Re: Today's Birding 03/13/03 Dade/Monroe/Collier

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: Very interesting report. It's nice to know there are still some Scarlet Snakes around. A neighbor caught one and I talked him into letting it loose in my garden in Kendall about 10 years ago, but I haven't seen it (or another) since. : : All: : : Today, 03/13/03, Art & Anne Wilson, Georgia Nef and I birded some locales in Collier County and also Loop Road (Monroe & Dade Counties) and Shark Valley (Dade Co.) mostly as a scouting run for this Sunday's Naples Bird Club's "Century Run". We had some excellent birds. : : First, the male breeding plumaged Dickcissel was at it's "usual" spot in the Water Oak at Tony's Off Third restaurant at the intersection of Third St. South and 13th Avenue South in Naples. Mornings seem to be best for seeing this bird. Please see previous reports for more details. : : The Eurasian Wigeon that have been at Eagle Lakes Community Park also in Naples are probably gone for good as I've not had them there in almost two weeks. : : From Eagle Lakes Community Park, where we only stopped for a few minutes, we ventured down U.S. Rte. 41 to Greenway & Fritchey Rds. After turning onto Greenway from U.S. Rte. 41, about 1/4 mile on the left, you'll see a small lane named Cecil Rd. It is marked. Along this lane in back of the house at 2755 Cecil is a telephone line. On this line we had no less than four Western Kingbirds and a juvenile Scissor-tailed Flycatcher all busily doing their thing i.e. flycatching. That's a lot of Western Kingbirds in one location for Collier County! Further on, at the intersection of Fritchey & Greenway Rds. the small roving flock of Chipping Sparrows, Pine & Palm Warblers, and Eastern Bluebirds was easily located. A few Common Ground-Doves were also in evidence. At the Fritchey Rd. Wetlands, there were a few American White Pelicans and other waders way in the back of the field on the right, where some water still persisted. A subadult Bald Eagle was the only other bird of note here. : : From Fritchey Rd., we ventured east on U.S. Rte 41 seeing several Swallow-tailed Kites along the way. We next stopped at the Kirby Storter Roadside Park. I was shocked to see that some sort of development was being done just to the west of this area along the south side of the highway. The Kirby Storter Roadside Park itself had also undergone some sort of digging or road-building as there was freshly made swathes through the area. Whether or not this means that it will be paved remains to be seen. We had few birds at the park which was practically devoid of water. : : Loop Rd. was next on our agenda. It was nice to see that this road was no longer the "Road From Hell" that I remember from my last excursion there. Sweetwater Slough (Monroe County) had the most water and thus the most birds. Waders were plentiful with all of the "usual" birds being present. Tufted Titmouse, many Northern Parula, Great Crested Flycatcher, White-eyed Vireo, Northern Cardinal, Carolina Wren and a hanger-on Blue-gray Gnatcatcher graced us with their calls. A film crew from Boston filming a PBS special was also present but hardly flinched when we showed them a Cottonmouth on the side of the road. : : We also found a banded juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron at Sweetwater Slough. It had a copper-colored band on its left leg. Anyone know who might have banded this bird? : : In the heat of the day, the Pinecrest area (Loop Road Environmental Education Center) held few different birds except a nice Yellow-throated Warbler, several Pine Warblers in the Pond Cypress and a pair of Downy Woodpeckers along the Tree Snail Hammock Nature Trail. (Yes, we did see some Liguus Snails here as well as another Cottonmouth.) : : From Loop Road, we went to Shark Valley and ate our lunch. Shark Valley was a bust with very few birds in evidence along the canal-tram road. We didn't even see any Purple Gallinules. Common Yellowthroat and another Black-crowned Night-heron were our best birds. There were scads of alligators (many young) sunning themselves along the canals. Hordes (we're talking Biblical proportions) of Lubber Grasshopper nymphs covered parts of the paved tram-road, many being casualties of pedestrians and the tram. It couldn't be helped as there were so many! : : After Loop Road, we stopped at the abandoned airboat place across from the Everglades Tower Inn where we easily saw at least five Snail Kites plying the glades on the north side of U.S. Rte. 41. : : For our last stops of the day, we ventured up Turner River Road to Wagonwheel Road and back down Birdon Road to U.S. Rte. 41. Our best birds in this area were a nearly white (OK the palest pink) Roseate Spoonbill; two Least Bitterns (along Wagonwheel); a Wilson's Snipe and several Greater Yellowlegs (also along Wagonwheel); several Eastern Bluebirds (Turner River) and a Northern Flicker and a Barn Owl (Birdon). We saw and photographed the biggest Cottonmouth I've ever seen as it sunned itself on Wagonwheel Rd. We found a beautiful but freshly dead (no outward physical contusions etc.) Scarlet Snake on Birdon Rd. It was my first ever for Florida. : : We called it quits as the sun was setting in the west along Alligator Alley from S.R. 29 as we made our way back to Naples. We only had 69 species on the day, but there were some pretty uncommon birds seen well by all! : : Good birding! : : Vincent Lucas : : Naples

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