crashed and are now considered to be very uncommon today. So today, with my daughter Katie, come to Ft DeSoto to see the Ani.

Another uncommon species to spend the winter in Florida is the Lark Sparrow. A single bird is wintering on the island in the company of Palm Warblers. We did not see the Scissor-tailed Flycatchers that are being seen the campground entrance.

Besides the Ani and the Sparrow , we had some good looks at Red-breasted Mergansers and Nanday Parakeets.

Nanday Parakeets

Red-breasted Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser

American White Pelican

Ospreys are extremely common here

Wilson's Phalarope

Tuesday, September 15th

With the idea that the bird magnet at Ft DeSoto Park in Pinellas County could offer some good sightings, Bob Pelkey and I headed out early today.

Wilson's Phalarope at Siesta Key

But first was a stop at Siesta Key in Sarasota County to twitch after phalaropes. Both Wilson's and Red-necked Phalaropes had been spotted here.  Arriving at sun rise we easily found the Wilson's Phalarope, but the red-necked phalarope was a no-show. We had dipped on the Wilson's on recent visits to Palm Beach County, so there was satisfaction in finding one much closer to home.

Arrived at Ft DeSoto Park by 9:30 and headed first to the East Beach turn-around.  Here found a low tide, but the birds were thin due to para-sailing activity. Mostly saw Sanderlings, Least Sandpipers, Ruddy Turnstones, Short-billed Dowitchers and Laughing Gulls.

A lurking Great Blue Heron in wait at the water feature
 for a small bird to snag.

Next onto the water feature behind the ranger's residence. Folks leaving the site report disappointing results, but had seen Prothonotary warbler, yellow-throated warbler, summer tanager and an early cedar waxwing. But we saw even less. Just Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers and a lurking Great Blue Heron.

Next we returned to the East Woods seeking a pair of reported Great Horned Owls. After much searching we could only hear a distance call of the owl. Again only Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers and Ospreys were seen.

A crew seen at North Woods grinding the tree stumps

Then we moved onto the North Woods and beach. Here we found that almost the entire grove of Australian pines had been removed. This was very disappointing as so much needed shade was gone as were the birds that used use these trees, including the Great Horned Owls that had been nesting in them.

Osprey

And the north beach had also suffered as most of the sand was gone. We did have some birds in a back water including many Willets, Marble Godwits, Dowitchers and Foster's Terns. The lagoon was active with hundreds of Black Skimmers and Sandwich Terns. Also present were more Willets, Godwits, Dowitchers, Ruddy Turnstones, Royal Terns and few more Forster's Terns.

After lunch we checked the fishing pier were we sighted Barn, Tree and Banks Swallows, lots of Laughing Gulls, Cormorants and Brown Pelicans. Then lastly a final stop back at the water feature. The birding was now a little better than we experienced this morning. We finally had a warbler when we found a Yellow Warbler. Also seen, before rain clouds pushed us out, were a five count of Eastern Kingbirds, a few Magnificent Frigatebirds soaring over-head, a Cooper's Hawk flying low passed the fountain.  Perhaps the hawk was one of the causes for so few birds seen at this location.  Actually after over three of searching it was truly apparent that the recently seen migrants had moved on without a fresh wave to replenish the transient population.

GALLERY OF TODAY'S BIRDS

A flotilla of Brown Pelicans

Laughing Gull

Rock Pigeons were seen using the beach

A young Sandwich Tern

Royal Tern

Snowy Plover at Siesta Key

Short-billed Dowitcher

Black-bellied Plover with breakfast

Reddish Egret

Ruddy Turnstone

Fish

Spring Migration Hotspot - Ft DeSoto Park



Last Monday, the 21st, I joined with nine other local birders - Dr Jose Padilla, Vince McGrath, Stan Damen, Dr Ken & Ruth Parks, Dave & Tammy  McQuade, Ruth Woodall and Sheryl - to make a return visit to Ft DeSoto Park in Pinellas County to enjoy the migration activity at this hotspot.

Our group arrived at Ft DeSoto at 8 am and headed straight to the mulberry trees at the rangers' residence. Dave and Tammy already had several great sightings as we approached including a Worm-eating Warbler, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and Baltimore Orioles.



Rose-breasted Grosbeaks were easily found feeding in the mulberry trees

The rest of us quickly added on with more Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, plus Indigo Buntings, Painted Buntings, Blue Grosbeaks, Cedar Waxwings, Orchard Orioles, more Baltimore Orioles, Summer T, Scarlet tanagers, Yellow-throated Vireos, Red-eyed Vireos, White-eyed Vireos, many Gray Catbirds, Black-throated Blue Warblers, Black-throated Green Warbler, Merlin, Gray Kingbird and Cape May Warbler. I had a suspect dickcissel, and young Common Loon was still to be found at the near-by pier.







Baltimore Oriole



After an hour or so we relocated to the East Woods Picnic Area with the expectation of finding lots of great warblers.  However this proved not to be the case. We did find some warblers, but not lots. We had a few Hooded and Palm Warblers, but the group help put me onto one of my nemesis birds in a Kentucky Warbler. Apparently he had been spending a lot of time with a Hooded Warbler feeding underneath a large mulberry tree. We also got to observe a nesting pair of Nanday Parakeets.

Common Loon

As the action was slow we headed to the North Woods Picnic Area for some lunch. Which was interrupted several times with the arrival of forging warblers.  Here we added Blackpoll, Cape May, Yellow, American Redstarts, Palm, Black-and-White Warblers, and Northern Waterthrush.  The nearby lagoon added American Oystercatcher, Willet, Marbled Godwit, Reddish Egret, Short-billed Dowitcher, Sanderlings, Dunlin, Herring Gull, Laughing Gull, Foster's Tern, Royal Term, Least Tern, Cormorants, Brown Pelicans, Piping Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Black-bellied Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones and FOS Semipalmated Sandpiper. Dipped on any whimbrel or long-billed curlew.

Next we made a return visit to the Mulberry Grove were found the action was still going strong.  We added a Prothonotary, Ruby-throated Hummingbird and Eastern Wood-Pewee.

From here our group left the park to bird the Cockroach Bay Preserve near Ruskin. The goal was to relocate a reported Lincoln's sparrow. We didn't find any sparrows, but have a few surprises. Dave was hopeful to add a Solitary Sandpiper. Well we found  him fourteen.  An added bonus was Jose locating a pair of Wilson's Snipes. We also added Mottled Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Redhead, Black-necked Stilt, Lesser Yellowlegs, Coots, Moorhens, Eastern Towhee, Roseate Spoonbills, White and Glossy Ibis, Ospreys, another Semipalmated Sandpiper, Least Sandpipers, a lone Black Skimmer, a Least Tern, Blue Grosbeak, Downy Woodpecker, Merlin and all the expected waders.

In all it was a great day with the group totaling well over 110 species. Surprisingly we dipped on few expected species like sandhill crane, red-tailed hawk and swallow-tailed kite. Again it was a great day.



Spring Migration - Looking for Early Warblers

Tuesday April First

Hooded Warbler at Ft DeSoto Park. Photo by Bob Pelkey

First off I want to wish my friend Ed, in Onalaska, Texas a Happy Birthday. Secondly we are seeing the start of the Spring neotropical  bird migration. The earliest arrivals are trickling in with Hooded Warblers and Prothonotary Warblers showing up in good numbers.    




 Today, in a late day visit to Ft DeSoto Park in Pinellas County, Bob Pelkey and I saw that Hooded Warblers had arrived in large numbers. They were hopping around everywhere. White-eyed Vireos  are also abundant today. Other migrating warblers seen included Prairie, Northern Parula, Worm-eating, Louisiana Waterthrush and Black-and-White. Lingering winter resident birds included Black Scoter, Red-breasted Merganser, Redheads, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Gray Catbirds, and Palm & Yellow-rumped Warblers. Nanday Parakeets, a family of Great Horned Owls and a Merlin were nice additions for the day. The beaches offered all the usual and expected shorebirds and waders.  
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Earlier in the day I visited one of our local hot spots, Six-Mile Cypress Preserve, in search of migrants. Seen today included Great Crested Flycatchers, Black-and-White Warblers, Parula, Prothonotary Warblers,  Pine Warblers, Black-throated Green Warblers, Prairie Warblers, Yellow-throated Warblers, White-eyed Vireos and Red-eyed Vireos. Lingering winter visitors included Blue-headed Vireos, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Palm Warblers and Yellow-rumped Warblers, Gray Catbirds and  Common Yellowthroats.               

 This was a nice start for Spring migration.  Hopefully weather conditions will allow us in southwest Florida opportunities to enjoy these colorful birds as they rush north to start nesting.


A count for the reached 74 birds.

A Visit to Ft DeSoto

Wednesday  April 11th

When April arrives I try to schedule a couple of trips up to Ft Desoto Park in Tampa Bay in hopes of finding spring migrants.

Nanday Parakeet at the Pier parking lot

Today the spring migrants were not very numerous and only a sampling was evident on this visit.  The shorebirds, gulls, terns and such were more evident. Hundreds of Royal terns were on-hand plus a few Forster's and Least Terns. Lots of Laughing Gulls and a couple of Herring and Ring-billed Gulls were still around.

Dunlins and Short-billed Dowitchers

Found a couple of American Oystercatchers, a Wimbrel, Ruddy Turnstones, Dunlins, Short-billed Dowitchers, Western and Least Sandpipers, Willets, Marbled Godwits and Sanderlings.

Least Terns have arrived

As for the migrants I was able to find the Tennessee Warbler and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds at the mulberry trees, plus Orchard Orioles, and a great many Cedar Waxwings, Indigo Buntings, a pair of Northern Parulas, a pair of Worm-eating Warblers and a couple of Prairie Warblers.

Forster's Tern

At the east Beach Turnaround I had about six Lesser Scaups and several Red-breasted Mergansers and several Barn Swallows swooping overhead.

Black-belled Plover

Also found a couple of Reddish Egrets at the lagoon. One was the usual Red plumage and the other was a white-morphed Reddish Egret.

Ruddy Turnstones

I checked out the Terria Verde ponds before entering the park and met up with a large group of birders from Portland, Oregon lead by Steve and Bill. They had already identified a female Greater Scaup and several Lesser Scaups were still present. Also still on-hand at the ponds were a few dozen Redheads and Blue-wing Teal.  a few Red-breasted Mergansers were resting on the far shore. Least Terns were swooping the pond as they searched for a fish for lunch.   A Gray Kingbird was seen on a nearby wire

White Ibis

I'll try to get back here again before migrantion ends in the hoops of greater prospects.

A female Orchard Oriole

Royal Terns

A Whimbrel and Black-belled Plover

Whimbrel and a Willet

An Indigo Bunting at the fountain

Lark Sparrow at Ft DeSoto

Thursday, February 2nd

Lark Sparrow at Ft DeSoto

Royal Tern

Headed back to Ft DeSoto to look for the Lark Sparrow and rose-breasted grosbeak reported there. Made a quick stop in Sarasota and checked out Ackerman Park (mostly Northern Shovelers) and Founders Club ponds.  The Common Goldeneye was easily seen at the Flounders Club and can add Lesser Scaup, Ring-billed Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, Blue-winged Teal and Mottled Duck.  Also had a couple dozen Black-bellied Whistling Ducks on a pond at Tadum and Fruitville Roads

Red-breasted Merganser

Spent four hour at Ft DeSoto enjoying a beautiful day.  A group of birders but me onto the Lark Sparrow and they had successfully sighted the rose-breasted grosbeak earlier in the day.  However I was not so lucky on the grosbeak. Did observe several Common Loons and Red-breasted Mergansers off the beaches and a Horned Grebe at the East Beach turnaround. Also saw most the expected shorebirds and gulls including about 25 Red Knots.  Did come across a Great Horned Owl and a small group of warblers - Pine, Palm, Northern Parula and Yellow-rumps. Had a flock of seventeen Nanday Parakeets show up at the bay pier parking lot.

Great Horned Owl

On the way home I rechecked on the Fork-tailed Flycatcher near Cockroach Bay and was rewarded to see that it was still present

It was a good day

Ring-billed Gull

Fork-tailed Flycatcher

Day's List - (81)

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Mottled Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Common Goldeneye, Hooded Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser, Common Loon, Pied-billed Grebe, Horned Grebe, Wood Stork,  Double-crested Cormorant, Anhinga, American White Pelican, Brown Pelican, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Cattle Egret, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, American Coot, Sandhill Crane,  Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Piping Plover, Willet,  Ruddy Turnstone, Red Knot, Sanderling, Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher, Laughing Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Forster's Tern, Royal Tern, Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collard-Dove, Mourning Dove, Common Ground-Dove, Nanday Parakeet, Great Horned Owl,  Belted Kingfisher, Fish Crow,  Red-bellied Woodpecker, Eastern Phoebe, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Loggerhead Shrike, Tree Swallow, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Northern Parula, Palm Warbler, Pine Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Lark Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Boat-tailed Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird

Philadelphia Vireo - back to Ft DeSoto

Friday April 29th

Returned to Ft DeSoto for a third try in April at sighting any spring migrants.  The weather held potential for some numbers to make land-fall here. But alas, some good sightings were made, but the numbers were very low.  And those good sightings required some work.




Black-throated Green Warbler

 

Black-throated Green Warbler

Arrived about 9:00 am and ran into several disappointed birders.  After checking a couple of locations I ran into John Mangold and the birding poet, Jeff Hooks. Just before running into these guys I had found a cluster of birds in an area which proved to be a hot spot for the day. Had a Palm Warbler, a flock of about ten Indigo Buntings, a Yellow Warbler and an unidentified thrush. Earlier John, Jeff, Ron Smith and another birder named Tom had great views of a pair of male golden-winged warblers there. So I joined with John and Jeff to try and relocate the golden-wings. Would have been a lifer for me, but we did get great looks at a couple of Black-throated Green Warblers, an Eastern Wood-pewee,  more Indigo Buntings, a Prairie Warbler and a female Blackpoll Warbler. 

We split up about eleven o'clock and I returned to the mulberry trees near the pier. I had checked it out earlier and had not seen anything.  On my return to this spot, I sat and waited for any activity that is usually centered around the water feature. Almost immediatelly had several birds come in to get a drink. Started with a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak, then more Indigo Buntings, a female Hooded Warbler, a FOS Eastern Kingbird, a rarely seen Philadelphia Vireo - Lifer!! and a very large raccoon.  Even had a White Ibis and a Laughing Gull come for a drink. The Nanday Parakeets were also noisy visitors to the area as well. 
Link to photo by Jeff Hooks on his blog of a Philadelphia Vireo he photographed on a later date at Ft DeSoto.
Had to head for home by 2:00  when I noted a Gray Kingbird and a lone Brownheaded Cowbird on the wires. An earlier check of the Teirra Verde ponds still had very small numbers of Lesser Scaups, Redheads, Pied-billed Grebes and a lone male Ruddy Duck. And  even earlier, on the drive up to St Peterburg, I checked the campsite road along the south shore of Webb Lake at Babcock-Webb in Charlotte County. Not to much was found but for a very out-of-place juvenile Snail Kite seen sitting on a snag.  Over all it was a good day.

Long-billed Curlew - A Visit to Fort DeSoto Park

Tuesday April 19th

Fort DeSoto Park can be a spring migration magnet. Last year I had a great experience there with rose-breasted grosbeak, indigo bunting, summer tanager, scarlet tanager, blackburian warbler, chestnut-sided warbler, yellow warbler, black-throated green warbler, black-and-white warbler, American redstart, eastern pewee, eastern kingbird, and nesting great horned owls.  But so far, for this migration the weather has been against Florida birders. The winds are pushing the migrants past us.

So, when I made a return visit Tuesday, I was hopeful but did not really expect anything exceptional.  Met with Bob Pelkey at dawn, who was wrapping up a three-day visit to the park. Bob reported the same dismissal migration activity.  So, he had concentrated his photography on the shorebirds.

Laughing Gulls in amour

Nesting has already begun here with plovers and oystercatchers and noted seeing Sandwich Terns and Laughing Gulls displaying as they pair off. Also seen was a lone Herring Gull, which Bob had observed just before my arrival, pick up a large clam, fly up and dropped the clam so that it broke open. The gull quickly ate his breakfast.  I had read on Birdbrains about herring gulls performing this method at Ft DeSoto.

Herring Gull, probably a first cycle

Black-bellied Plover

Black-bellied Plover

Long-billed Curlew and Willet

Long-billed Curlew

Whimbrel

American Oystercatcher

Laughing Gulls are still at it

Pair of Willets



Bob Pelkey



Other shore birds seen included Willets, Wilson's Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderlings, Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher, Black-bellied plovers, Least Terns, Royal Terns, Reddish Egrets, Red-breasted Merganser, Brown Pelicans and American Oystercatcher.  We also were successful in locating the resident Whimbrel and Long-billed Curlew. Both visited the lagoon at the same time. Bob finds it important to photograph the birds at eye level, so into the lagoon went, camera and all. He sat there to get the best possible shot.

Before leaving we also added a pair of Nanday Parakeets. And a stop at the Tierra Verde ponds we found Ruddy Duck, Lesser and Greater Scaup and Redheads, plus a couple more Nanday parakeets, several Least Terns, Laughing Gulls and Pied-billed Grebes. A couple of the male ruddy ducks were in breeding plumage with the white cheeks and bright blue bill.  Was surprised at the greater scaups. Spent a long time analyzing the head shapes on the two similar species. Bob again went in as far as was safe into the pond for that special shot.

Even though Bob had run out of battery power on his camera he wanted to see black-necked stilts, so we stopped at the Cockroach Bay Road mitigation ponds where we had several Black-necked Stilts, Long-billed Dowitchers, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Roseate Spoonbills, Red-winged Blackbirds, Coots, Moorhens, Blue-winged Teal, Mottled Ducks, Lesser Scaup, Pied-billed Grebe, Chimney Swifts, a Red-tailed Hawk and all the expected waders.  Included several Glossy Ibis which we took a bit of time trying to see if any were white-faces ibis.

From here it was time to head for home.  But I made just one more stop, at The Celery Fields in Sarasota, because of a report of a pair of female yellow-headed blackbirds. Did not see the blackbirds but did find most all of the same birds sited earlier with the addition of Western Sandpipers and a couple of Caspian Terns.  Even without the migrants, still had a good day.  By count was 70 plus birds.  can't complain