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Posted by Vince Lucas on 22:07:12 02/09/08
In Reply to: In Search Of Smith's Longspurs!!!! posted by Vince Lucas
Somehow my post got truncated. Here's how it should read:
Following up on a report from some birders that they had seen one or possibly two Smith's Longspurs(!!!) at the Spirit Of The Wild Wildlife Management Area in Hendry County yesterday, Alan Murray and I left Naples this morning at 7:00AM to try to relocate the birds. Fog was incredibly thick and lasted to about 10:00AM before finally burning off. I'll cut to the chase. . . . we didn't find any birds remotely resembling Smith's Longspurs but hey, we gave it our best shot. We did see some nice birds out at Spirit Of The Wild Wildlife Management Area & nearby Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest as well as Dinner Island Ranch Wildlife Management Area (all in Hendry County) including Painted Bunting, Grasshopper Sparrow, Peregrine Falcon, Sandhill Crane, Crested Caracara, Eastern Towhee, Eastern Meadowlark, Pine Warbler, etc. but THE best bird we saw today were five House Finches coming to a friend's feeders in Immokalee. HOFIs are very uncommon in Collier County and this was only the second time either Alan or I have seen any in Collier in all the years we have been birding this county. The same feeders hosted 25 or so Indigo Buntings in all molts, several Painted Buntings, American Goldfinch and White-winged Doves plus a few others.
Anyway, if anyone wants to try for the purported mysterious longspur(s), here's the directions:
Out of LaBelle, take SR29 south to CR832. Take CR832 east and watch for the first Spirit Of the Wild WMA sign on the north side of the road. Take the dirt road going north by the sign for approximately 1.8 miles and look for some good sized pine limbs up against a barbed wire fence on your right. This is the spot where the Smith's Longspur was reported. It is a short grass field on the other side of the barbed wire fence.
Good luck :-)
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