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Posted by Vince Lucas on 14:24:14 10/22/07
Sorry for this late posting, but life got in the way. . . . We had 11 folks show up for this past Saturday's STA-5 tour in Hendry County, south of Clewiston. Neil Colgate and his wife from the UK brought their young son and even younger daughter with them. Danielle, the baby, is one year old, making her the youngest person ever to be on one of our STA-5 birding tours! Yeah! I won't bore you with the birds we saw going out the backroads of Collier & Hendry Counties to STA-5 from Naples, just to say that we didn't see anything "unusual". At STA-5 itself, we added yet another new species to our expanding checklist -- a Prairie Warbler. Can you believe it? It was seen along Blumberg Rd. south of CR 835. We also had killer looks at only our second Marsh Wren at STA-5. The first one was reported by Ron Smith & Brian Ahern earlier in the year I believe. We never saw that bird. Anyway, here is the list for STA-5 for October 20, 2007:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 2
Fulvous Whistling-Duck >400
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal (several thousand)
Northern Shoveler
Ring-necked Duck 6
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
American Bittern 4
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron 3
White Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill 5
Wood Stork
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Snail Kite 2
Northern Harrier
Red-shouldered Hawk
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon 3
Sora 4 (all heard only)
Purple Swamphen 4
Purple Gallinule >25 -- The most we've ever encountered at STA-5. Perhaps they're back since the Purple Swamphen eradication program is in effect?
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Limpkin 2
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Least Sandpiper 3
Wilson's Snipe 15
Eurasian Collared-Dove 2 (Not common at STA-5)
Mourning Dove
Common Ground-Dove
Barn Owl 2 (along Blumberg Rd.)
Belted Kingfisher
Eastern Phoebe (FOTS)
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow >75 (They winter here at STA-5)
Barn Swallow 5
Marsh Wren (Second record for STA-5)
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Prairie Warbler (New species for checklist)
Palm Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
On our return back to Naples, we stopped at Canon Hammock Park along CR835. There were many migrants in the Live Oaks in the park. Unfortunately, the lighting was terrible due to the impending showers and all of the birds were quite actively feeding in the tops of the trees. Despite that, thanks to Alan Murray (mostly), we added some nice birds for Hendry County and my Hendry County list:
Magnolia Warbler
possible Tennessee Warbler
possible Black-throated Green Warbler
Palm Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Red-eyed Vireo
Baltimore Oriole
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
We also stopped to photograph an obliging pair of Crested Caracara perched in a tree along Blumberg Rd. Go here to see the photo of the two:
http://caloosabirdclub.org/VPL/CRCA10202007.jpg
Notice anything "different" about these Caracara? There'll be bonus points given to those folks who can correctly name what is not usually seen (at least by me) regarding these particular caracara.
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