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Posted by Vincent Lucas on 11:47:13 03/02/11
Nothing earth-shattering, but this morning, a brief stop at the North Naples Waste Water Treatment Plant (NNWWTP) in Collier County yielded a very close and cooperative first winter Bonaparte's Gull some 50 feet near the shore of the closest impoundment from the sidewalk on the overpass/bridge. The bird was apparently eating flies or some sort of tiny aquatic insect as it swam around close to the shore feeding. I called my buddy Peter Thayer (Thayer Birding Software) who lives nearby and he was able to arrive in time (barely) to see the gull before it flew off and landed in the far impoundment so close to shore that it could not be seen by us. The bird may stick around. This is yet another new species for the NNWWTP and the third one I've found in Collier County this winter in such disparate places as the Calvin L. Sirman s Memorial Effluent Reuse Facility in Immokalee, FL on January 29th; Naples Landfill on February 19th and today's bird. This is an unusual occurrence for three Bonaparte's Gulls to be found away from the Gulf IMHO. Other birds seen today at the NNWWTP were a few lingering ducks including only one female Hooded Merganser and about 20 Lesser Scaup. Other birds were "common" species and nothing of note.
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