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Posted by Bryant Roberts on 15:28:52 01/23/10
I arrived at the H. A. Campbell Public Use Area at about fifteen minutes before sunrise and the automatic gate was already open. As I started walking around the impoundments the gunfire from duck hunters to the east began and didn t slow down until after 10 am. Most were comfortably distant but two boats were firing from a few hundred yards east of the levee and one group had set decoys between themselves and the levee. The hunting activity made the ducks a little skittish but not as much as I had seen in past years.
I found nothing extraordinary but the fifty American White Pelicans were the highest number I have seen there and Dunlin, Willet, and Marbled Godwit are always a little surprising this far inland.
There were a dozen or two foot and a half long dead Plecostomus catfish in the canal or on the bank along the north levee, this is the farthest south that I have seen this exotic fish. There were also hundreds of decomposing fish that looked like Tilapia floating in the northwest corners of the impoundments.
To reach the Harold A. Campbell Public Use Facility, go north 14 miles on U. S. 27 from Interstate-75 or 25 miles south from South Bay then travel west about 5 miles on the paved road then turn north into the Harold A. Campbell site. The area is open from sunup to sundown for hiking and biking weekends Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays.
Here is an annotated list of birds seen on 1/23/10 at H. A. Campbell Public Use Area.
Pied-billed Grebe
American White Pelican 50
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Tricolored Heron
Little Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Least Bittern 6 heard
American Bittern 1
White Ibis - 15
Glossy Ibis - 50
Roseate Spoonbill 10
American Widgeon 12 (north half)
Green-winged Teal 200 (mostly north half)
Mottled Duck 50
Northern Pintail 4 (west of the northwest corner)
Blue-winged Teal 2000
Northern Shoveler 10 (mostly north half)
Ring-necked Duck 100 (mostly west of the northwest corner)
Hooded Merganser 8 (north half)
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey 2
Northern Harrier 8
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
American Kestrel 3
Purple Swamphen 10 (mostly in south half)
Common Moorhen
American Coot 1000
Black-necked Stilt 5 (north half)
Black-bellied Plover 2 (north half)
Killdeer
Wilson s Snipe
Long-billed Dowitcher 80
Marbled Godwit 1 (north half)
Greater Yellowlegs 20
Lesser Yellowlegs 150
Willet 2 (north half)
Least Sandpiper 10
Dunlin 7 (north half)
Stilt Sandpiper 25 (north half)
Caspian Tern - 12 (mostly north half)
Common Ground-Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Tree Swallow 2000
Marsh Wren 2
Loggerhead Shrike
European Starling
Palm Warbler
Common Yellowthroat (singing)
Savannah Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird (singing)
Boat-tailed Grackle
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