A Day In Sarasota County

Thursday December 7th

Spent the day up in Sarasota County today with stops at the Celery Fields, Siesta Key and Myakka River State Park.

A pair of Nanday Parakeets were feeding
at the feeders at the Celery Fields

Arrived on a very foggy morning, at day break at the Celery Fields. It wasn't very birdy. Not many ducks, but An American Bittern did make a long flight across the marsh. My best birds here were a pair of Bronzed Cowbirds in the company of Grackles, Starlings and Brown-headed Cowbirds near the butterfly gardens.

Bronzed Cowbird at the Celery Fields

Bronzed Cowbird. Note the Red Eyes

Ring-billed Gull

At the beach at Siesta Key, a great many gulls and terns were seen resting on the shore. Nothing unusual, but the expected Herring, Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls, Black Skimmers, Royal, Sandwich, Forster's and Common Terns

Herring Gulls

Sandwich Tern

Common Tern

Herring Gull

A Tricolored Heron at Myakka River

A Horned Grebe on Myakka River

At Myakka River State State, I was expecting to see a diverse number of water fowl species.

But not today. A few Lesser Scaup, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and Mottled Ducks were counted.  Best bird of the day here was was my FOS Horned Grebe.  Some other species seen included Tree Swallows, Yellowlegs, a single Black-necked Stilt, Caspian Terns and a pair of courting Bald Eagles. If you like alligators there were dozens on hand.

Lots of Black Vultures at Myakka

White Ibis at Myakka

Lesser Yellowlegs at Myakka

Black Scoters

Monday, January 18, 2015

Today I spent the morning birding on Ft Myers Beach. I was hoping to locate some Black Scoters as well as a reported Surf Scoter being seen along the beach.

First stop was at Bowditch Point Park, located at the north end of the island. Not much was happening here, but a few gulls and cormorants. Did see a Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Ring-billed Gull

This Gopher Tortoise resides near the parking lot at Bowditch Point Park

Next was a very productive stop at Carlos Point at the south end of the island. Yesterday's violent storm had washed the beach with a large quantity of sea life including sea urchins, sea stars, horseshoe crabs,jellyfish, sponges, sand dollars and a lot of shells.  All of this was a banquet for the shorebirds, including Willets, American Oystercatchers, Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderlings, Black-bellied Plovers, Snowy Plovers and more. Also found a Great Black-backed Gull and a small number of Ringed-billed and Laughing Gulls, plus some Royal Terns.  A flock of Black Skimmers passed by of shore and inshore I did see a trio of Black Scoters. I didn't spot the surf scoter and also dipped on common loon, horned grebe, and frigatebirds.

Great Black-backed Gull

American Oystercatcher

This Oystercatcher is sporting three leg bands while dining on sea urchin
This bird, designated as DG(XX), was banded as a chick in June, 2010 in Cape Hatteras, N. C.
 Each year it has been wintering at Little Estero Lagoon, Ft Myers Beach, but returns each spring to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
 In 2015 it successfully fledged a chick, with oystercatcher DG(AL) at Cape Lookout National Seashore. Data provided by the American Oystercatcher Band Database 

Snowy Plover with lunch

Ruddy Turnstone

Snowy Egret

Male Black Scoter

Sea Urchin and Welk

Sea Stars

Sponge

A Fighting Conch shell

Link - Shell Indentification

Ponce de Leon City Park- Punta Gorda, Florida.

Monday, November 30th

Drove the forty-five minutes north up to Punta Gorda in Charlotte, County to look for wintering ducks.  Primarily for Hooded Mergansers, Black Scoters and Common Loons. Not much was seen till checking along the Peace River at Ponce de Leon City Park.

Didn't see any scaups, scoters or loons, but saw a count of seventeen Hooded Mergansers, a pair of Horned Grebes, a fly-by pair of Buffleheads. Ring-billed Gulls, Brown Pelicans, Great Blue Heron, Spotted Sandpipers, Double-crested Cormorants and Forster's Terns

Also located at this park is the

Peace River Wildlife Center

Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge

Thursday January 29th


Visited the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island this morning to look for the White-crowned Pigeon and Eastern Screech Owl, as well as to test out my replacement camera. My old camera was damaged after falling into the water at Six-mile Cypress Slough a couple of weeks ago.  Canon replaced it with a refurbished camera at no cost to me,

Eastern Screech-Owl

Arrived at a low tide and hundreds of wading birds were present, including mostly Great Egrets, White Ibis and Roseate Spoonbills, but very few shorebirds. The shorebirds seen were mostly Willets, with a few Spotted Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plover and Black-bellied Plovers.

Spotted Sandpiper

Ring-billed Gull

Black-bellied Plover

Reddish Egret

American White Pelicans

A Wood Stork

On the trail close to the Wildlife Drive entrance was found the Eastern Screen-Owl, along with several Blue-winged Teal, a couple of Green-winged Teal and several Black-crowned Night-herons.


At the Shell Mound Trail I was able to find the White-crowned Pigeon, but only because of the help of a gentleman who was already on the bird. Getting a descent  photo was difficult as the bird was staying some what buried in the foliage.

White crowned Pigeon

After leaving the refuge I visited nearby Blind Pass were several Northern Gannets were seen and as I was heading home, a stop along the Sanibel Causeway Park I was able to add a Common Loon and a Black Scoter.  It was a good morning.

The fruit of the Gumbo Limbo Tree, which is one of the food sources for the pigeon

The Snowberry is currently the favored food for the pigeon.

Horned Grebe at Sanibel Island

Horned Grebe at Sanibel Lighthouse

December 1st

Missed out on lots of birding lately and  even,  reluctantly, had to cancel participating in the Tropical Audubon Society's Exotic Bird Tour this Saturday in Miami.  Had looked forward to this event for months. I had Bob Pelkey physiced up for it too

Yellow-crowned Nightheron

But today I managed to take some time to bird on Sanibel Island. Started at Ding Darling NWR. The tide was very low and we had a lot of wading birds on hand. Most common were White Ibis, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets and a lot of Little Blue Herons. Counted about a dozen Roseate Spoonsbills and nine Yellow-crowned Nightherons. Had several Great Blue Herons, included a Great White Heron. Reddish and Tricolored Herons were on-hand. American White Pelicans were plentiful and several Laughing Gulls were busy harassing any wader to get it's newly caught meal. Lots of Dunlins, Short-billed Dowitchers, Willets and Sanderlings. Located three Spotted Sandpipers and only was able to identify a couple of Least Sandpipers. Double-crested Cormorants were much more numerous than Anhingas today. Ospreys were were numerous and had a Red-shouldered Hawk too. Found a couple of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, a couple of Yellow-rumped Warblers and a Prairie Warbler too. No red-breasted mergansers had been yet here this season.

Juvenile Yellow-crowned Nightheron

Anhinga

Tri-colored Heron

Snowy Egret

Great Egrets, White Ibis, Snowy Egrets and a Little Blue Heron

Ruddy Turnstone

Next I stopped at the Sanibel Lighthouse with the idea of perhaps locating indigo or painted buntings. But actually there were virtually no birds around aside from the beach. But the beach was active. Brown Pelicans, Forster's and Sandwich Terns, Red-breasted Mergansers and an unexpected Horned Grebe were feeding with feet of the shore. Several Ring-billed and Herring Gulls were here too. This was only the second sighting of a horned grebe and the first for Lee County. This makes 198 birds for Lee County for the year. Just need two more.

Snowy Egret

Black-bellied Plover

Red-breasted Merganser

Red-breasted Mergansers

Ring-billed Gull

Herring Gull

Sandwich Tern and Sanderling

Forster's Tern

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Sanderling