Fort Myers Beach

 Saturday December 3rd

It's been around nine weeks since Hurricane Ian devastated Sanibel Island and Fort Myers Beach. At this point the clean-up, repairs and rejuvenation on Fort Myers Beach has progressed well. Much of the mess has been cleared, but there is going to a long time needed for recovery. 

A curfew still exists, but non-residents, clean-up crews and contractors can access the island from 7am till 7pm, Tuesday through Sunday. Some businesses have opened and do appreciate patronage.

The FMB pier has been skeletonized and hosts tons of seabirds and the shrimp boat fleet remains beached. The public parks and beaches remain closed, probably till sometime next year. So, I did access the beach at the south end of the island at Carlos Point.  I was able to park across the pass at Lovers Key State Park, which is also closed. The scene of how the storm rearranged the beach was evident s I was walking across the draw bridge. Some of the beach has been carved out, creating a new, shallow inlet.

This end of the island is scheduled for a beach clean-up, soon.  And it is much needed. Saw much debris littering the sand like chairs, pails, a kayak, utility sinks, pieces of docks, mattress, and every manner of stuff

The birding and shelling were pretty good. Lots of shore birds but gulls and terns were scarce today. A peregrine falcon showed up, scattering the resting birds into flight. Some of the sightings included Willets, Marble Godwits, Sanderlings, Dunlins, Snowy Plovers, Black-bellied Plovers, Semipalmated Plovers, Least Sandpipers, Western Sandpipers, Short-billed Dowitchers, Ruddy Turnstones, Cormorants, Brown Pelicans, a Herring Gull, Sandwich Terns, Royal Terns, Snowy Egrets and Red Knots.  Dipped on laughing gulls, skimmers, frigatebirds, American white pelicans and wilson's plover.

Willet

Dunlin

Red Knot

Black-bellied Plover

Mottled Duck

Red Knot and a Black-bellied Plover

Red Knot

Red Knot

Snowy Plover

A New Year

 Friday January First

Spent the day looking to start my new year's list with visits to a few local hot spots. 

Snowy Plover at Bunche Beach

Had  a good start at Bunche Beach, arriving at a low tide.  Best bird was perhaps seeing a Snowy Plover. We occasionally will find a Snowy Plover at Bunche, but the sandier beaches on Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel are better places to look for them.  Other sightings at Bunche included several Reddish Egrets, American White Pelicans, Piping Plovers, Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher, Least Sandpipers and Spotted Sandpiper. Dipped on several expected species, which turned out to be the trend of the day. 

American White Pelican at Bunche Beach

Next made a quick check of Lakes Park. Looking for least bitterns here, but settled for a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, a Cooper's Hawk and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. 

Mottled Duck at Lakes Park

Moved on to the boardwalk at Six-mile Cypress Slough Preserve. Which was very quite today.  The same for Rotary Park in Cape Coral. Next were the burrowing owls and Monk Parakeets at the nearby Pelican Boulevard Ballfields. The noisy parakeets can be easy to locate, but the owls were in hiding today. 

Loggerhead Shrike at Lakes Park

Cattle Egret at Harns Marsh

The Florida Scrub jays were absent today too.  Looked for them in Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres.  Ended the day at Harns Marsh. Lots of Pied-billed Grebes, a few Grey-headed Swamphens and the expected wading birds. So the day's tally wasn't very high. And that's OK

Least Sandpiper at Bunche Beach

Common Gallinule at Harns Marsh

Northern Mockingbird at Lakes Park

Little Blue Heron at Harns Marsh

Great Southern White 

At Harns Marsh

Birding in Saraota County

Friday February 23rd

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher seen off Zemel Road in Charlotte County

Seems that there are can be days when birding can be very underwhelming for any number of reasons and days when the birding can be a lot of fun. Today's was a fun day.

The Purple Martin colony

is active at the Celery Fields

My plans this morning was to bird The Celery Fields and Oscar Scherer State Park in Sarasota County. 

Bronzed Cowbird seen at the Celery Field

But first, I retraced yesterday's visit at Babcock-Webb WMA, which was an underwhelming birding day. As I was passing Babcock-Webb, along I-75 in Charlotte County, it struck me that it was still possible to stake-out one of the Red-cockaded Woodpecker Colony as they would emerge from their nest holes. Had tried yesterday, but missed seeing any. As I was waiting Eastern Towhee, Red-winged Blackbirds, Northern Bobwhite, Eastern Meadowlark and Pine Warblers could be heard. Most interesting was hearing a Bachman's Sparrow sing. Didn't hear any Bachman's singing yesterday. As for the Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, their morning exit was barely heard as a lone bird was calling far from the stake-out point. Now onto The Celery Fields.

Purple Gallinule

Arrived about 8:30 and found the venue to be a very busy place.  Lots of people here already. Was about to photograph the Purple Martins who are recent arrivals to the Purple Martin Nest Boxes. Brown-headed and Bronzed Cowbirds were also active around the Nature Center. Purple Gallinules, Wilson's Snipes and a busy Sora were all easily seen from the boardwalks. 

Purple Gallinule

Sora seen from the boardwalk at The Celery Fields

Loggerhead Shrike

Green Heron

Mottled Duck. Most of these ducks seen here have been hybridized with mallards,

Spent only a bit over an hour here as I wanted to get over to Oscar Scherer State Park near Osprey. I was interested in spotting the lark sparrow and Blue Grosbeaks reported here. Arrived about 10:30. The birds in question had been reported along the Red Trail, which I found to be very quite.  Mostly Blue Jays were noticed in the open scrub oaks environment. But as I was retracing my steps back to my car I encountered a family of Florida Scrub Jays. Cool. As I am enjoying these birds the birding activity picked up. A Swallow-tailed Kite floated past and a Blue Grosbeak began singing. The grosbeak were being rather stealthy, but a trio of the birds were seen flying to cover. Even though the singing continued, I couldn't capture any photos. Didn't see the lark sparrow today

Florida Scrub Jay at Oscar Scherer State Park

One the way home I made one additional stop. Made another try at the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher that can be seen along the western fence line of the trash dump off of Zemel Road in Charlotte County. The flycatcher was being quite cooperative today. Nice.

This was diffidently a fun birding day.  Some of the interesting ticks today included  Bachman's Sparrow, Northern Bobwhite, Eastern Towhee, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Florida Scrub Jays, Swallow-tailed Kite, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Northern Harriers, Purple Gallinule, Sora and FOS sightings of Purple Martins, Bronzed Cowbirds and Blue Grosbeaks.

Blitz

Tuesday November 1st

Sometimes, for fun, I like to spend a day on a Birding Blitz. Today the weather was nice, so spent about eight hours hitting venues around Lee County. Set a goal of sighting one hundred species and did find a few interesting ones, but only tallied seventy-five.

Sandhill Cranes at Harns Marsh

Purple Gallinule at Harns Marsh

Several of the venues were not very birdy, and actually dipped on some common species, like Blue Jays and Catbirds. Some other birds I expected to find, but missed included Ruddy Turnstone, Wilson's Plover, Reddish Egret, Common Ground-Dove, Red-headed Woodpecker and Eastern Meadowlarks. 

Gray-headed Swamphen at Harns Marsh

Red-Shouldered Hawk in Lehigh Acres

Some of the good sightings included Florida Scrub Jays in Lehigh Acres, a Coopers Hawk at the Wellington Road Red-headed Woodpecker Colony (no woodpeckers were present though.), Marsh Wren, Gray-headed Swamphen and Purple Gallinule at Harns Marsh, first-of-the season Dunlins at Bunche Beach and the Peregrine Falcon at the Pink Shell Resort on Ft Myers Beach.

Might repeat this event around the end of the month. More wintering species will be present. Maybe I could exceed the century mark

Today's List

Muscovy Duck, Mottled Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck, Pied-billed Grebe, Wood Stork,  Magnificent Frigatebird,  Double-crested Cormorant,  Anhinga, Brown Pelican,  Great Blue Heron, Great Egret,  Snowy Egret,  Little Blue Heron,  Tricolored Heron, Cattle Egret,  Black-crowned Night-Heron, White Ibis,  Glossy Ibis,  Roseate Spoonbill,  Black Vulture,  Turkey Vulture,  Osprey,  Northern Harrier,  Cooper's Hawk,  Bald Eagle, Red-shouldered Hawk, Purple Gallinule,  Gray-headed Swamphen, Common Gallinule,  American Coot, Limpkin,  Sandhill Crane,  Black-bellied Plover,  Piping Plover, 

Dunlin at Bunche Beach

Marbled Godwit,  Sanderling,  Dunlin,  Western Sandpiper,  Short-billed Dowitcher,  Spotted Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs,  Willet,  Laughing Gull,  Royal Tern,  Sandwich Tern,  Black Skimmer,  Rock Pigeon,  Mourning Dove,  Belted Kingfisher,  Northern Flicker,  Pileated Woodpecker,  American Kestrel,  Peregrine Falcon,  Eastern Phoebe,  Loggerhead Shrike,  Florida Scrub-Jay,  Fish Crow,  Tufted Titmouse,  Marsh Wren,  Carolina Wren,  Blue-gray Gnatcatcher,  Eastern Bluebird,  Northern Mockingbird, European Starling,  Black-and-white Warbler,   Palm Warbler,  Prairie Warbler,  Savannah Sparrow,  Northern Cardinal,  Red-winged Blackbird,  Common Grackle,  Boat-tailed Grackle, House Sparrow.

Ring-necked Ducks at Harns Marsh

Mottled Duck at Harns Marsh

Short-billed Dowitcher