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Posted by Vince Lucas on 13:02:50 09/22/08
Sorry for the lateness of this report. I won't post the full results of Saturday's Fall North American Migration Count, I'll leave that up to the compiler, Margaret England, but I will report our team's results for areas within both Hendry & Glades Counties, including Dinner Island Ranch WMA -- which "rocked" with birds. First, however, I want to report that two new birds were added to the STA-5 list by Kim Willis of the SFWMD & her team. These are great additions: White-tailed Kite & Blue Grosbeak! Kim even got pictures! Wish I had been there to see them! Way to go Kimm & other team members. I believe that brings the STA-5 total to 164. Margaret England will know for sure. . . .
OK, our team consisted of Alan Murray, Bill & Roberta Martin & me. We started the day at 7:00AM at the entrance to Dinner Island Ranch WMA which is off of CR833, approximately 2.5 miles north of its intersection with CR846 in Hendry County. If interested, you can find out more about this site here:
http://www.floridaconservation.org/recreation/dinner_island/default.asp
Our best birds at Dinner Island Ranch, in no particular order, were 61 Bobolinks, 14 Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, 11 Crested Caracara, 4 Purple Gallinules, 8 Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, 2 Black-crowned Night-herons, 8 or so Limpkins, 25+ Eastern Meadowlarks, 2 Burrowing Owls, 1 Grasshopper Sparrow, 1 Roseate Spoonbill, 189 Barn Swallows, 2 Bank Swallows, 1 Tree Swallow, 1 Summer Tanager, 5 Wild Turkeys, 1 American Redstart, 9 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and 1 Eastern Kingbird.
After leaving Dinner Island Ranch, we birded the remaining part of CR833 to CR835 and then to Chuck Obern's Farm that borders STA-5 to the west. OnC R833, where we normally see the Burrowing Owls in the open ranchland area before CR833 makes the big turn to the south, we saw 9 American White Pelicans and 12 Roseate Spoonbills plus the usual Mottled Ducks, waders and not much else. Further along CR833, after it makes the big turn to the south, just north of the intersection of CR835, in the wetlands to the west, we saw 5 more Limpkins and a family group of 8 Black-bellied Whistling Ducks very close to the road.
Chuck Obern's Farm didn't have much to offer except for 62 Least Sandpipers and i Eastern Kingbird. We saw 8 more Eastern Kingbirds along the nearby Deer Fence Canal, where we normally get the Western Kingbirds & this past winter's overwintering Cassin's Kingbird.
We next headed to the Farm 8 Wetland on CR835 just north of the now defunct Ocean Boy Shrimp Farm. There we counted 10 Snail Kites, one of which acted as the official "greeter" as it perched on the Farm 8 sign as we pulled into the chained lane leading up to the wetlands. In addition to the Snail Kites, Limpkins were abundant here. We added an additional 11 or so Limpkins to our Hendry County totals at this site.
That was the extent of our territory in Hendry County. We next proceeded to our assigned area in Glades County, which basically encompassed the area to the west of Clewiston and then north on CR720 skirting the Herbert Hoover Dike of Lake Okeechobee and then up US RTE 27 to SR78 and west to LaBelle. The best birds seen in Glades County had to be the many swallows (mostly Barn) that were hawking insects along the grassy areas bordering the dike. We counted 45 Barn Swallows, 1 Northern Rough-winged Swallow and 20+ Tree Swallows & 1 Bank Swallow in the mix. Other migrants seen along the aforementioned route were 1 Eastern Kingbird, 1 Bobolink (There were undoubtedly more of them hiding in the sugarcane field where this one was found), 2 Pileated Woodpeckers (Ortona Locks), 1 leucistic Boat-tailed Grackle (also at Ortona Locks) and 1 adult Bald Eagle in Moore Haven. On Wayman Road (north of SR78), we found several warblers in some Live Oaks. Included were 1 American Redstart (female), 1 Prairie Warbler and two Yellow-throated Warblers. Three Blue-gray Gnatcatchers were also present with the warblers. Nearby were 4 Wood Storks along a ditch in a field.
It was a hot and humid day but there was a nice breeze to help make it more tolerable. The tally meal barbecue at the historic Clewiston Inn was delicious and filling! Thanks to Margaret England for undertaking the herculean task of organizing and compiling the Hendry/Glades Fall NAMC and thanks to all of those who volunteered their time as well.
Cheers.
Vince
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