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Posted by Vince Lucas on 11:31:32 01/05/09
On Saturday, January 3rd, I took part in the second STA-5/Clewiston CBC. STA-5, for those who don't know, is south of Clewiston in Hendry County. Although I do not have access to all of the teams' totals, here is my team's totals. We did the two cells immediately to the left of the gate (facing south). At dawn and dusk, STA-5 is unlike ANY place in the entire state for the sheer numbers of birds as far as I'm concerned and I have birded most of the "hotspots" in the state. Margaret England, the compiler for the STA-5 CBC, will undoubtedly post all of the results for the entire circle soon. Here are my team's results. Note: species are not in taxonomic order. . . .
Anhinga -- 143
American Bittern -- 3
Red-winged Blackbird -- 597
Double-crested Cormorant -- 46
American Coot -- 37,543 (conservative estimate)
Common Ground-Dove -- 8
Long-billed Dowitcher -- 1369
American Wigeon -- 37
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck -- 15
Blue-winged Teal -- 2,699 (conservative estimate)
Canvasback -- 1
Fulvous Whistling-Duck -- 75
Gadwall -- 3
Green-winged Teal -- 368
Mallard -- 3
Mottled Duck -- 144
Northern Pintail -- 49
Northern Shoveler -- 75
Ring-necked Duck -- 1,043 (conservative estimate)
Ruddy Duck -- 37
Dunlin -- 24
Bald Eagle (adult) -- 1
Bald Eagle (immature) -- 1
Cattle Egret -- 342
Great Egret -- 24
Snowy Egret -- 66
Peregrine Falcon -- 1
Purple Gallinule -- 5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher -- 1
Boat-tailed Grackle -- 4,936 (conservative estimate)
Common Grackle -- 1
Pied-billed Grebe -- 353
Northern Harrier -- 69
Cooper's Hawk -- 1
Red-shouldered Hawk -- 4
Black-crowned Night-Heron -- 1
Great Blue Heron -- 57
Great White Heron (Great Blue Heron "white morph") -- 2
Green Heron -- 9
Little Blue Heron -- 74
Tricolored Heron -- 45
Glossy Ibis -- -- 84
White Ibis -- 24
American Kestrel -- 3
Killdeer -- 75
Belted Kingfisher -- 30
Snail Kite -- 11
Limpkin -- 8
Eastern Meadowlark -- 2
Common Moorhen -- 1,474 (conservative estimate)
Osprey -- 35
American White Pelican -- 16
Eastern Phoebe -- 1
Black-bellied Plover -- 8
Sora -- 6
Least Sandpiper -- 2,001 (conservative estimate)
Stilt Sandpiper -- 175
Black Skimmer -- 2
Wilson's Snipe -- 45
Savannah Sparrow -- 4
Swamp Sparrow -- 4
Roseate Spoonbill -- 1
Black-necked Stilt -- 102
Wood Stork -- 54
Northern Rough-winged Swallow -- 61
Tree Swallow -- 14,737 (conservative estimate)
Pur4ple Swamphen -- 20
Caspian Tern -- 41
Black Vulture -- 67
Turkey Vulture -- 548
Common Yellowthroat -- 26
Palma Warbler -- 102
Marsh Wren -- 6
Greater Yellowlegs -- 29
Lesser Yellowlegs -- 630 (conservative estimate)
And this was only two cells/impoundments at STA-5! Big misses in my area of the circle were Eurasian Wigeon, of which there have been at least two present in recent weeks, Lesser Scaup, Cave Swallow and King Rail. Thanks goes out to all the members of my team who stuck it out to the bitter end after most everyone else left early: Margaret England, Alan Murray, Bill & Roberta Marten & David Gardner.
I took some photos of Stilt Sandpipers associating with Long-billed Dowitchers and they can be seen here:
http://www.caloosabirdclub.org/VPL/STA-5CBC1.jpg
http://www.caloosabirdclub.org/VPL/STA-5CBC2.jpg
http://www.caloosabirdclub.org/VPL/STA-5CBC3.jpg
Note: the photos are large so they may take some time to download. Once the photo is opened, you can click on it and a larger version will appear. The Dunlin were too far out for my photography equipment. I'm hopeful that someone else got photos of them but you can bet they WERE Dunlin and not Stilt Sandpipers.
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