Big Cypress area with the Caloosa Bird Club

It's Monday - which means Caloosa Birding Club day and today's first destination: Ten Thousand Islands - come along and take a peek....

 A trail off the busy path of US 41- worth checking into the next time you are in the area.

We slowly and quietly took on the trail - observing the wild life around us. Several Wood Storks were seen feeding in the twinkling water.

Anhingas consuming its favorite food: fish!

A bush full of Little Blue Herons - immature (white) and adults (blue). A great walk on the wild side - My E-Bird list for this trail. Then we were off to our next location...

We had hoped to see the Barred Owl along the boardwalk but tried as we may we were not able to locate it - however we had some great views of this Yellow-bellied Sapsucker....

If you look closely you can actually see where it quietly tapped and formed shallow holes in the tree bark - all lined up in a row, this sapsucker feeds on sap and on insects attracted to the sap.

Off in the distance, a large gator was resting. The size of the gators seen in the Everglades are humongous in comparison to the gator that we have on the island where I live.

The scenery along the Big Cypress Bend Fakahatchee is just breathtaking - my photos can not do it justice....one person that has worked its magic with conveying the proper feeling of this environment is Clyde Butcher hands down.

How about this Black-and-white Warbler! Overheard from the group was: "Oh, that's a good bird!" - I ask you: "Is there a bad bird?". LOL

Do you think the Great Blue Heron liked all the attention? It seems to be in deep complicated thoughts.

On the way out we all feasted our eyes on a Black-crowned Night Heron which was busy trying to eat a Gar.

Haha! Check out my catch!

Yumm...this will be delicious.....

"Perhaps I bit more than I can chew." And so, we must thank this little fellow for the close-up entertainment. My E-Bird List for this location.

 It was time to move on to the next stop: Kirby Storter Roadside Park - another 20 miles south or so from the Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk. As we were traveling on U.S.41 at 60mph, we encountered above us a cloud of.....

Tree Swallows - hard to tell exactly how many there was - estimated to be over 10,000 at the very least. We wished we could have pulled over to observe and feel the phenomena of such spectacle - truly a memorable moment.

They were seen landing on nearby twigs. (this photo was taken a year prior but it serves its purpose here).

Shortly after we arrived at our last destination.

Another boardwalk which takes us deep into the wild - yet so close to U.S. 41 (traffic zooming by could still be heard).

Yet, there is a quiet peacefulness within the area.

My group seen observing warblers way up in the tree top - a great neck exercise in addition to savoring the eye candy.

Gar fish - the favorite food of many birds.

A small lizard seen basking in the warmth of the sun.

It's time to wrap it up .... now that we've fed our souls it is time to feed our stomach.

While we finished up our lunches and tallied up our bird sighting - a few Tree Swallows made a brief appearance to bid us farewell till the next time. My E-Bird list for this location.

Birding Hendry and Glade w/Caloosa & Collier too!

TGIM - I love Mondays and the promises of observing birds and perhaps even seeing a "lifer" - today was my lucky day because I got to see two of them. 

We started our day by meeting the Caloosa Bird Club group at Barron Park in Labelle.

A beautiful and peaceful setting, one could easily sit here all day and watch as life unfolds. We spent a bit of time and observed some woodpeckers and warblers in the very old oak trees before heading out to Church Road.

A Loggerhead Shrike aka butcher bird because they catch small insects or lizards and smack them before gobbling them up.

Several Woodstorks were seen along the road.

A Wilson Snipe - very well disguised, if you didn't have your eyes on it while it moved, it was very easy to miss it totally.

A male Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in breeding plumage - wow! He stayed within those branches and it was quite difficult to get a good look at it, let alone take a photo.

Along Church Road - cattles/farms and dusty road with heavy machinery/road graders and pickup trucks going by....some were very kind others not so much. When it was time for the group to return to Labelle for lunch, my friends Elaine, Libby and myself decided to travel south to see the Tomato Fields and visit with some ducks.

Many Roseate Spoonbills could be seen off the road in flooded fields.

Woodstorks

The view of the field where the Spoonbills are feeding, notice the pink dots....these are the roseate.

When I zoomed in with my camera (Canon SX50) I was able to make out that there was a Greater Yellowlegs within the group.

My new life bird - Snow Goose - there were 4 of them (2 blue, 2 white). And what timing we had because shortly after we arrived they flew off way to the other side.

I wish there was a hideout spot in the middle of these fields so that we could see those ducks up close and personal and even take some decent photographs, but hey, that's okay ..... take a scope with you and feast your eyes on those beauties.

We were blessed with sunny skies - very warm and balmy temperature. The winds were very gusty, often time shaking our scopes while viewing the ducks.

Canvasback - another lifer for me ..... wow ..... what a beautiful duck that is.

American Avocets were spotted in the distance - several sandpipers too ... my assumption is Yellowlegs here but I'm not 100% sure - I welcome any and all comments.

Ducks, ducks and more ducks - WooHoo

Sometimes I don't realize how many ducks there actually are - but when a Northern Harrier makes an appearance and the ducks lift off - then I get a clearer picture of what is going on.

We observed the Harrier while he held something underwater - we watched as he stayed there for at least 15 minutes....our guess was that a coot was under his talons, being drowned for future consumption. The other ducks - mostly Mottled Ducks - just went about their business without paying no attention to this hawk.

We bid the area farewell with gratefulness in our hearts - and headed out to the corner of Immokalee Road and Oil Well Road....

another pond - this one occupied by Ring-necked Ducks and Merganser.

What a nice bunch they make. At last, it was time to pack up our gear and head on out - a great Monday was had birding with great friends. Till the next time.