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Posted by Vince Lucas on 16:49:08 10/25/07
This morning visiting Kent, UK birders Noel & Mandy Colgate along with their six year old son Matthew and one year old daughter Danielle and I birded the Kirby Storter Boardwalk as well as the entire Loop Road in the Big Cypress National Preserve. Despite the morning drizzle, we managed to find a few lifers for the parents. The kids aren't birders (yet). Both of these locales are off of US Rte 41 aka Tamiami Trail and are in (mostly) Collier County although the Loop Road goes through Collier, Monroe & Miami-Dade Counties. At Kirby Storter Boardwalk there wasn't much to see in the rain except the usual American Redstart, Black-and-White Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, many Palm Warblers and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers as well as calling Pileated woodpecker and Tufted Titmouse (heard only). Red-shouldered Hawks and Black Vultures were ubiquitous. Next we ventured on to Loop Road and almost immediately upon entering it from the Collier County side, we found a Cabbage Palm in fruit/berries which held a pair of Summer Tanagers, another Black-and-White Warbler, a Yellow-throated Warbler and nearby more Common Yellowthroats, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Gray Catbirds, Northern Cardinals, etc. etc. A little further down Loop Road, still in Collier County, we found an early Chipping Sparrow among the many Indigo Buntings along the weedy edges of Loop Road. Surely that was one of the earliest records for Chipping Sparrows in Collier County. At least it's MY earliest record for it. We tried making it into a Clay-colored Sparrow but no go. Did I mention there were a lot of Indigo Buntings along the northern end of Loop Road in Collier County? Other sightings along Loop Road: at Sweetwater Strand (Monroe County) we heard a Barred Owl and saw the "usual" waders, etc. but nothing out of the ordinary. There really weren't any more notable species of birds seen on the rest of Loop Road but it was fun showing the Colgate family such critters as Palamedes Swallowtail & Ruddy Daggerwing (butterflies) as well as a White-tailed Deer (Kirby Storter), Liguus Tree Snails (Pineland), alligators and many Florida Gar along portions of Loop Road. A final stop at the old abandoned airboat concession stand on the Miccosukee Indian Reservation didn't produce any Snail Kites. Methinks the water levels are too high. . . .
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