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Monday, March 31, 2014

Across Alva

Yes, you guessed it, today is Monday - my birding day with the Caloosa Bird Club.
Today we traveled to H.P. Franklin Lock to meet the rest of the group and to carpool for our next destination(s).
What a nice way to start the day!

A Limpkin greeted the day too. Then off we went to Alva's Restaurant to see....

A Great-horned Owl in its downy feathers. And after enjoying watching those two eaglets for a while and after being watched by people going by....we carpooled to our next spot...a Chipping Sparrow waiting for us at

The White's House in Alva - generous members of the Caloosa Birding Club who provide their hospitality and share their awesome view of the....

Indigo Buntings





And Painted Buntings too



After a while it was time to say goodbye to those gorgeous friends and move on to the next spot....

Parkinson Road to visit the.....

Red-headed Woodpeckers - this one has a huge grub in his bill

This one is checking us up.

This one couldn't care less....then we crossed the street and checked a little pond - there we saw....

A Snail Kite!

We made a stop at the Caloosahatchee Regional Park for a bit,

And a stop  on the north side of the W.P. Franklin Campground

Saw the Purple Martins

And a Logerhead Shrike

And a Forster's Tern getting in shape and practicing for the Extreme Challenge Games with the Cormorant as a spectator.

Then we drove to N. River Rd to visit Ken's Pond - there we were watched with interest.

The cows were easily photographed, the others not so much - we did see quite a few species, such as a Sandhill Crane family, a Spoonbill, a Greater Yellowlegs, some Coyotes in the distance and more.


Another great birding trip with the Caloosa Club. We tallied 70 birds across Alva today - not a bad day at all. My E-Bird List http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17683980

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Spring time at the Bailey Tract

The day had started so well with the Spring Migration that I wanted to return to the Lighthouse area - but with the knowledge of season and traffic, I decided to make a trip to the Bailey Tract instead. It turned out to be a great afternoon of seeing species that I don't usually see there and a nice crowd of curious and happy visitors.
A solo Eastern Kingbird making a survey of the Ani Pond.

A Red-breasted Merganser - not the usual fowl around the Bailey Tract.


The Green Heron searching for food.

One of the gators that was seen today. The visitors are always excited when they see the gators and I'm happy to say that most everyone behave with respect and keep their distance.

Now, do you think the Green Heron is keeping enough distance?

The Black-necked Stilts with a Blue-wing Teal.



And look what I found? A dozen of Cattle Egrets in breeding plumage.

The colors are just spectacular.

 I love spring time - don't you?

Migration time - A visit at the Lighthouse

Ahhh.....things really starts to heat up when migration time rolls around - that, combined with cold fronts and wind blowing just in the right direction - makes for some interesting surprises.
And so, this morning, I figured I would pay a visit to the Sanibel Lighthouse - me and quite a few other people had the same idea. Quite a few sweet sightings such as Hooded Warbler and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds....more seen than photographed but that's okay - the memory lives on.
An Indigo Bunting posed for some time.

First I heard the Cedar Waxwings, then I saw them swaying with the wind in a tree top - 11 of them.

This is one of my favorite - there is just something very striking about this specie.





A few Prairie Warblers were seen.

A Great Egret slowly moving to capture its prey until a car came by and couldn't wait to go to the beach....pushing the bird out of the way.

I trust that he was able to find a more peaceful spot to eat. 
 I'd say this was a great start to my day but most importantly, a great beginning of the Spring Migration Season. 

Monday, March 24, 2014

Babcock-Webb with the Caloosa Bird Club

It's Monday! My favorite day of the week - and off I go to meet up with the Caloosa Bird Club, today's destination is Babcock-Webb in Punta Gorda.

This is a large wildlife management area and filled with recreation opportunity. Other than wildlife viewing, you can do hiking, biking, camping, fishing and driving through a large portion of the area. There is a shooting range to the side and hunting is permitted from late October through mid November. Plenty of picnic tables - some with shade....along the Webb Lake that I saw - others available too - the place is so big that it would take me several visits to get familiar with it all.

The sun was peeking through and we hoped that the weatherman had been mistaken about the predicted rain.

Our first sighting - a Red-cockaded woodpecker. We arrived before sunrise in order to catch a glimpse of this little fellow coming out of their 'marked' pine trees.

The vista all around is just breath-taking.




A male Bluebird was spotted in the far distance,

and a Towhee

Beautiful male - surrounded by nature colors at its best.


Here's "The Man" inspecting one of the Bluebird's residence.

This Bluebird resides at 20 Seaboard Grade



Here's the Bluebird's neighbor on 22 Seaboard Grade - note that the boxes are sporting our bird club name.

Our Mascot - the Green Heron


Spring in Florida is beautiful.



We made our way back to the parking lot and talked about the birds we saw and we made a list. A few decided to go to another location, some went home and I stayed behind and drove around a bit.

Along the Webb Lake - I saw this Anhinga in breeding plumage as well as a family of Killdeer.




On my way back - I spotted a family of Sandhill Cranes







I love these guys....can you tell?

The End. 
 I will return to this big little gem and spend more time to discover its treasures. My E-Bird list for today