Posted by Vince on March 22, 2004 at 15:52:34:
In Reply to: Re: Southwest Florida 3/20,21 posted by Brian Rapoza on March 22, 2004 at 07:13:51:
Brian:
Too bad we missed you and Raul at Tigertail Beach on Sunday. I was leading the 2004 "Century Run" for the Naples Bird Club and Tigertail Beach was one of the many locales we stopped at throughout the VERY long day . This annual event was my idea, originating in 2001. Essentially, a group of us tries to find 100 birds (a "century") in one day, all in Collier County. I am glad to say that we broke the all-time record set by us last year with 121 ABA countable species! I'll post the trip highlights later but I just wanted to state that we too had the Least Terns at Tigertail. I believe that this is the earliest that they have arrived there but I am not 100% certain. We saw all of the shorebirds you saw (including the 7 Black-necked Stilts, which I have seen previously at Tigertail but we too dipped on the American Avocets, which I've seen once before at Tigertail) plus Stilt Sandpiper, Lesser & Greater Yellowlegs. We also saw the numerous Northern Gannets and Magnificent Frigatebirds and had a Lesser Black-backed Gull in among the many, many terns and gulls about one mile north up the beach. We ran out of daylight to get the Bronzed Cowbirds at Eagle Lakes Community Park but we had some seriously good birds for Collier County elsewhere. I'll post all the results when I find time.
Vince Lucas