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Posted by John Boyd on 22:16:11 10/06/07
Although we left the Doc Thomas House shortly after 6, the real birding started when our group left the Miccosukee service plaza on Alligator Alley. A couple of people were lucky enough to see a Sora right after leaving the plaza. We headed up Government (Snake) Road, finding many of the expected birds. North of the Seminole village, we started finding the speciality birds, including Sandhill Crane, and Limpkin. We also spotted both whistling-ducks at a wet area, as well as several Roseate Spoonbills. The Caracaras didn't show until after we made the turn onto 846, but we ended up with at least 7 of them. An unexpected highlight in the area were several Peregrine Falcons.
Just outside Corkscrew, a few of us spotted some Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks (my 200th species for Collier county). As we headed out the Corkscrew boardwalk, we noticed an impressive display of Narrowleaf Sunflowers (Helianthus augustifolius). Highlights along the boardwalk included nice looks at Pileated Woodpecker and Carolina Wren, a male Canada Warbler seen by a few, and Acadian Flycatcher. Our leader, Brian Rapoza, had to drop out at this point as he was not feeling well. A stop outside Corkscrew allowed the rest of the group to see the Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks. A Mangrove Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger avicennia) ran along next to them, interacting with both them and some Sandhill Cranes.
Most of us continued on to Tigertail. We had barely gotten to the beach when a Reddish Egret flew over. We also found several raptors, including Peregrine, Short-tailed Hawk, and Harrier. This time we headed around the south end of the lagoon instead of wading across. We still did not find any Snowy Plovers, although we had close looks at Piping and Wilson's Plovers. Five Red Knots also allowed close inspection. A Cooper's Hawk darted out of the vegetation as we circled the end of the lagoon. The outer beach added Sandwich Tern and Willet, together with an impressive flight of Frigatebirds (perhaps 150).
Those of us returning to Doc Thomas stopped at Kirby Storter, finding Prairie Warbler and Flicker.
My count had us at 89 species for the day.
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