Birding at the Zoo

 Sunday May 26th

A young Rose-ringed Parakeet

I arrived at 9 am, just as the Naples Zoo opened its doors, to engage in some birdwatching. The zoo's impressive tropical gardens are a reliable spot for observing the feral Rose-ringed Parakeets that nest there. 

Anhinga Nestling

Cuban Brown Anole

Young Tricolored Herons

Great Egrets

Additionally, there's a rookery of nesting wading birds on an island within Alligator Bay. The presence of alligators serves a practical purpose: it protects the eggs and nestlings from predators like raccoons, which would have to brave the gator-infested waters to reach the rookery.

Lesser Flamingos

Giant Anteater

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Sunday January 13th

Boat-tailed Grackles were active at this watering spot

Had to make three attempts to locate the Yellow-headed Blackbird.  Its a western bird and not very commonly seem in Florida and to have a brightly colored male hanging out thirty miles from home, I had to see it.

Last week Eary Warren with wife Jennifer and Dave & Tammy McQuade had discovered the yellow-headed blackbird in the parking lot of the Win Dixie store at corner of US 17 and Bermont Road in Charlotte County.  Eary, Jennifer, Dave and Tammy have been racking up a long list birds, as the awesome birders that they are, to start the new year and it is no surprise that Eary was going to spot this guy.

Great Egret

Arrived to day about 2:30 pm and note that the parking lot lacked any grackles.  The yellow-head has been hanging with a local flock of boat-tailed grackles.  drove behind the stores to the retention pond, where wood storks, white ibis, laughing gulls, Ring-billed Gulls and the 

The Yellow-headed Blackbird was initially very hard to find. 

As it was well concealed in the shrubbery

grackles were found. Ran into Monica Higgins who was already monitoring the grackles for our target bird. Made a quick recheck in the parking lot.  Still empty.  returned to the pond an was informed that the flock had been spooked by an eagle and the yellow-headed blackbird

was easily seen and photographed. Big oops on my part, as I ended up waiting for well past an hour for the target to reappear.  The grackles were still active, so the blackbird was still expected to be at hand.  Was joined in the wait by Margi Haas and several ladies from Sarasota.

Eventually the bird was seen deep in the foliage, preening and being very inconspicuous. Patience paid off and the Yellow-headed Blackbird finally came out into the open.  Got my pics.  Yeah..

Early Florida settlers called these birds Old Flintheads 

and found them not to be very appetizing for the pot

Wood Stork

The Tomato Fields, Plus

Thursday November 23rd

White-crowned Sparrow

Our wintering birds are starting to show up in our sunny corner of Florida. We always enjoy their arrival and sometimes rarities are among them.  Last winter we had a pair of Brants visit us for a few weeks.  This past week, another goose species has shown up. A juvenile Greater White-fronted Goose has been located in a pasture along North River Road. Any wild goose species is uncommon in our area, but I don't recall any reports on Greater White-fronted Geese.

A very distant look at the Greater White-fronted Goose

with a few Blue-winged Teal

I was able to observe the bird last Sunday morning in the company of several ardent Birders.  A scope is necessary as the bird will keep its distance. Was too far for my photography.

Yesterday I headed out early for the flooded Tomato Fields along Oil Well Road, near Ava Marie in Collier County. This time of year this location hosted numerous variety of birdlife - waterfowl, Canvasback, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shovelers, Mottled Ducks, American Coots and Pied-billed Grebes. But there were Huge numbers of American White Pelicans, Great Egrets and the rest of the waders. Water is a bit deep yet for any yellowlegs, avocets or black-necked stilts.  Maybe later

The Canvasbacks wouldn't come close enough

for any good pics

waders, peeps, etc, for a few weeks before it dries up. The variety of waterfowl is a short list at this time -

A few miles east on Oil Well Road is a location called the Two Bridges. Went to this location to look for Western Kingbirds, which was located actually about a mile west of the Two Bridges. Had an interesting observation were a half dozen birds roosting in a pair of barren trees. Due to the lighting conditions I couldn't make out what they were until they flew. Snail Kites. Other species here included lots of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and Blue-winged Teal, American Bittern, Anhingas, Cormorants, Limpkins, Grebes, Black-crowned Night-herons and Palm Warblers.

Next was a bit of a drive to the Big Cypress National Preserve--Oasis Visitor Center out on the Tamaimi Trail by the Everglades. David True has been reporting some nice sightings from here.  Especially sparrows. I was interested in getting a picture or two of a White-crowned Sparrow and rewarded with a bird willing to pose. 

Gator at Two Bridges

American Bittern

Western Kingbird

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

Ding Darling

Monday November 28th

Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge

Last February we had a surprise visitor hanging out with the American White Pelicans at  the Wildlife Drive at Ding Darling on Sanibel Island. For two or three day a Great White Pelican, a native from the Old World, was a star attraction.  I don't believe that its provenance has been determined yet or were it went off to, but it did draw a lot of attention.

Back in January, 2010 we experienced a terrible cold spell which resulted it a great deal of damage to agriculture and to wildlife. We had major fish kills, which decimated the local snook population and had even effected larger cold sensitive animals such as sharks, sea turtles and manatees. Even iguanas fell frozen from the trees. And at Ding Darling the cold is suspected in the death of Wilma, an old, rare, female American Crocodile. She was another star attraction at Ding, as she was the only American Crocodile found on the Gulf Coast. Today, her bones are on display at the visitor center.

In the Spring we come out to Ding in search of Mangrove Cuckoos, Black-whiskered Vireos and migrating songbirds. The last couple of year we had another star attraction with a lone White-Crowned Pigeon taking advantage of the Tropical Hardwood Hammock found along the Shell Mound Trail. 

Right now we are seeing some interesting waterfowl making rare appearances at Ding. Last Saturday a lone Long-tailed Duck was photographed along the Wildlife Drive and last weak we have a report of a Brant.  Both appear to be one day wonders. I didn't expect to find anything unusual today, but you never know. 

I arrived at low tide, which is very important for your best wildlife observation experience. We had hundreds of wading birds - White Ibis, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Reddish Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Yellow-Crowned Night-herons, Little Blue Herons, Roseate Spoonbills, and Wood Storks. There were dozens of American White Pelicans, Brown Pelicans, Double-Crested Cormorants, Pied-billed Grebes and Blue-winged Teal.  We also had Anhinga, Osprey, Magnificent Frigatebird, Vultures, Laughing Gulls, a Ring-billed Gull, Willets, Greater Yellowlegs, Ruddy Turnstones, Semipalmated Plovers, Black-bellied Plovers, Dunlin and  Least Sandpipers . E-Bird Report

Great Egret

 Also saw a lot of Mullets, Both living and dead.  As the tide was moving in a large number of dead and blotted mullets came into the lagoons. This speaks of a fish kill from a recent Red Tide incident in the waters around Sanibel.

An American White and a Brown Pelican

An Immature Little Blue Heron

Reddish Egret Sporting a Tracking Radio

A Visit to the Celery Fields and Big Cypress

Tuesday, November 17

Today, with Bob Pelkey behind the wheel, we had planned a stop at the Celery Fields in Sarasota. Then the reports came out about the Mountain Bluebird being seen at the Oasis Visitor Center at Big Cypress Preserve. So a stop was planned for there as well.

Mountain Bluebird

We arrived in early afternoon and easily spotted the Mountain Bluebird. It was sitting on its spot on a fence near the parking lot. Very unusual to have this western bird in the Everglades. The bird is reported to be a juvenile female and is a lifer for me. Hasn't been reported here since about the 20th.

Some other species seen at the visitor center.

American Alligator

Tricolored Heron

Great Blue Heron

Snowy Egret

Great Egret

American Crow

The Celery Fields - Sarasota

Bob and I arrived at dawn and spent the morning mostly around the south cell. Soras could be heard calling and Marsh Wrens heard babbling. Least Bittern was hiding in the flag weed and Purple Gallinule were active as well. Rosette Spoonbills, Glossy Ibis and Wood Storks were flying over head. Limpkins were calling and Black-bellied Whistling Ducks were just hanging around. Calling Nanday Parakeets and a flock of Brown-headed Cowbirds too.

Loggerhead Shrike

Savannah Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

Limpkin

Marsh Wren

From here traveled about a mile up Palmer Road to Palmer Lake were we added Northern Shovelers, Lesser Yellowlegs, Glossy Ibis, Laughing Gulls, Forster's Terns Long-billed Dowitchers and a Crested Caracara