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Posted by Vincent Lucas on 18:39:52 11/12/11
Of the 75+ species seen on today's (11/12/2011) STA-5 tour, the highlights had to be the Greater White-fronted Goose seen on Blumberg Rd. about 1/2 mile north of the main gate in a plowed field on the West side of the dirt road leading to the main STA-5 gate. The bird was found by Bob Zaremba and friend. All in attendance at the start of the tour got to see it. This is only the second occurrence for this species at STA-5. Blumberg Rd. sightings are included in our area of coverage for checklist purposes. The other good sighting was the return of the Cassin's Kingbird for the 4th(?) year in a row. The recent cold front brought in a lot of winter ducks and raptors to STA-5. We counted at least 35 Ruddy Ducks -- the most I have ever seen at STA-5 in the 6-7 years I have been leading the tours there. Three or four Gadwall were also found plus 15-20 Northern Pintail, 5 or so Redheads, scads of Ring-necked Ducks and Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shovelers, twenty or so American Wigeon, both whistling-ducks and only a handful of Mottled Ducks, which, upon reflection, is pretty odd. Peregrine Falcons, a few Bald Eagles, Snail Kites and scads of Northern Harriers were also present along with the usual Red-tailed, Red-shouldered and Cooper's Hawks. I'll let Margaret England fill in the entire list at a later time. On the way back to Naples, Ray & Ruth Covill and I found a few Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and Western Kingbirds along CR835 near the Deer Fence Canal, their winter stronghold in the region. We also found these same species in Collier County along CR858 on the Collier/Hendry County line. Near Ave Maria, near the junction of Oil Well Grade & Oil Well Rd. (aka CR858) in the flooded field that has hosted many good species of shorebirds, waders, ducks, etc. this fall, we found many wintering ducks, coots, moorhens and waders. The best birds seen in the 10 minutes or so when we were there were two Gadwall, an uncommon bird for Collier County and #224 for my Collier County Big Year! Other ducks present were a few Northern Pintail, many Blue-winged Teal and Ring-necked Ducks, Northern Shovelers and again, just a few Mottled Ducks. This site is well worth checking on a regular basis and I plan on doing so again in the near future.
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