Estero Bay Preserve State Park in Southwest Florida

Estero River

Tuesday, December 29th, visited Estero Bay Preserve off Broadway in Estero. This tract, known as Estero Scrub River access was added in 2000 to the preserve, when the state purchased this land to forestall a developers plan to convert it into housing. This land is a much needed buffer to try and protect the water quality of Estero Bay. The trails here generally traverse upland pine, scrub oak, salt marsh, salt flats and mangroves. It is also a mitigation area for the relocation of gopher tortoises needing a new home, because of land development. The exotics are also being removed and the transformed back to natural, native Florida. Recently control burns have been used as well, as part of the land management.
Frankly, as side of the many gopher tortoises, bird life is not very abundant. There are usually kettles of vultures with hawks and eagles at times, and in the summer we have Swallow-tailed Kites. There are also many snags so that pileated, downy and red-bellied woodpeckers are present. Watch also for pineland species like doves, eastern towhees, house wrens, blue jays eastern bluebirds and bobwhites. The scrub is also home to the rare and endangered Florida Scrub Jay. The target specialties here are the Florida Scrub Jay, Northern Bobwhites Swallow-tailed Kites and a local Bald eagles’ nest.
Today I spent two hours hiking in the afternoon and found it very quit. But I was after the scrub jay, bobwhites, the eagles’ nest and I also needed to locate an Eastern Towhee. Found some of the trail to be very wet and muddy, but there were no mosquitoes. By February conditions should be even better as the trails dry out.
On my first hike her on February 14, 2008 I was lucky to locate two Scrub Jays and I have never found one since. No bobwhites today either. As for the eagles’ nest, I found the nest tree destroyed by fire. Hopefully they will rebuild nearby. Did find the towhee and had my best bird when a merlin flew and land in a nearby tree. My trip list includes -

Bald Eagles nest tree

The Orange Trail
Salt Flats

Gopher Tortoise

Bronzed Cowbirds in Clewiston

Wanted to do some birding today and the reports of tundra swans in St Johns County, a common eider at Flagler Beach, a masked duck at Veira Wetlands and a La Sagra's Flycatcher in the Everglades National Park were very tempting as Florida Rarities. But the logistics were too difficult as I had some things to attend to in the morning. So I recalled a posting on BirdBrains about Bronzed Cowbirds in Clewiston.

Before heading to Clewiston I had to make a stop up by Lake Placid and did stop a couple of places along the way to bird, including Alva. Here I checked out a dependable location for Red-Headed Woodpecker, which are not common in this area. Next, a few blocks away, the White family of Alva maintances several bird feeders in their front yard, were Painted Buntings, Indigo Buntings, American Goldfinches are often found as well as White-Winged Doves. My Alva list includes - Sandhill Crane, Red-headed Woodpecker, American Crow, Northern Cardinal, Indigo Bunting, Painted Bunting, Eastern Meadowlark, American Goldfinch.After leaving Lake Placid was able to arrive in Clewiston at 2:45pm. I was following these instructions from Ed Kwater as he posted to BirdBrains on November 15th.

This afternoon at around 1.00 pm I found two Bronzed Cowbirds along the Lake Okeechobee levee in Clewiston. They were with two Brown-headed cowbirds. To get to the spot take route 80/27 from South Bay into Clewiston and turn right (north) on Francisco Street. After a couple of blocks turn left onto Hoover Dike and follow this round past a small marina and up onto the levee. The birds were in a line of small oaks at the base of the levee on the bank of the canal below the levee. They were still there when I left at 2.30 pm. They were not very active but were very tame and were calling repeatedly.

Ed Kwater
Brandon, FL

I drove directly to the levee and park next a tree were at least two Bronzed Cowbirds were setting with several Brown-Headed Cowbirds and a few Boat-Tailed Grackles. The Bronzed Cowbirds were Lifer #275 for me. I plan to return next month to seek them out for my 2010 year list as they will probably move along in the Spring. My Clewiston list includes - Double-crested Cormorant, Anhinga, White Ibis, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Ring-billed Gull, Rock Pigeon, Belted Kingfisher, Fish Crow, Palm Warbler, Common Grackle, Boat-tailed Grackle, Bronzed Cowbird, Brown-headed Cowbird

Common Loons





Piping Plover



December 22nd

Headed down to Bunche Beach early on this chilly morning to see if any mergansers, loons, grebes or white pelicans were to be found today. Found that the tide was very low, which really spreads out the birds. Was able to locate almost all of the expected species, such as Black-bellied, Semipalmated, Wilson's and Piping Plovers

Other species included an Osprey, Brown Pelicans and DC Cormorants. Plus Reddish Egrets, Little Blue Egrets, a Yellow-Crowned Nightheron, White Ibis, Marbled Godwits and Willets. Smaller birds included Least Sandpipers, Sanderlings, Dunlins and Short-billed Dowitchers. The shrubs produced Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers and surprisingly a Common Yellowthroat. There were very gulls - Laughing and a single Ring-billed Gull, and only three Sandwich Terns were seen, There were hundreds of Black Skimmers though. The best sighting were three common loons swimming and diving just off the beach. My attempts at photographing the loons were disappointing as I was not equipped for the situation. I posted the best that I could manage. Hopefully they will hang around and I can find a better picture to post later.

Common Loon off Bunche Beach

Common Goldeneye

Florida rare bird alerts noted the location for a female Common Goldeneye up in Sarasota. After watching the follow-up posting, I elected to twitch after the bird, which would be a lifer for me. The goldeneye was noted to be a companion of a Bufflehead and was to be found at a pond on Fruitville Road two miles east of I-75 in Sarasota. Parking was not permitted on the shoulder of the road, but it would be best to park in the church parking lot across the street. The site is also posted against trespassing, so bird from the sidewalk.

Arrived about 9:00 am and had a little trouble locating the ducks while sorting through the Lesser Scaups and Ring-Necked Ducks present. But when a small number of Hooded Mergansers flew-in the Goldeneye and Bufflehead were found swimming with them.

Afterwards I checked out the nearby Celery Fields hoping to locate Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks. No whistling ducks were present but had lots of American Coots, Moorhens, Blue-Winged Teal and Mottled Ducks. My list for the Celery fields inclded -

Ruddy Duck

Ruddy Duck

Today was able to confirm a sighting of a male Ruddy Duck using a nearby retention lake, which I first noticed yesterday. I don't think that we usually see these ducks in our back yards around here. I am also considering twitching up to Sarasota to follow up on a reported sighting of a female Common Goldeneye, which is diffidently a rarer find. A more distant trip could be to follow up on the sightings of a pair of juvenile Tundra Swans up in St John's County. Ironically I had been considering a trip up to South Carolina to look for Tundra Swans in February.

The Everglades and Lucky Hammock Again - Dec 14th

Made another trip out to Lucky Hammock and the Everglades seeking those special bird species that should be found there in December. Wanted to find Swainson's Hawks, which by this time last year I had several sightings, but don't seem to have found there way to South Florida in 2009. Also have read of several sightings of Shorteared Owls at Lucky Hammock as well as Whipper-poor-Wills, to be seen at or heard at dawn or dusk.
So I gave it a try but missed on all even with arriving at sunrise. Had left home at 4 AM, arriving just before seven. Did see American Kestrel, a Peregrine, several Northern Harriers, a Broad-Wing Hawk and later in the park, a light-morphed Short-tailed Hawk, a Red-tailed Hawk, several Red-Shouldered Hawks and Ospreys, plus an immature Bald Eagle. Another missed species were White-tailed Kites which I looked for both at Lucky hammock and on Research Road in the park.

At Flamingo, the best sighting had to be a hundred American White Pelicans resting out on the mud flats. A large American Crocodile was also at its usual basking site across the canal from the marina.

At Royal Hammock, many dozens of Black Vultures were congregated in the parking lot and along the Anhinga Trail. The trouble in the parking lot was that the vultures were jumping up onto the hoods and roofs of the vehicles there, were they would relieve themselves as well as trying to pull apart any trim they could pull on. My own car was victimized as well.

The birding was not all that good so I left a bit earlier than usual to drive over Florida City to check on the reported Western Kingbirds and Scissor-Tailed Flycatchers. Did locate one of each at the SW 312th Street which was also a reliable location last year.

Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher - December 2008

Then to Cutler Wetlands were avocets and ruddy ducks are reported. Found it rather birdy, but the light and distance made identifying most of the ducks difficult to manage. So I moved on to Kendell.

The traffic was heavy in Kendell as I was arriving in mid-afternoon to look for exotics. At Kendell Baptist Hospital campus was lucky to find a flock of about 30 Mitred Parakeets wheeling about the campus. They would all land in the canopy of a large tree were they virtually disappeared. They blended right into the foliage, but there vocalizations gave them away. After there brief visit they took off away from the hospital. So it was time to head for home. Had considered checking the neighborhood across the street from the hospital for red-whiskered Bulbuls, but fatigue and the heavy traffic dissuaded me from further ventures. Yet I was rewarded in my way out of town with several sightings of Monk Parakeets along Kendell Drive. Was able to get a few pictures of a flock of Monks competing with grackles and mourning doves feeding below a palm tree in a Home Depot parking lot.

Monk Parakeets in Kendell parking lot

Soft Shell Turtle found along the road in The Everglades Park

Florida Gar found along the Anhinga Trail

Young Pied-Billed Grebes

A scene from Mohogany Hammock

American Alligator

Female Anhinga on her nest along the Anhinga Trail



Black Vultures trying to make a meal out of a car



Double-Crested Cormorants

Ft DeSoto and Great Horned Owl

December 1, 2009 - Hit the road about mid-day to travel up to Ft DeSoto Park which is located in Tampa Bay. My goals were for the day were tempered by recent BRDBRAINS posting of a great horned owl, scissor-tailed flycatchers and cedar waxwings, plus any possible relocates of the long-billed curlew, snowy plovers, lesser black-backed gulls or caspian terns. I also was interested in locating any common loons or grebes. See this connect to BRDBRAINS message with an attached photo of the Great Horned Owl at north beach http://listserv.admin.usf.edu/listserv/wa.exe?A2=ind0911&L=brdbrain&T=0&F=&S=&P=146537

Arrived after two plus hours and started by checking out the tierra verde pond where I had Pied-Billed Grebes, lots of FOS Redheads, Ring-Necked Ducks and Lesser Scaups. Also lots of cormorants, various waders and a very active osprey looking for lunch.

Went to East Beach first which did not have any great numbers of shore birds but there was a good variety though. Could see a number of diving birds off-shore. Could make out a loon and some cormorants, but other birds were uncertain. A scope is a must.

Next to the dock to see if I could get any better views of diving birds. Sighted the Broad-Winged Hawk on the wire near to were postings had already mentioned past sightings. The dock was loaded with fisherman and the usual birds like Brown Pelicans, Snowy Egrets, and Cormorants found near to fishing piers. But the diving birds were not around. Last January we had a couple off Common Loons right by the dock, but the windy, chilly weather that had keep the dock clear of fisherman that day.

Royal Tern

Spent about an hour looking for the Great Horned Owl at north beach. Had heard a faint hoot but could not locate the bird. Till I met a nice lady at the parking lot as I was giving up and moving on to my next stop. She inquired if I was looking for the owl and I shared how my frustrated search was a bust on the owl, but did yield five warblers. So within five minutes of exiting her car and with the aid of a walker had successfully located the bird. It was all a matter of correctly following the post directions to its roost. Many thanks to her.

Before leaving I double checked the east beach again and found the viewing of the diving birds off-shore Had improved. Several cormorants were obvious, as was a loon, but the duck shaped diving birds needed to be deciphered. They were dark above and a clearly white bottom was definitive. My chooses were between horned grebe and buffleheads. At first I elected for buffleheads, but later concluded that they had to be horne grebes. The use of a scope would have probably solved the dilemma.

My List (62) - Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Horned Grebe, Common Loon, Pied-billed Grebe, Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Anhinga, Magnificent Frigatebird, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Tricolored Heron, Reddish Egret, Cattle Egret, White Ibis, Wood Stork, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Broad-winged Hawk, American Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon, Black-bellied Plover, Wilson's Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, American Oystercatcher, Willet, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Western Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, Laughing Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Common Tern, Forster's Tern, Royal Tern, Sandwich Tern, Black Skimmer, Mourning Dove, Great Horned Owl, Eastern Phoebe, Loggerhead Shrike, Fish Crow, House Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Pine Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Palm Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, Northern Cardinal, Common Grackle, Boat-tailed Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird