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Posted by Vince Lucas on 14:59:56 08/26/07
Yesterday's birding tour was not the best day we've ever had out there in these impoundments in the cane fields south of tarry, but any day birding is a good day, after all, right? For me, the interesting and numerous leps and odes -- Lepidoptera i.e. butterflies & moths and Odonata (dragonflies & damselflies) held my attention when the birding was slow. I'll post those results at the end of this missive. OK, the birding highlights of the tour were: one remaining American Wigeon (injured bird left over from the last hunting season); 6 Ring-necked Ducks (none are hunting casualties and all have been recorded in virtually every month at STA-5; a banded Snail Kite (unable to read the band unfortunately); 3 Yellow Warblers (neotropical migrants); our FOTS Belted Kingfishers; and 5 Least Bitterns among other birds. Here's the complete day list. Birds seen along Blumberg Road are also included.
Fulvous Whistling-Duck
Wood Duck
American Wigeon
Mottled Duck
Ring-necked Duck
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Least Bittern
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
Roseate Spoonbill
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Snail Kite
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Purple Swamphen
Purple Gallinule
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Limpkin
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Mourning Dove
Common Ground-Dove
Common Nighthawk
Belted Kingfisher
Loggerhead Shrike
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Northern Mockingbird
Yellow Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Red-winged Blackbird
Boat-tailed Grackle
On the trip out from Naples, Alan Murray, Roberta & Bill Marten and I saw some nice birds. Beside the "usual" Crested Caracara, Limpkin, Sandhill Crane, waders, etc. we saw several Burrowing Owls along CR 833 in Hendry County in the same field where Alan and I found nearly twenty of them last month. A Spotted Sandpiper on a small farm pond was the only "different" shorebird save for Black-necked Stilt and both yellowlegs. Other critters seen were many feral hogs (with young) and several deer.
On the return trip back to Naples, Alan and I stopped at a flooded ag field near the intersection of CR833/Government Rd. and CR 835 north of the Big Cypress Seminole Reservation. There were many waders, Black-necked Stilts, yellowlegs and some other shorebirds present but most were too far to ID and with the pending thunderstorms, we didn't tarry long. A distant tern had us believing it was a Gull-billed. Not far from this same intersection, we saw 8 or so Limpkins and one Snail Kite in flooded fields/temporary wetlands. A dead bobcat along CR846 was an unfortunate sighting but it's always the case that we see many decimated and flattened animals along these backroads of Collier & Hendry Counties where motorists thing of these roads as their private Nascar circuit. . . .
Finally, thanks foes out to Margaret England and the Hendry-Glades Audubon Chapter for making these tours available to the public. Our bird checklist stands at 149 species and we're anxiously awaiting number 150. I wonder what it will be?
Butterflies seen at STA-5 on 08/25/2007:
Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyenes)
Great Southern White (Ascia monuste)
Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae)
Barred Yellow (Eurema daira)
Sleepy Orange (Eurema nicippe)
Cassius Blue (Leptotes cassius)
Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae)
White Peacock (Anartia jatrophae)
Monarch (Danaus plexippus)
Queen (Danaus gilippus)
Tropical Checkered-Skipper (Pyrgus oileus)
Dragonflies seen at STA-5 on 08/25/2007:
Common Green Darner (Anax junius)
Regal Darner (Coryphaeschna ingens)
Four-spotted Pennant (Brachymesia gravida) -- By far THE most common ode at STA-5
Halloween Pennant (Celithemis eponina)
Scarlet Skimmer (Crocothemis servilia) -- exotic
Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis)
Seaside Dragonlet (Erythrodiplax berenice)
Needham's Skimmer (Libellula needhami)
Roseate Skimmer (Orthemis erruginea)
Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax ongipennis)
Eastern Amberwing (Perithemis tenera)
Carolina Saddlebags (Tramea carolina)
Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata) -- migrant
Dragonfly: Rambur's Forktail (Ischnura ramburii)
I also photographed two grasshoppers: Obscure Birdwing Grasshopper ((Schistocerca obscura) and American Bird Grasshopper (Schistocerca americana). These photos, along with some of the odes, etc. can be found on my Flickr site at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leppyone/
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