[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TAS BirdBoard ] [ FAQ ]
Posted by Vince Lucas on 22:21:42 03/04/06
Today I had the pleasure of leading 10 or so Collier County Audubon Society members as well as some other friends to STA-5 and other portions of Hendry & Collier Counties. It was another great day of birding. Is there ever a bad one? Lol.
On the way to STA-5 from Naples, via CR846, CR833 & CR835, we saw 6-7 Wild Turkeys (Immokalee Ranch), as many as a dozen Crested Caracaras, 4-5 Limpkins, 4 Sandhill Cranes, FOTS Swallow-tailed Kite (3), 2 Snail-Kites, 50+ American White Pelicans (3/4 of these at a cow pond on CR846 before the town of Immokalee), 6+ Northern Harriers, plus all of the "usual" birds normally seen along these routes including both Black-crowned & Yellow-crowned Night-Herons (L-1 Canal), Northern Rough-winged & Tree Swallows, Eastern Phoebes, Eastern Meadowlarks, American Kestrels, etc.
Turning south onto Blumberg Rd. from CR835, we didn't encounter anything of note until were about .5 miles from STA-5. There we found a huge flock of blackbirds near an active canefield burn. There were undoubtedly over 10,000 blackbirds in this flock which consisted of mostly Red-winged Blackbirds and Boat-tailed Grackles. They were all foraging on the ground of an active burnt canefield. There were a small number of gulls also present including 1-2 Ring-billed Gulls, 3-4 Herring Gulls and one gull that, to the best of all of our abilities, was a Lesser Black-backed Gull! The size of this gull, which was resting on the ground with the other gulls in this burnt canefield, was bigger than the Ring-billed Gulls and about the size of the Herring Gulls, perhaps a little smaller, but the mantle was much darker. There was a dark line of streaking near the eye which, to me, had a yellow iris. Others thought it to be "whitish" or "clear". The bill was not the bill of a Ring-billed nor a Herring Gull. Unfortunately, because the gull was sitting on the ground, we could not see the bird's legs. In Stevenson & Anderson's __ The Birdlife of Florida__, there is precedent for at least one previous Lesser Black-backed Gull inland in this area. On page 282, H. Langridge & G. Hunter [saw one] "in a plowed field near Belle Glade 9 Nov 1991." We're pretty sure that this Gull that we saw was also a Lesser Black-backed Gull -- the first one I've ever seen in inland Florida.
At STA-5, the water levels were higher than I've ever seen them and as a result, the numbers were down from previous visits but we still saw some great birds. Highlights included:
Fulvous Whistling-Duck -- 100+
Black-bellied Whistling Duck -- 15+
Northern Pintail -- 50+
Northern Shoveler -- 50+
Ring-necked Duck -- 30+
Mottled Duck -- 6+
Lesser Scaup -- 10+
Blue-winged Teal -- 200+
American White Pelican -- 75+
Purple Swamphen -- 25+
Purple Gallinule -- 2
Black Skimmer -- 150+ (distant flock)
Northern Rough-winged Swallow -- XX
Others present (not our group) reported seeing:
Roseate Spoonbill
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
American Bittern
Barn Swallow
Limpkin
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Back out on Blumberg Rd., after exiting the gate to STA-5 on the way back to CR835, our group saw a few Indigo Buntings, House Wren, Gray Catbird, Red-tailed Hawk (2) and several other more "common" birds.
A brief stop at Canon Hammock Park on CR835, on the way back home, produced a group of crazed paintball enthusiasts having a "war" and splattering the once-magnificent Live Oaks that Hurricane Wilma or Katrina didn't damage, with pink/red paint! Such a waste. This is/was a beautiful park. The only birds seen at the park were Great Crested Flycatcher, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Eastern Phoebe & White-eyed Vireo (heard). The Green Tree Frogs hugging the wet walls in the shower in the Mens Room at the park were nice to see, however.
After leaving Canon Hammock Park, we retraced our route (CR833 to CR846) back to the Hendry/Collier County line where we then headed south on CR858 toward the Hendry County Correctional Facility. We located three Scissor-tailed Flycatchers along this route with one of these birds having only one tail. Does this make it a "Half" Scissor-tailed Kite? Bruce Anderson?? Also present was one Western Kingbird but the Vermilion Flycatcher that has wintered in the same area, was again, a no-show. A pair of Sandhill Cranes sounded-off in the nearby ranchland.
Making the right-turn onto the east-west leg of CR858, we stopped at several locations along this road within a mile or so of the correctional facility. In the wetland on the north side of this road, we had at least 6 Roseate Spoonbills and as many Northern Pintails, Northern Shovelers, Mottled Ducks, Glossy Ibis, one American White Pelican, plus the "usual" waders, etc. Across CR858 on the south side of this road we found an obliging Swamp Sparrow and a Carolina Wren belting-out an atypical call! Strange. But the best bird was found by eagle-eyed Alan Murray -- a Baltimore Oriole. Nice! Further down at the second bridge over this leg of CR858, we found 3-4 more Roseate Spoonbills, both yellowlegs, and the other "expected" birds in this type of wetland habitat.
The group then made a final stop at a location Alan had been seeing a Solitary Sandpiper all winter long, but alas, it wasn't home today. After leaving the others, Alan and I took Camp Keais Rd. near the "new-to-be" town of Ave Maria and headed north to CR846 (Immokalee Rd.) Alan and I made a brief stop near the intersection of 40th Street NE & 68th Avenue NE -- east of Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary -- where we found two Burrowing Owls. Returning back to CR846, we had yet another Crested Caracara -- the closest I've ever seen one to the developmental "sprawl" near Naples.
Our last birds of the day were about a dozen or so Purple Martins at The University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) -- near the Collier County Fairgrounds -- but none were seen at the many different martin houses/condos behind IFAS.
I didn't tally the number of species seen on the day, but I would expect it to be well over 80-90. . . .
All-in-all, it was a terrific day of birding for all of us. . . .
[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TAS BirdBoard ] [ FAQ ]