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.....
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| 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..... |
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| One of our first sighting - a Yellow-belly Sapsucker |
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| A lone Pied-billed Grebe was along the beginning of the path. |
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| 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. |
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| A lovely little Phoebe - I especially loved the way it sits and the color combination with the reeds/vegetation. |
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| 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. |
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| One of many Red-shouldered Hawks that reside along the CREW. |
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| 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. |
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| We were blessed with many Swallowtail Butterflies that were feeding along the way. |
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| The Bees were too. |
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| Don't you just want to hit that trail? If you were to do the entire thing you'd be walking for 12 miles. |
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| Our fearless and very knowledgeable leaders for the day: Jim and Cynthia. Thank you both for a great first trip! |
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| A bright Yellow-throated Warbler, beautiful! |
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| You know if there are gators, there's turtles too. |
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| A Red-bellied Woodpecker in the Maple Trees. |
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| 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. |
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| An American Widgeon. |
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| A Northern Pintail |
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| The concentration of ducks seen from the road. |
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| In the corner and hardly visible was a family of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. |
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| More ducks at front/center..... |
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| Egrets, Herons and Spoonbills in the back - Raptors flying overhead would often cause a lift such as this. |
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| The club members parked along the road and observing from a different point. |
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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. |
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