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Posted by Brian Rapoza on 19:28:47 09/28/13
Ten birders joined me for today's TAS trip to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and Ft. Myers Beach. We took the usual route to Corkscrew, via Snake Road (CR 833) and CR 846. Most of the usual suspects along this route were seen, including scattered flocks of Wild Turkeys and Sandhill Cranes, a few Limpkins and Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and at least 15 Crested Caracara. Four participants spotted a Lark Sparrow with a few Palm Warblers on a fence along Snake Road, just before the Big Cypress Seminole Reservation.
Corkscrew was somewhat slow, with only eight species of warblers found: Magnolia, Yellow-throated, Pine, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Worm-eating, Northern Waterthrush (several) and Common Yellowthroat. Other migrants included Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Chimney Swift, Yellow-throated Vireo, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Gray Catbird and a likely Summer Tanager. Resident birds seen included Pileated and Downy Woodpecker, Great Crested Flycatcher, White-eyed Vireo, Tufted Titmouse and Carolina Wren.
After lunch, we headed to Bunche Beach, where shorebirds seen included Black-bellied, Wilson's, Semipalmated and Piping Plover, American Oystercatcher, Willet, Marbled Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Western and Least Sandpiper and Short-billed Dowitcher. Other species included Reddish Egret, Royal, Sandwich and Forster's Terns and what appeared to be a female Blue-winged Teal on a distant mudflat. We ended the day at Big Carlos Pass, where among already-seen shorebird species were eight Snowy Plovers and a single Red Knot.
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