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Posted by Vincent Lucas on 13:21:13 04/24/11
Happy Easter everyone. I decided to go birding again this morning to try for some "missed birds" for my Collier County Big Year. My jinx bird has been Red-eyed Vireo despite everyone and his brother seeing or at least hearing this bird in Collier County over the last two weeks. Well, today, at the Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk in the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve, I rectified that situation seeing and hearing three REVIs at close range PLUS having a Black-whiskered Vireo to boot! I think the BWVI is a first for me at the Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk. I also saw a male Black-throated Blue Warbler at the end of the small observation platform, so three new CCBY birds at the boardwalk. I also had an Ovenbird and a Common Yellowthroat plus all of the usual/expected birds. Note: the deer flies and mosquitoes were much worse than I've encountered there in recent days. Still, it was worth the effort. I added a fourth CCBY bird, a Stilt Sandpiper, at Eagle Lakes Community Park, following up on an eBird report of the same species from the same location seen yesterday by Michael O'Brien of Cape May. NJ. (Yes, THAT Michael O'Brien). I spent a half-hour at the drying-down impoundment closest to the Whistler's Cove Apartments where I saw the following shorebirds: Semipalmated Plover (x3); Killdeer; Black-necked Stilt (x4); Solitary Sandpiper (at least three individuals, possibly four); Greater Yellowlegs; Lesser Yellowlegs; Semipalmated Sandpiper (x2); Least Sandpiper (many); Pectoral Sandpiper (at least one); Stilt Sandpiper (one, possibly two of them). To reach this impoundment, go north of the main entrance to Eagle Lakes Community Park until you see the entrance to Whistler's Cove Apartments. Turn right after entering the driveway and proceed all the way around the buildings to almost the end. Watch for a paved wide "path" that goes up a rise near the end of the parking lot. Park there and walk up the rise. Bring a scope! Walk about 200 feet to the right on the paved track and scope out the shorebirds, waders, ducks, passerines, etc. Also present were one lone drake Wood Duck and a drake Blue-winged Teal in addition to many Mottled Ducks, waders, etc. Other good birds seen today were two Barn Swallows at the White City Industrial Park near the Naples Landfill, a couple of Bald Eagles in various places, a Common Ground-Dove on Laredo Street and an active Downy Woodpecker nest on the Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk. With these four new species, my CCBY total is now up to 196. I'm still missing Bobolink, Common Nighthawk, Broad-winged & Sharp-shinned Hawk and several warblers including Black-throated Green, Hooded , Tennessee & Magnolia Warbler, Yellow-billed Cuckoo and all of the migratory thrushes. Bird on. . . .
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