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

Sabine's Gull

 Sunday October 9th

Yesterday, I had been invited to do a pelagic boat trip out onto the Gulf of Mexico. Dave McQuaid asked me if I was interested in going out to look for pelagic birds off the Florida coast at Fort Myers. It was an offer I couldn't decline. Glad I went too. 

Common Terns attracted to a bait fish boil

Just the three of us today, Edwin Willke, an excellent birder and photographer, Dave and myself. Dave will frequently venture out on the Gulf, on his boat, McLagic, to seek out pelagic species off our coast. There is not very much data, so Dave is attempting to catalogue where and when to find these birds just as the fisherman document were to find fish.

We headed out about 7 am, traveled about 150 miles over eight hours in one to two foot swells. Got good looks at Blue-winged Teal, Cory's Shearwater, Greater Shearwater, Red-necked Phalaropes, Magnificent  Frigatebirds and several migrating flocks warblers, including Palm, Tennessee, Northern Parulas, American Redstarts, Black-and-Whites and other species. Another migrating flock included Little Blue Herons with Cattle Egrets. No dolphins today, but there were some flying fish.

About noon we came upon a huge concentration of terns feeding on bait fish boils, with predator fish, probable bonito, pushing the bait balls to the surface. They were mostly Common Terns, Edwin counted 160, plus a few Black and Forster's Terns. But we spotted a Sabine's Gull, Lifer, among the feeding terns. Awesome. Probably the first recorded sighting for Lee County.  Tried to pull an arctic tern out the crowd, but couldn't do it.

Good, Good trip.  Thanks Dave and Tammy so much!!

Dave and Edwin got some great photographs.  I did not.  So follow the  links to our eBird lists to see their great photo evidence. The trip was divided into several hourly segments.

- McLagic 10921 8am 

- McLagic 10921 9a

- McLagic 10921 11a

- McLagic 10921 12p

- McLagic 10921 1pm

Field Trip

 Friday, September 10th

Been working on my bucket list since retiring and this week I finally visited Gettysburg National Battlefield in Pennsylvania.  Very much enjoyed my time here to see the grounds and hear the history around American's most terrible conflict. Did a ghost walk too.

Did my birding and nature explorations too. Checked out the Gettysburg sites plus visiting nearby Caledonia State Park and Catoctin Mountain National Park in Maryland. Found the birding at Catoctin Mountain and Caledonia State Park disappointing.  So much more was seen on the battlefield grounds.

A list of some of the birds seen at Gettysburg included Canada Geese, red-tailed Hawk, American Robin, Chimney Swifts, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Eastern Bluebird, Eastern Wood-pewee, Barn Swallows, American Goldfinches, Field Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows and Red-eyed Vireo.

A young Eastern Bluebird at the Gettysburg National Cemetery

Caledonia State Park is about 20 minutes west from Gettysburg. The birding was slow. Basically added Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Chickadee and Chipping Sparrow. 

Remnants of the Caledonia Furnace Complex

Common Jewelweed

I've, now, stepped on the AT in six states

Pearl Crescent

Catoctin Mountain Park is located in Maryland just over the border from Pennsylvania. Didn't find many birds here. 

Used to be a lot of Moon Shining activity around Catoctin Mountain
An example of  Moon Shining technology on the Blue Blazes Whiskey Still Trail

View from the Blue Ridge overview at Catoctin Mountain Park

Summer Azure

Beefsteak Plant

Everglades Ag Area

 Monday, August 9th

South of Lake Okeechobee, are farms in an area referred to as the Everglades Agricultural Area. Here is were sugar cane, rice and turf is grown and this is the time of the year to come out here for some birding. 

Upland Sandpipers are probably the most coveted species to find here as they make pit stops to refresh on the sod farms as they migrate south toward Argentina. Other species we chase here include migrating shorebirds, wading birds, gulls and terns, white pelicans, nighthawks and migrating swallows. 

Came out on Saturday to take advantage of the, potential, lighter traffic on these roads and lanes. Besides checking the sod farms for plovers and sandpipers, locating the flooded ag fields is important to find many of the species we'd be chasing. 

Common Nighthawk

Did see the Cave Swallow colony along County Road 880 just north of Brown's Farm Road. The flooded fields just across the road from the swallows have actually almost dried up. So moved on to Brown's farm Road to another location few miles south. This list for this flooded field included Black-bellied whistling Ducks, Mottled Ducks, Common Nighthawks, Lots and Lots of Black-necked Stilts, Killdeers, Stilt Sandpiper, Greater & Lesser Yellowlegs, Gull-billed Terns, Barn swallows, and the expected wading birds.

American Avocet

Close by is another road, Gladeview Road, lined with sugar cane, sod farms, rice and barren fields. Spotted Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Fulvous Whistling Ducks ( they really like the rice fields), lots more Black-necked Stilts, Pectoral Sandpipers, Yellowlegs, Wood Storks, Cattle Egrets, Great Egrets, Little Blue Herons, Green Herons, Roseate Spoonbill, Yellow-crowned Night-herons, Common Yellowthroat  and Barn Swallows. Dipped on the spotting any Uplands Sandpipers that are being seen along this road.  Seems I missed on a seeing a newly reported American Golden Plover as well. 

The best spot for the day was a flooded field at the end of Gladeview Road. Species listed included more Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, lots of Doves, Blackbirds and Grackles. But also seeing almost a dozen American Avocets, Lots more Black-necked Stilts, a Wilson's Phalarope, several Stilt Sandpipers, Killdeers, Common Nighthawk, Least Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, Yellowlegs, Black Terns, Gull-billed Terns, Glossy Ibis, White Ibis and more.  Awesome seeing the phalarope, the avocets and some many stilt sandpipers.

Wilson's Phalarope, not a very common bird here

Probably will come here one more time soon to see if can catch-up on the Uppies.

Stilt Sandpiper

Gull-billed Tern

Pectoral Sandpiper

Greater Yellowlegs

Wood Stork

American Avocet

Lesser Yellowlegs

Black Tern

Oystercatchers at Bunche Beach

 Friday July 30th

Its been awhile since I've last visited Bunche Beach.  Been waiting for favorable tides, at a favorable time of the day, which is a low tide at the coolest time of day. Gets too hot this time of year

American Oystercatcher

Checked it out the other day and it was nice to see several American Oystercatchers and Marbled Godwits. My first sightings in Lee County this year of these species. Other birds included Reddish Egrets, Snowy Egrets, lots of Willets, Sanderlings and Short-billed Dowitchers.  Plus Piping Plovers, Semipalmated Plovers and a few Spotted Sanderling, Western Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers, Ruddy Turnstones, Wilson's Plover, and a couple of Black-bellied Plovers. Still looking for common terns and black terns though.

Piping Plover

Marbled Godwit

Least Sandpiper

Volo Bog - Volo, Illinois

 Saturday July 24th

The Volo Bog State Natural Area is registered National Natural Landmark, owned and managed by the State of Illinois. Its a rare geographical feature, called a quacking bog, leftover after the ancient glaciers melted away. The property features wetlands, savannas and upland forests. MAP

Came here last month to bird and to do some photography. 

House Wren

Bird List - Wood Ducks, Mourning Doves, Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, Sandhill Crane, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Green Herons, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Kingbird, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, Tree Swallow, Barn Swallow, House Wren, Gray Catbird, Eastern Bluebird, Veery, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Cedar waxwing, House Sparrow, American Goldfinch, Field Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, Baltimore Oriole, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow Warbler and Northern Cardinal. Also White-tailed Deer, Widow Skimmer and Northern Pearly-eye.

Prairie Coreopsis

Widow Skimmer

Scotch Pine

Red Osier Dogwood

Pale Purple Coneflower

Sensitive Fern

Tamarack

Gray-headed Coneflower

Wild Calla

Swamp Birch