Posted by Brian Rapoza on October 15, 2016 at 23:50:27
South Florida Rare Bird Update
Eight birders joined me for today's TAS carpool trip to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Collier County and Ft. Myers Beach in Lee County. I'll begin at the trip's last stop, at Big Carlos Pass between Lover's Key and Estero Island on Ft. Myers Beach, where we found an immature Hudsonian Godwit on the beach along the west side of the pass, just south of the Big Carlos Pass bridge. The bird was among Willet and other shorebirds. The plumage (mostly grayish but with bar-tipped wing coverts and buffy tones to the breast) and relatively short legs told us this was not a Marbled Godwit. When we attempted to get a better look, the bird flushed and flew out over the pass. It was at this time that we obtained excellent looks at the white rump and black tail, eliminating Marbled as well as Bar-tailed Godwit. Plumage and the short legs eliminated Black-tailed. Unfortunately, we were unable to obtain photographs nor were we able to relocate the bird anywhere along the beaches on either side of the pass. Directions to Big Carlos Pass, along with a map link, have been posted on the South Florida Rare Bird Update, linked below. Rewinding to the trip's beginning, we headed to Corkscrew via Snake Road (CR 833) and CR 846. Wild Turkey, Wood Stork, Roseate Spoonbill, Crested Caracara, Limpkin and Sandhill Crane were among the species seen en route. Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, as well as more Wild Turkeys, Wood Storks and Roseate Spoonbills, were seen along the Corkscrew entrance road. A Barred Owl perched close to the boardwalk was one of the few highlights of our Corkscrew visit. We encountered very few migrants: Eastern Wood=Pewee and Ovenbird was heard and Sharp-shinned Hawk, Gray Catbird, Northern Waterthrush, Black-and-white Warbler and Palm Warbler were seen. We found several residents, including Limpkin, Downy and Pileated Woodpecker, Great Crested Flycatcher, White-eyed Vireo, Carolina Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Pine Warbler and Common Yellowthroat, but we neither saw nor heard a single Tufted Titmouse anywhere on the property. After lunch at Corkscrew, we headed to Bunche Beach, where we discovered that king tides had submerged virtually the entire beach. Moving on to Big Carlos Pass, we found a nice variety of beach birds in addition to the aforementioned Hudsonian Godwit. Shorebirds included an amazing 36 American Oystercatchers, plus Black-bellied, Wilson's, Semipalmated and Snowy Plovers, Willet, Marbled Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Least and Western Sandpipers and Short-billed Dowitcher. Also present were Caspian, Forster's, Royal and Sandwich Terns. A Northern Harrier was spotted over the pass and a Peregrine Falcon was observed harassing the shorebirds. We ended the trip with about 70 species for the day.