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Posted by Trey Mitchell on 00:45:49 05/29/07
Toe and I headed west this morning at 4am to catch Red-cockaded Woodpeckers at Babcock Webb and to get better looks at Bachman's Sparrow than we had earlier in the year at Three Lakes WMA.
We found one really cooperative Bachman's Sparrow singing before we saw or heard a RCW. We couldn't have asked for better looks. We proceeded to locate RCW without any luck at the marked area in Babcock Webb. We walked all over the area chasing woodpeckers. We saw Flicker, Downy and Red-bellied. We also had about a dozen Brown-headed Nuthatch in the area making squeaking noises that made me at least walk several extra miles thinking maybe a RCW was in the next patch of trees. Anyway I was able to photograph a few of the nuthatches in the process.
Eventually we heard what sounded like someone squeezing a rubber squeaking toy. It was within 30 feet of us, but we couldn't find it until it flew to the next set of trees. We follow it there and got great looks at the RCW and passed its nest and heard several young RCW calling from there.
We looked for a little while longer for a Hairy Woodpecker without any luck.
We/I decided to try and find a beach or shoreline with shorebirds somewhere south of Ft. Myers and Tamiami Trail. We wasted four and a half hours trying to find a beach. The traffic was horrible and the islands along the Gulf Coast were all lined with condos and homes with sea-walls. It was very disappointing. Now I know why TAS doesn't go to Ding Darling or Sanibel Island...
Anyway all we found was one small beach with some nesting Least Terns at Bonita Beach south end.
We looked along Tamiami Trail for Snail Kite for Toe with out any luck.
Overall, just about all of the time on the road after 9:30 at Babcock Webb was a bust, but I was happy to get Crippling looks at a Bachman's Sparrow singing and great views of RCW near it's nest.
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