Where Are the Birds?

 Friday, October 22nd

For whatever reason, the Fall Migration has been relatively weak in our corner of Florida this. There have been a few rarities spotted, like warbling vireo, Philadelphia vireo and Nashville warbler, but the number of birds has actually been low. Certainly no fallouts for us.

Not a bird, but there is lots of nature to observe while birding
Green Iguana at Sanibel Lighthouse

 So what's going on? I haven't seen anything yet for an explanation. Seems the winds were more in favor of the birds to fly past and not make a pit stop. Another thought going around is a lack of food. There are plenty of berries and seeds, but we may have a decrease in insects. Some believe that the ecosystem hasn't yet recovered from Hurricane Irma, 2017. Another thought is that cold weather has yet to push many of the neotropical birds to migrate, aka climate change. 

Did get a few photos recently 

Snail Kites at Harns Marsh.
Harns used to be very reliable for finding snail kites,
but they had become scarce here lately

Yellow-crowned Night-heron
Ding Darling NWR - Sanibel Island

Wood Duck at Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve

Pileated Woodpecker at Rotary Park

Eastern Wood-Pewee at Rotary Park

Black-and-White Warbler at Caloosahatchee Creeks Preserve

Northern Parula

Northern Parula

The Gray Catbirds have arrived

Six-mile Cypress Slough Owls

Saturday, March 30th

Limpkin

Six-mile Cypress Slough Preserve is a very popular place for folks to enjoy the  atmosphere of a Florida cypress swamp. This time of year, thousands of vacationing  families have joined our seasonal residents to be a part of Spring Training.  Both the Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox train here and so many folks travel south to enjoy the games. Its common to see families on Six-mile's boardwalk, dressed in their teams regalia as they spend time looking for alligators and egrets before game time. So the parking lot fills fast and the boardwalk can get crowded. So its best to arrive early.

Barred Owl taking a rest atop of a cypress knee

I did arrive early because I also wanted to see if a screech-owl could be seen or heard, in or about the owl box located in the parking lot.  Its being seen there lately, sticking its head out. But today I didn't spot it.  But much better was the Barred Owl. 

 Currently, as it happened last year, as section of the boardwalk, between Pop Ash Pond and Otter Pond are closed due to a pair of Barred Owls nesting just a feet off the boardwalk. 

One of barred owls responsible for the disruption made an appearance as it sat atop a cypress knee just a few away over at Pop Ash Pond. It remained at its post for quite awhile, till finally a red-shouldered hawk began harassing it.

A pair of wood ducks would also make appearance,  coming into roost nearby.   A dark-phased Short-tailed Hawk was also seen and heard calling nearby.

A pair of Great Blue Herons nesting at Wood Duck Pond

Great Egrets, Anhingas and Great Blue Herons are nesting.  A pair of Great Blue Herons are tending to nesting duties near the Wood Duck overlook. Great Egrets and Anhingas are nesting in a rookery on Gator Pond. 

A few warbler Were present in the parking lot. Not unusual to have some of your birding in .  Ruth Parks and A couple of her friends had found a mixed flock in the parking lot. Tufted Titmice, prairie warbler, blank and white warbler, a Black-throated Green Warbler, Pine Warbler, Northern Parulas, Downy Woodpeckers and a possible black-throated blue warbler. Meg Reiser reported hearing a worm-eating warbler near the cross-over.  

Am looking forward to spring migration to heat up.

Some June Pics

Sunday July 1st


Thought I would share some of my observations in June

Spotted this Swallow-tailed Kite at rest at Caloosahatchee Regional Park

Purple Martin hanging around the Franklin Locks

on the Caloosahatchee River in Alva

A young House Sparrow at the Franklin Locks

Red-cockaded Woodpecker at Babcock-Webb WMA

Ring Necked Snake seen at Babcock-Webb WMA

Great Horned Owl seen in Lehigh Acres

Florida Scrub Jay seen in Lehigh Acres

Wood Duck seen in Alva pasture

Purple Gallinule seen at Harns Marsh

Wild Turkey spotted along Church Road

Gray Kingbird seen on Ft Myers Beach

This family of ducks are probably hybrids between mottled and mallard ducks

Buckeye Butterfly

Probably a Needham's Skimmer

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Some Watusi cattle seen on a property near Alva

Sandhill Crane

Nanday Parakeets seen in Fort Myers

Sandhill Family nesting with a very recent hatching in Alva

Spring Migration Has Stalled

Cuban Anole seen at Six-Mile Cypress Preserve

Monday, April 13th

Spring migration has come to a screeching halt. We had a very nice land-fall a couple of weeks ago, but weather patterns have largely pushed the migrates to the west of Florida.  Even a visit today by the Calusa Bird Club to the migrate hot spot at Fort DeSoto, in Pinellas County, as reported by Vince McGrath, only yielded a couple of  passerine migrants.

Gray Catbird at Six-Mile Cypress Preserve

At Six-Mile Cypress Slough Preserve today we , Ron Bishop and Walt Wintondid find a Northern Waterthrush and lots of Gray Catbirds. But mostly we found the expected natives like Carolina Wrens and Northern Cardinals.

Northern Cardinal at Six-Mile Cypress Preserve

Carolina Wren at Six-Mile Cypress Preserve

We still have a lot of interesting birds that are seen year round.  Here are a few.

Black-crowned Night-Heron at Six=Mile Cypress Preserve

Green Heron at Six-Mile Cypress Preserve

Male Wood Duck seen near the airport

Florida Scrub Jay found in Leigh Acres. Our only Florida endemic species

Male Snail Kite seen near Harns Marsh

The very common Boat-tailed Grackle

Our State Bird - The Northern Mockingbird

Burrowing Owl dozing in Cape Coral

The Eurasian Collared Dove is also a very common species

This Monk Parakeet was collecting nesting materials in Cape Coral

This strange looking duck appears to be a cross between a feral Muscovy Duck
 and some sort of domesticated duck

This Blue Jay was seen at Six-Mile Cypress Preserve