Estero Preserve

Where does the time go?? I meant to blog about my bird outing at the Estero Preserve and somehow it got lost in the shuffle, well....there is not better time than now, so come along....

as it is customary for me - I arrived before the sunrise and I was granted golden views of this American Bittern along the 'little pond' aka Wigeon Pond - however the pond was almost devoid of ducks except for a handful of Blue-winged Teal and one....

Green -winged Teal, now that's a beautiful duck!

A Blue-winged Teal showing its blue feathers.

More views of the American Bittern.

While searching for rails and sparrows, we found White Pelicans flying overhead and....

a handful of American Wigeons.

We (Elaine and I) found a pond that we had never seen before and in it were a few Wood Storks,

several Killdeers,

American Avocets and Greater Yellowlegs.

I never get tired of watching Avocets - I could easily spend an entire day with them.

Estero Preserve can be challenging with mud, water and lack of marked trails.

However, it is well worth the effort as the time spent there is truly priceless.

 

It's Caloosa Birding time!

I'm happy to report that this is the time of the year when the winter residents return, the birds and ducks are arriving - which also signify that the Caloosa Birding Club is resuming its activities. Today was the first day of the season and for our first outing we found ourselves at the.....

CREW - Bird Rookery Swamp which is located in Naples. This is a combination of dirt path, boardwalk and grassy path - come along and see what we saw this morning.....

One of our first sighting - a Yellow-belly Sapsucker

A lone Pied-billed Grebe was along the beginning of the path.

An Orange-crowned Warbler held the group's attention for quite some time - a bird not often seen and one that doesn't have any markings to speak of.

A lovely little Phoebe - I especially loved the way it sits and the color combination with the reeds/vegetation.

One of many gator babies that were seen along the boardwalk, unbeknownst to us the mama gator was under the boardwalk and she let us know by her roar to stay away from her babies.

One of many Red-shouldered Hawks that reside along the CREW.

This place is AWEsome and it's hard to give it justice with simple photos - it's something you'll need to experience yourself. By the way, the little sign that hangs on the left side of the photo is a warning not to take pets along the dirt/grassy path because of the gators.

We were blessed with many Swallowtail Butterflies that were feeding along the way.

The Bees were too.

Don't you just want to hit that trail? If you were to do the entire thing you'd be walking for 12 miles.

Our fearless and very knowledgeable leaders for the day: Jim and Cynthia. Thank you both for a great first trip!

A bright Yellow-throated Warbler, beautiful!

You know if there are gators, there's turtles too.

A Red-bellied Woodpecker in the Maple Trees.

A Yellow-throated Vireo, sweet! Within that vicinity we also saw the Blue-headed and White-eyed Vireo. Here's my submitted bird list from the CREW location
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S32422666

After a bit we drove to Oil Well Road to see who is feeding in the flooded Tomato Fields - our first sighting were Green-winged Teals among the Blue-winged Teals which were surrounded by many Long-billed Dowitchers.

An American Widgeon.

A Northern Pintail

The concentration of ducks seen from the road.

In the corner and hardly visible was a family of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks.

More ducks at front/center.....

Egrets, Herons and Spoonbills in the back - Raptors flying overhead would often cause a lift such as this.

The club members parked along the road and observing from a different point.

One of several Northern Harriers that we observed today, they practically have a buffet to choose from. Here is my submitted bird list for the Oil Well Road location http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S32422667
Well, folks, this conclude today's outing with the Club - stay tuned, more to come in the very near future.

Harn's Marsh with the Caloosa Bird Club

Today turned out to be one of those Florida days - perfectly blue sky and warm sunshine - the type of days that is usually associated with Florida. We left early to arrive at Harn's Marsh with the sunrise, many bird folks beat us to it.

Come along and see some of the highlights of the day....

If I had embedded sound within this photo you would have heard the Limpkins calling.

This one was busy looking for apple snails.

A Tern whizzed on by several times - the sun hitting the bill and making it look like a Royal Tern but with closer study it was obvious that we were looking at a Caspian Tern - a bit bigger with a brighter 'reddish' bill.

Several coots, grebes and ducks were observed - these Ring-necked were particularly sharp looking.

In the distance, a pair of Sandhill Cranes were busy getting their nest in order.

A scope provided us with the perfect tool to observed them without disturbing them.

A Gray-headed Swamphen - aka Purple Swamphen - was in front of us playing peek-a-boo within the reeds. This Swamphen resembles a huge Purple Gallinule  with a reddish bill, frontal shield, iris and legs.

I wish I had a better photo to show you the difference between this Purple Gallinule and the Gray-headed Swamphen - however if you look closely you can see one of the difference being the legs and toes are bright yellow

One of several Savannah Sparrows.

American Wigeon in flight

Some happy yellow flowers - well, at least, that's how it makes me feel.

A Crested Caracara - one of my favorites.

More Sandhill Cranes - several were seen through the 4 mile loop - I never tire of watching them.....a great time for all. My E-Bird List for today.