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

Red Knots at Bunche Beach

Monday, August 8th

Red Knot at Bunche Beach

Black-bellied Plover

Visited Bunche Beach this morning during a cooperative, low tide, to look for new arrivals from the Short-billed Dowitchers with maybe a few Long-billed Dowitchers mixed in, many still in their alternate plumages. Also many Western. Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers. A flock of five Spotted Sandpipers were hanging together and a flock or kettle of seven Osprey were soaring over the bay. Saw my FOS Kingfisher.  But missed any whimbrels or black terns which are being reported on Carlos Point on Ft Myers Beach. 

northern breeding grounds. Saw  a great many

There a few Black Skimmers, Willets, Wilson's Plover, Piping Plovers, an

Piping Plover

American Oystercatcher, lots of Semipalmated Plovers, a couple of Ruddy Turnstones, Barn Swallows swooping along the beach, some Black-belled Plovers, Sanderlings and Marbled Godwits.

Then a flock of Red Knots, still showing some of their alternate plumage, flew in and began actively foraging. Tried to call in any yellow warblers, which are also being reported in the area, but only got a nice Prairie Warbler. It was a nice visit.

Red Knot

Red Knots

Red Knots

Wilson's Plover

Semipalmated Plover

Semipalmated Plover

Willet

Piping Plover

Short-billed Dowitcher

Marbled Godwit

Least Sandpiper

Bowditch Point - Ft Myers Beach

Wednesday, August 3rd

Spent an hour this morning at Bowditch Point Park on Ft Myers Beach just to do some birding. Part of the beach is roped off due to a dredging project, but a good sampling of peeps were still in-hand.

The Great Away heading out into the Gulf for some grouper fishing
My son was once a mate on this vessel.

Started to visit with a pair of Gray Kingbirds on the wires just outside of the park. On the beach were three large concentrations of resting sandpipers. It appears that hundreds of Western Sandpipers had arrived along with a few FOS Piping Plovers. Among these birds were also many Wilson's Plovers, Semipalmated Plovers, Sanderlings, Ruddy Turnstones and a lone Snowy Plovers.

Other beach birds present included Least Terns. Laughing Gulls, Sandwich Terns, Royal Terns, a few Brown Pelicans, a pair of Marbled Godwits, Short-billed Dowitchers and Willets. The White-morphed Reddish Egret with the tracking radio was also here today.

Black-bellied Plover

White-Morphed Reddish Egret

FOS Piping Plover

Piping Plover

Least Tern

Short-billed Dowitcher

Snowy Plover

Semipalmated Plover

Wilson's Plover

Western Sandpiper

Sanderling

Banded Piping Plover

The park also has a Gopher Tortoise refuge.

Ft DeSoto Park

Tuesday April 12th

Ft DeSoto Park, in April, is very popular with birders, because it is an important migrant magnet for neotropical birds crossing the Gulf of Mexico to reach the Florida peninsula.

A view of Tampa Bay

Today Bob Pelkey and I traveled up to Tampa Bay to visit Ft DeSoto. Not a tremendous number of birds but a very nice variety. At the mulberry trees we found lots of Cedar Waxwings, plus Gray Catbirds, a Wood Thrush, Summer Tanagers, a Scarlet Tanager, Orchard Orioles, Indigo Buntings and even Fish Crows dining on the berries.

In the woods we had mostly single counts of Prairie, Blackpoll, Prothonotary, Tennessee and Hooded Warblers.  We also had multiple counts on Palm, Black-and-White and American Redstart Warblers. Ospreys are nesting throughout the park and we were able to see a lone Great Horned Owl.

A Wood Thrush seen beneath a Mulberry Tree

Summer Tanager

Mulberries were popular with the tanagers

White-eyed Vireo

Great Horned Owl

Throughout the park the sounds of shrieking Nanday Parakeets could be heard.

Romance is in the Air

Common Loon

On the beaches we saw several Common Loons, a Reddish Egret and a lone Red-breasted Merganser.  There were also large numbers of shorebirds including Willets, Black-bellied Plovers, Semipalmated Plovers, Short-billed Dowitchers, Dunlins, Least Sandpipers, a Killdeer, a Piping Plover, Black Skimmers, Ruddy Turnstones and a Marbled Godwit.

Reddish Egret

Dunlin

Least Sandpiper

Laughing Gull

Piping Plover

A Scrum of Short-billed Dowitchers