The Lull Before The Storm

Friday September 8th

Hurricane Irma is bearing down on Florida. This is totally up-ending life in

Foster's Tern

paradise. Runs on gas and hurricane supplies. Even saw a long line of cars for folks trying to drop their pets off for boarding. Businesses are closed, storm shutters and plywood are decorating homes everywhere and residents are heading north out of the state by the thousands.  So with all of this action going on, I went birding.

Spent two hours at Bunche Beach.  Tried Six-mile Cypress Slough Preserve first but it was closed.

Black-bellied Plover

The beach was empty of people, just a few strollers. Ran into Meg Rousher though. The tide was low, the water was calm and lots of birds were present. Started with a FOS Peregrine Falcon flying by. Lots of wading birds - Reddish Egrets, Roseate Spoonbills, Yellow-crowned Night-herons, White Ibis, Snowy and Greater Egrets, Tri-colored, little Blue and Great Blue Herons. Add to this Least, Forster's, Caspian and Sandwich Terns, Brown Pelicans, Cormorants, Laughing Gulls, Mottled Ducks, a Belted Kingbird, Piping, Semipalmated Wilson's and Black-bellied Plovers, Western, Spotted and Least Sandpipers, Willets, Short-billed Dowitchers Marbled Godwits and Sanderlings.

What will happen to them?

Gallery

A Banded Piping Plover

Least Sandpiper

Western Sandpiper

A Young Least Tern

This pair of Black-bellied Plover were inseparable

Reddish Egret

Carlos Point

Tuesday September 2nd

Reddish Egret

While Hurricane Harvey was tearing up Texas, we had our own rain soaking event. Much of the low lying areas in Cape Coral and Island Park have been flooded for days. The flooding has shut down access to Six-mile Cypress Slough, which is are local hot spot to encounter fall migrants. Other local sights to watch is include Rotary Park in cape Coral and Kiwanis Park in Port Charlotte

One effect of recent storm action

Was able to access the beach though and I chose to visit Carlos Point on Ft Myers Beach which did offer some good birding.  Didn't see any of the Least Terns and Black Skimmers that had been using Carlos Point as a nesting colony.  But did encounter lots of American Oystercatchers, a Whimbrel, Marbled Godwits, Willets, Black Bellied Plovers, Wilson's Plovers, Semipalmated Plovers, Sanderlings, Snowy Plovers  and Western Sandpipers

Gallery

Fosters Tern

Black Bellied Plover

American Oystercatcher

Whimbrel

A Spider Crab washed up on the beach.

Note the fly checking it out

Snowy Plover

Royal Tern

Sanderlings

Marbled Godwit

Whimbrel and a Sanderling

Back to the Ag Fields

Lesser Yellowlegs and Black Tern

Friday August 17th

Least Sandpiper

Returned yesterday to the Everglades Ag Fields. Again the most productive flooded area was at Browns Farm Road. Present here were several Black Terns, lots of Black-necked Stilts, Pectoral Sandpipers, American Avocets, Western, Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers, Plus Lesser Yellowlegs, Roseate Spoonbills, lots of Wood Storks and a FOS Belted Kingfisher.

Black-necked Stilt

The nearby Six Bend Sod Farm was much more active than on my last visit. Lots of Pectoral Sandpipers and Killdeer, plus far to the back of the property were a pair of Upland Sandpipers.  Couldn't of spotted them without a scoop.

Dipped on any whistling ducks or gull-billed terns, but get fifty-eight species for the day -

Wood Stork

Mottled Duck, Wood Stork, Anhinga, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret , Snowy egret, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Cattle Egret, Green Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Limpkin, Roseate Spoonbill, Black Vulture, Snail Kite, Osprey, Red-shouldered Hawk, Crested Caracara, Common gallinule, Black-necked Stilt, Sandhill Crane, American Avocet, Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, Upland Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Laughing Gull, Black Tern, Gray kingbird, Fish Crow, Rock Pigeon, Common Ground-Dove, Mourning Dove, Eurasian collared Dove, Great Horned Owl, Common Nighthawk, Belted Kingfisher, Northern Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Purple Martin, Bank Swallow, Barn Swallow, Northern Mockingbird, Common Myna, Eastern Meadowlark, Red-winged Blackbird, Boat-tailed Grackle,  Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird and House Sparrow

Black-necked Stilt

Juvy Black-necked Stilt

Bank Swallow

Barn Swallow

Counted twenty-two Black Terns resting here

Black Tern

Distant look at a pair of American Avocets

Black-necked Stilt

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Common Nighthawk seen at the Ag Fields

Gray Kingbird found in Belle Glade

A poor photo of a Common Myna

seen at shopping center in Belle Glade.

Pectoral Sandpiper

Lots of Pectorals

Sunday August 13th

Pectoral Sandpiper

Lesser Yellowlegs

Don't have to to travel very far to look for migrating shorebirds.  Still need to head over to the Ag Fields again and soon, for Upland Sandpipers or even the mega rare Ruff currently being seen. But in a nearby wet field, located along Treeline Avenue and adjacent to the Terminal Access Drive, we've had a large number of foraging Pectoral Sandpipers. Stilt Sandpipers, Solitary Sandpipers, Lesser Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Plovers, Western and Least Sandpipers have also been present.

A scope can be very useful here.

Parking at this location can be a problem, as there are few spots to safely pull over. Avoid using the median as the property is adjacent to the Ft Myers International Airport it is closely monitored by the Port Authority Police. You will be ticketed.

A Lesser Yellowlegs

Semipalmated Plover

Western Sandpiper

Solitary Sandpiper

Stilt Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Piping Plovers Have Returned

Friday August 4th

Piping Plover

Yesterday I headed out to Bunche Beach on a low tide to look for Piping Plovers. They should be returning here from there breeding grounds in the Mid-West. The plovers who winter in our area have been tracked from nesting areas around Lake Michigan and from along the Missouri River, leaving here in May and returning in early August.

Not a great many shore birds were present on the mud flats, but a nice variety. Did find my FOS Piping Plovers. 

Other Birds of the Day

Red Knot

Snowy Plover

Western Sandpiper

Wilson's Plover

Short-billed Dowitcher

Spotted Sandpiper