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Posted by Vince Lucas on 21:21:15 02/17/08
All:
We were delighted to host 25 or so individuals along with members of the Tampa Audubon Society today, February 17, 2007 out at STA-5 in Hendry County, south of Clewiston. Dave Goodwin lent his many years of expertise to our own birding skills and came up with yet another new addition to the STA-5 checklist -- a Swainson's Hawk, and a dark morph at that! Technically, the bird was seen in Palm Beach County (Rottenberger W.M.A.) but a few lucky birders (I was not one of them) saw it from the eastern border of the cell that abuts the canal marking the Hendry/Palm Beach County line. But who's quibbling! We're counting it for STA-5! Way to go Dave and the other lucky birder.
Here are our totals for STA-5 for Sunday, February 17, 2008:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 12
Fulvous Whistling-Duck > 100
American Wigeon
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail 8
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Lesser Scaup 4
Red-breasted Merganser 1 (only the second time recorded at STA-5)
Ruddy Duck 3
Pied-billed Grebe
American White Pelican >150
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
American Bittern 1
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron 8
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill >300
Wood Stork
Turkey Vulture
Greater Flamingo
Snail Kite 1
Bald Eagle 2
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk 7 (including a "near" dark morph seen at STA-5 proper and a "krider's" light morph seen on Blumberg Road)
Crested Carcara 4
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon 2
Purple Swamphen 12
Common Moorhen
American Coot >25000
Limpkin 1 (heard only)
Black-bellied Plover 5
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt 6
American Avocet 12
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin 3
Stilt Sandpiper 4
Long-billed Dowitcher >3000 (the highest number ever seen at STA-5; includes over 1000 birds seen in flooded ag field on Blumberg Rd.)
Ring-billed Gull 1
Gull-billed Tern 1
Caspian Tern 15
Black Skimmer >400
Mourning Dove
Common Ground-Dove
Barn Owl 1
Belted Kingfisher
Eastern Phoebe 1
Loggerhead Shrike 2
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow >50
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
American Robin 1
Gray Catbird 1
Northern Mockingbird
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Palm Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Eastern Towhee 1
Savannah Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow 1
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
A few additions from yesterday's day list: add one Hooded Merganser (female) seen by the Bill & Elanor Marr along with 1 black vulture, 1 American Bittern & 3 Eastern Meadowlarks.
On our trip out to STA-5 from Naples, we saw the same birds we normally see along the Collier & Hendry County back roads with the addition of a male turkey strutting its stuff out in a pasture along CR846 in Collier County.. We didn't see any of the objects of this tom's affections so why it was doing this behavior is unknown. On the return trip back to Naples, on CR835, we saw one male Snail Kite just over the newly excavated canal across from the Ocean Boy Organic Shrimp Farms. Good news! I was informed by the Marrs that this area will be a "mini-STA-5" serving the same function i.e. acting as a filtration buffer for ag run-off. The Marrs said they saw 6-8 Snail Kites at this site yeasterday. We also had 3 or so Scissor-tailed Flycatchers along CR835 near the Deer Fence Canal turn-off as well as 3-4 Western Kingbirds. The wetland just north of the CR833/CR835 intersection had one David Simpson, one Snail Kite, several Limpkin, the nesting Sandhill Crane along with on Wilson's Snipe plus the usual ducks & waders, etc.
Tomorrow, Monday, 02/18/2008 will be the last opportunity this month to see the Greater Flamingo and all of the other great birds out at STA-5. All you have to do is show up at the gate off of Blumberg Rd. at 8:30AM. STA-5 schedule with links to map & directions here:
http://www.tropicalaudubon.org/sta.html
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