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Posted by Vince Lucas on 17:02:43 03/31/06
Today, my friends from Cleveland, OH, Jim Heflich & his wife Dr. Patty Kellner and I birded Tigertail Beach and a made a few other brief stops on Marco Island (Collier County). First, let me preface this by saying that the parking fee at Tigertail Beach for non-residents has doubled from what it was a month or so ago I believe. It now costs $6 to park for those individuals who are not residents of Collier County and who have a beach parking permit (free from Collier County). So be warned.
Anyway, we had yet another successful outing at Tigertail Beach. I doubt that there is a better place in the entire state where one can get so close to a wide variety of shorebirds than at Tigertail. A scope is helpful but most of the time it isn't even needed seeing that the birds are that close. Naturally, we had all five plovers (a sixth -- Killdeer -- was seen later at Mackle Park) on the fringes of Sand Dollar Island. Semipalmated Plovers were most abundant, followed by Wilson's, Black-bellied, Snowy and Piping, in that order. We saw four Red Knots, one of which was banded (green over yellow on left leg & just green on right leg). Brian Harrington was notified about this bird and here is what he had to say:
"Hello Vincent ... your sighting and comments were pretty interesting to
me. The color-banded bird you saw was probably marked in Delaware Bay
sometime before 2003, but because it has lost some color bands I do not
think the specific location will be retrievable."
Other shorebirds present were many Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher, Least & Western Sandpipers, Sanderling, and Ruddy Turnstone. No expected Willets were seen.
We saw up to 8-10 Least Terns which must have just returned to Tigertail Beach. Some were already courting females with fish. Normally, this locale is where I see my first returning LETEs for the year but an inland record in Naples on the last day of winter 10 days ago was my earliest by as many days.
Other sightings:
Common Loon -- one non-breeding plumaged individual within 50 feet of the beach. This bird may have been suffering from some sort of ailment as it constantly opened and closed its mouth as if trying to breath more readily.
Northern Gannet -- one juvenile on the Gulf
Caspian Tern -- one individual
Distant Black Skimmers and all the expected waders, etc. including Reddish Egret.
We saw a very cooperative Burrowing Owl at the intersection of Hernando Dr. & Kendall despite the fact that folks went right up to the ribboned-off perimiter of the burrow. One woman was even walking her Bichon Frise and got that close.
A five-minute stop at Mackle Park found a Magnificent Frigatebird "skimming" for a drink as about 25 Northern Shovelers and a half-dozen or so Blue-winged Teal fled in terror as the giant "pterodactyl" descended from the sky!
Try as we might, we could not locate any early-returning Gray Kingbirds for Jim & Patty despite checking all of the areas I normally find them on Marco (including Caxambas Park) a little later on in spring. This is a much desired lifer for the two of them. Sorry Jim & Patty!
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