Western Kingbirds in Hendry County

Thursday December 8th
Deer Fence Canal Road, Hendry County

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Charlie Ewell recently posted on Birdbrains on a very late Gray Kingbird in the company of a flock of Western Kingbirds and Scissor tailed Flycatchers in Hendry County.  So I took the long drive to look for myself and they were exactly were the prior sighting had noted. They stayed busy hawking bugs and were accompanied by several Palm, Yellow-rumped and Pine Warblers.

Western Kingbird

Gray Kingbird

Gray Kingbird

Now if I could just  manage to locate the vermillian and ash-throated flycatchers at Lucky Hammock before they disappear.  Other sightings today included American Crow, Barred Owl, Gray Catbirds, FOS American Robins, Wood Storks, dozens of American Kestels, Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Harriers, Red-shouldered Hawks, Crested Caracara, Sandhill Cranes and Eastern Phoebes.

A Search for Great Horned Owls

Tuesday December 6th
Cape Coral, Florida

Photographer and blogger, Bob Pelkey, had been keeping me informed this past week on the birds he's encountered on his birding vacation. I was unable to join with him till today and the quest was a Great Horned Owl that has been sitting in a nest near the Florida Scrub Jay location in northern Cape Coral. He and his British friends, the Bakers, had seen the owl twice and were familiar were it would be at sundown.

So the plan was to stake-out the site before sunset to try for some photo shots. I arrived at about 2 pm.  Bob was already there, following a morning visitation to Ding Darling on Sanibel. We got some good pics of three of the resident scrub jays who were very tolerant of our presence. I was informed that these birds would take a peanut right from someones hand.

We then got some pics of a resident Burrowing Owl.  Bob reported that just yesterday he witnessed an attack on what was probably this bird's mate, by a coopers hawk.  Apparently the hawk grabbed the owl as it was in-flight between nest holes.  After it had dispatched the owl, it carried it away for its meal. Very sad.  The bird we were watching today spent a lot of time scanning the sky.  It did disappear when a Red-tailed Hawk soared over head.

As for the the Great Horned Owl, the top of its head could be seen from the right angle as it rested in the nest.  As the sun set a second owl, which we had heard earlier, sat silhouetted by the pinkish hue of the setting sun atop a pine tree at a distance from us. Then, after waiting patiently for the first owl to descend to its usual perch, it flew low away from us to another tree, were it was momentarily mobbed an American Kestrel. Our photo-op was missed. Guess we were too obvious. But it was a good day.  Other sightings included Savannah Sparrow, Palm Warbler, Eastern Meadowlark, a flock of four noisy Monk Parakeets, Loggerhead Shrikes, Mockingbirds and Tree Swallows

American Goldfinch at Six-mile Cyress Preserve

Sunday, December 4th

A Well Fed Yellow Rat Snake

Sunday morning I went over to Six-mile Cypress Preserve in search of anything interesting. Starting from the parking lot and onto the boardwalk I encountered a several mixed flocks of feeding songbirds. Most commonly found were Yellow-rumped Warblers. Other warblers found included Palm, Pine, Black-and-White, Common Yellow-throat and Yellow-throated. These are all expected winter warblers in south Florida. Blue-gray Gnatcatchers were also very common today. Had my first-of-season American Goldfinch, plus Tufted Titmice, Blueheaded Vireo, Pileated Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Downy Woodpecker, soaring Wood Storks, Tree swallows, Anhingas, Cormorants, Carolina Wren, a House Wren was heard in the parking lot, White Ibis and a well fed Yellow Rat Snake.

On the way home found the drainage ditch along Six-mile Cypress parkway, near Hammond Stadium (were the Minnesota Twins hold spring trading) loaded with feeding waders. Dozens of Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Glossy & White Ibis and Wood Storks. Also had Roseate Spoonbills, Mottled Ducks, Tricolored and Little Blue Herons.

American Goldfinch

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Feeding Frenzy

Great Egret

Roseate Spoonbill

Wood Storks

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



Cory's Shearwater - Ponce Inlet Pelagic Trip

Sunday November 13th



The Pastime Princess in New Smyrna Beach

Had to be at the dock by 5:30am  so we could all embark on the http://www.pastimeprincess.com/ for a pelagic trip to the gulf stream.  I had not ever taken one of these trips and certainly as a lister needed to find new birds to enjoy. There were plenty of experienced and noted birders aboard as well as several neophytes such as myself. Michael Brothers, Director of the Marine Science Center in Ponce Inlet, Florida sponsored this trip as a fund raiser for the science center. I sat on the top observation deck and if I were to have a return visit, I think next time I'd get onto the bow. Seems that they were finding much more than I was seeing at my position. As a neophyte to pelagic birds and birding I did relie a great bit to the more experienced birders aboard.

Ponce Lighthouse at sunrise

One disappointment was that I only added four lifers - Brown Booby, Cory's Shearwater, Great Shearwater and Pomarine Jaeger.  Had hoped for a larger variety of seabirds.  Maybe next time.  I was also able to add Parasitic Jaeger, Common Tern, Northern Gannets and Lesser Black-backed Gull.  As we were passing the rock jetties on our way out into the Atlantic we were able to scan the rocks for for any purple sandpipers, but only got Snowy Egrets and Ruddy Turnstones.



Cory's Shearwaters



Sometimes you really had to hold on. Makes it hard to get your bins on a bird

Mr Brothers had brought aboard a dozen or so sea turtle hatchlings for release. When we reached the appropriate location the baby turtles, all but one a loggerhead, the other a green, were released onto floating beds of sargassum weeds. At another spot, were we were encountering a lot of birds, the crew were reeling in a lot of dolphin (mahi) that were also being attracted to the chum line.

The following is a excellent report Mr Brothers posted on Brdbrains

    Sunday morning, 11/13, 48 brave souls boarded the Pastime Princess and ventured on another offshore adventure out of Ponce de Leon Inlet, Volusia County. We headed just offshore to search the gulls following the nearby shrimp boats. We set out a chum slick and soon had hundreds of gulls following our boat.  Just a couple of miles offshore we found a Parasitic Jaeger chasing some Laughing Gulls. We headed out offshore and had an occasional Cory's Shearwater and Great Shearwater, but little else. Eventually a Great Shearwater came up right behind the boat and settled on the water giving everyone an exceptional up-close opportunity to see this beautiful bird.


We had a long period with few birds until at about 48 miles offshore, inside the west edge of the Gulf Stream we started to find shearwaters on the move. A constant stream of Cory's and Great Shearwaters approached us from behind and also a Brown Booby.  Soon we found our first large group of about 60 birds - Cory's and Great Shearwaters feeding frantically in patches of Sargassum weed. In the middle of the group of shearwaters was an immature Brown Booby. Nearby, a Pomarine Jaeger flew off the water. We met group after group for the next 12 miles. We found another Pomarine Jaeger and 2 more Brown Booby. We found about 400 shearwaters in total over the next 12 miles.


Species List
Cory's Shearwater  350
Great Shearwater   50
Probable Audubon's Shearwater  1
Brown Booby 4
Pomarine Jaeger  4
Parasitic Jaeger 2
Common Tern   30
Sandwich Tern
Royal Tern
Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Laughing Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
American Coot  5

Several small flocks of unidentified ducks

Several excellent photos can be seen attached to Mr Michael's report on Brdbrains



The Ponce Lighthouse as we returned to the dock at sundown



The trip took twelve hours with the bulk of the time heading out and heading in.  We got back to dock at about 6 pm.  Very tired.  The weather had been good and the seas were too bad. But it was now time for my four hour drive home.  A long day.

Eurasian Wigeon - Merritt Island NWR

Saturday, November 12th

I haven't done much much birding lately and expect to have to back-off some in the near future to attend other responsibilities. But one event I had been looking forward to was my first pelagic trip. I was signed up for Michael Brothers' trip out of Ponce Inlet on the 13th. Due to logistics I took two vacation days from work for the trip. Day one, today , was a travel day capped off with visit to Merritt Island NWR. I had originally planned to only take time to explore the rock jetties at Ponce Inlet for any early purple sandpipers, but a report on a Eurasian Wigeon among the newly arriving ducks was very tempting.

Snowy Egret

Arrived at Merritt Island around 2:30 and committed to only viewing Black Point Wildlife Drive today. The water levels were a bit high and not a lot of waders and shorebirds were present that I could see. Did have Reddish Egrets, Great Blue Egrets, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets and White Ibis. As for shore birds only found Dunlins, Blackbellied Plovers and Willets.

Great Egret

At stop #8 is were to look for the ducks. American Coots were by far the most numerous paddler. Next were probably American Wigeons. Also saw Green-winged teal, Blue-winged Teal, Redheads, Gadwell, Northern Shovelers, Mottled Ducks and Northern Pintail.  And I did locate the reported.Eurasian Wigeon. I assisted another birder, Jason, in locating the wigeon and he produced a photo that actually showed that there were at least two male eurasian wigeons present.

Others birds seen included an American Gallinule, Pied-billed Grebes,  a Bald Eagle and several Osprey.  On the fishing pull-offs at the bridge I looked for any black-backed gulls, but only added Laughing Gulls, FOS Ring-billed and Herring Gulls.  Dipped on avocets, white pelicans and the black-backed gulls.

Northern Shovelers

Ran out of day light as far as exploring the rock jetties, so maybe next year.

Florida Scrub Jay

Wednesday November 2nd

Did a little birding today in Cape Coral were I had  located the Monk Parakeets and Burrowing Owls around the Pelican Blvd ballfields.  Next headed up to the north side of the Cape to see if I would run into Bob Pelkey who had commented yesterday that he was interested in looking for a life bird the Florida Scrub Jays found there.  Missed Bob, but got a few good pics of the jay.