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Posted by Vince Lucas on 16:38:15 04/05/06
Today, 04/05/06, I had the pleasure of guiding visiting British birder Neil Colgate to a few places in "parched" Collier County. The Greenway/Fritchey Road area had little of interest. Moving along down US Rte. 41 between the Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk, before its intersection with S.R. 29 yielded some nice waders, shorebirds, etc. in the remaining freshwater "sky pools" on the south side of the highway. We saw about 10 or so Roseate Spoonbills, one of which was banded. It appeared to have a shiny metal (or yellow) band on the upper left leg and another similar one on the lower right leg. Brennan Mulrooney, if you're reading this, was this bird banded in the Keys? Anyone know for sure?
Other birds seen in the area of these freshwater pools were both yellowlegs, Black-necked Stilt, Glossy & White Ibis, Great & Snowy Egret, Little Blue, Great Blue & Tricolored Heron, American White Pelican, Mottled Duck, Belted Kingfisher and Northern Harrier among others.
Our next stop was the Kirby Storter Boardwalk. The "usual" pair of Eastern Bluebirds was most accommodating right at the beginning of the boardwalk near the parking area. A pair of Eastern Meadowlarks as well as singing Great Crested Flycatchers and one or two Red-bellied Woodpeckers were also present. The boardwalk itself was fairly quiet except for singing Northern Parula, Carolina Wren, Tufted Titmouse, Northern Cardinal, Prairie Warbler, Common Yellowthroat and several Palm Warblers.
Turning south onto Loop Road near Monroe Station about 1-2 miles from US Rte. 41 (still Collier County) we hit the jackpot flushing a nice Barred Owl that posed for crippling looks and great photo ops for Neil and several other carloads of sightseers who stopped to see what we were seeing. But the best birds were yet to come. Nearby, we found a nice assortment of warblers & other passerines which included one Magnolia Warbler, three or so Black-throated Green Warblers, one American Redstart (male), two Black-and-White Warblers, Northern Parula, several White-eyed Vireos, one Blue-headed Vireo and a (heard only) Red-eyed Vireo as well as the usual Gray Catbird, etc. The waders were not as plentiful as I would have expected them to be at Sweetwater Strand, probably due to the drought conditions or perhaps the heat of the day. We did see a Green Heron, a flyby night-heron (not identifiable to species) plus Great & Snowy Egret, White Ibis, Tricolored, Great Blue & Little Blue Heron and the usual assortment of birds. A constantly drumming Pileated Woodpecker was never seen. However THE best bird at Sweetwater Strand was a brief view (by me) of a male Prothonotary Warbler. Try as we might, we could not find this bird for Neil although the bird sang incessantly somewhere from within the swamp.
Nothing else of note was seen on the remaining portions of Loop Road. A brief stop at the old abandoned airboat place near the Everglades Tower Inn yielded one Snail Kite plying the glades on the north side of US Rte. 41.
A big miss today was not seeing any Swallow-tailed Kites. However, any day I see 9-10 species of warblers and a banded Roseate Spoonbill in South Florida is a good day in my book. Neil would agree, I'm sure. . . .
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