The Apex of Spring Migration

Thursday April 25th

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Spring migration is in full swing these days and this third week of April is usually the apex of activity. So many interesting birds are stopping over for rest on Sanibel, with the Sanibel Lighthouse being our Spring Migration Hot Spot. 

Northern Parula and a Summer Tanager

at the Sanibel Lighthouse

Many of our local birders had wisely purchased annual parking passes from the Town of Sanibel, to save money, as we have had such great birding activity at the lighthouse, that parking fees at the lighthouse add up quickly as we extend our time enjoying the day.  At $5.00 an hour the fees add up quickly.. And you will be ticketed with a hefty fine if you overstay your time. Not so long ago the parking was $2.00 hour, 

Great Crested Flycatcher at Rotary Park

Hooded Warbler
Sanibel Lighthouse, Sanibel Island - April 2019

Baltimore Oriole 

Bronzed Cowbird 

Have had a couple bronzed cowbird hanging around the neighborhood. 

Common Nighthawk

Was observed at the Sanibel Lighthouse

A flock of Orchard Orioles spent some time in this Black Olive Tree on Sanibel Island

Indigo Buntings are recharging on figs

Migration Continues to be Slow

Monday May 4th

Our little corner of Florida continues to be quite slow for local birders as the migrants take advantage of favorable winds and fly past us. Even the migrant hot spot at Ft DeSoto Park in Tampa Bay has been very slow. Its good for the birds and not so much for us.

Rose-breasted seen at Sanibel Lighthouse

But a recent bout of weather has contributed a few interesting spring migrants. In the past few days I was able to add samplings of neotropicals to include Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Scarlet Tanager, Blackpoll Warbler, Cape May Warbler,  Magnolia Warbler, Red-eyed Vireo, Eastern Kingbird, Northern Waterthrush, American Redstart and Orchard Oriole.

Other folks have found Blue-winged Warblers, Yellow-throated Vireo, Summer Tanagers, Bobolinks, Wilson's Phalarope, and White-rumped Sandpiper.

Black-and-White Warbler at Six-Mile Cypress Slough Preserve

Other species are arriving in the area to take up summer residence, such as the much appreciated and popular Swallow-tailed Kites. They arrive just as February gives way to March and will be gone about the end of July. The Common Nighthawks are just arriving now and will be around till about the end of August. Purple Martins are already fledgling there broods and will soon be free-ranging. A few Chimney Swifts have pasted through and some will spend the summer with us. Gray Kingbirds have also arrived and the Least Terns that nest on our beaches should be increasing their local population soon.  A good place to see many of these species during the summer is down at the River District in Ft Myers.

Orchard Oriole at Sanibel Lighthouse

Cape May Warbler at Ding Darling NWR

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

Snowy Plovers - Ft Myers Beach

Tuesday August 3rd

Checked out Little Estero Lagoon this mourning on Ft Myers Beach. Little Estero Lagoon is a treasure in Lee County for the birding to found there. Today was a good example. To try to avoid the August heat I got there early, but I got cooking by 9 am.  I don't understand why people enjoy getting broiled on the beach.

Snowy Plover

Snowy Plover

American Oystercatcher

American Oystercatcher

Ghost Crab

Great Egret

Ruddy Turnstone

Sanderling

A roped-off sea turtle's nest. Plastic sheeting used to corral the hatchings to the water and to hide any artificial light from them so that they don't get lost because of a 'false horizon'.

The birding was very good with the several Snowy Plovers being located. Had good numbers Semipalmated and Wilson's Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderlings and Western Sandpipers on hand. Found only a couple of Least Sandpipers, a couple of Short-billed Dowitchers a couple dozen Willets and six Marbled Godwits. Counted six Ospreys and five Magnificent Frigatebirds. Brown Pelicans, Double-creasted Cormorants, Least Terns, Royal Terns, and Sandwich Terns were very active. A dozen Roseate Spoonbills were present along with a dozen Great Egrets and many of the other common waders.

My List - (39) Mottled Duck, Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Anhinga, Magnificent Frigatebird, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Green Heron, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Osprey, Black-bellied Plover, Snowy Plover, Wilson's Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Spotted Sandpiper, Willet, Marbled Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Western Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, Laughing Gull, Least Tern, Royal Tern, Sandwich Tern, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Mourning Dove, Common Ground-Dove, Gray Kingbird, Loggerhead Shrike, Fish Crow, Barn Swallow, European Starling, Northern Cardinal, House Sparrow

Some Notes on the Migration
In the past week I have been lucky to find a few of the early migrants here in in Florida. We've seen that the shorebirds have already been arriving for a few weeks now. But now we see that the the small birds are arriving and I have already seen several Yellow-Throated Warblers, A Black-and White Warbler, an American Redstart, a Red-Eyed Vireo and a female Orchard Oriole. I'm looking forward to expanding my list as the migration heats-up.

Ft DeSoto Park

On Monday, September 21, 2009 my daughter Melissa and I traveled up to St Petersberg from Ft Myers to bird Ft DeSoto Park. The park is on Mullet Key near to the Skyline Bridge in Tampa Bay. We had a good birding day back last April during the spring migration. We missed out on having a great day like when birders hit the island during a "Fall-Out" of large flocks of exhausted migrants. But we did OK especially with the ficus tree at the headquarters building. Our list for that day included Mottled Duck, Red-breasted Merganser, Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Magnificent Frigatebird, Great Egret, White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Osprey, American Coot, Black-bellied Plover, Willet, Marbled Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Least Sandpiper, Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher, Laughing Gull, Least Tern, Common Tern, Royal Tern, Mourning Dove, Common Ground-Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Fish Crow, Tree Swallow, Gray Catbird, European Starling, Cedar Waxwing, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Palm Warbler, American Redstart, Kentucky Warbler, Hooded Warbler, Summer Tanager, Northern Cardinal, Indigo Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Boat-tailed Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Orchard Oriole, House Sparrow

But as for a good fall migration day we seemed to be a bit early and had zero luck with only finding a few Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers, a few eastern Kingbirds and a couple of Gray Kingbirds. However the shorebirds were very good. We easily found the resident Long-Billed Curlew and was happy to locate Caspian Terns at both the East Beach and North Beach locations. We don't see Caspian Terns down in Lee County. In fact I hit it as my lifer just last February over at STA-5 in Hendry County. http://www.audubonswfl.org/STA5.htmonswfl.org/STA5.htm. It was a good day with terns with five species. It would have been nice to locate a Black Tern, but it is probably already too late in the season. I thought that I had a Lesser Black-Backed Gull at North Beach, but could not get a good viewing, but did have one perched on a pole road-side as we were leaving for the day. Again these gulls don't come further south to Lee County, so it was a good catch.

My list for this visit - Brown Pelican, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, White Ibis, Wood Stork, Black-bellied Plover, Wilson's Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Piping Plover, American Oystercatcher, Willet, Long-billed Curlew, Marbled Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, Laughing Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Caspian Tern, Common Tern, Forster's Tern, Royal Tern, Sandwich Tern, Mourning Dove, Belted Kingfisher, Pileated Woodpecker, Eastern Kingbird, Gray Kingbird, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, European Starling