Dermot Breen's Blog: white ibis

Thursday, 20 December 2012

Florida 15th November 2012

Made my way further North from Fort Myers up to St. Petersburg near Tampa. I took a quick look again at Little Estero Lagoon in the hope for Yellow-crowned Night Heron, hoping that they would be more active first thing at dawn but again no sign. More good views of Reddish Egrets. I had a very distant Black Skimmer at least a mile up along the beach. By the time I managed to drive up it was gone but I did have two nice close frigatebirds (no camera) and a flock of about 100 Knots. At least 24 of these were colour ringed, an amazing percentage. Most had been ringed in Florida and a few in South Carolina going back as far as 2006. None have been resighted further North than New Jersey. All had lime green flags.
I still hadn't seen any Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, one of the rarest woodpecker species found in the States. I had already tried at least two reserves of open longleaf pine woodland and only managed a very brief view of a black and white woodpecker. North of Fort Myers at Cecil M. Webb State Wildlife Management Area I managed to connect with a pair which gave good views. The species is intensively managed. The forest floor is burnt every few years to keep it open as would have naturally happened historically. All birds are "banded" and single males are often translocated to area containing single females. The nest trees are marked by white circles at their bases. I also had untickable views of a Bachmanns Sparrow here. This is another speciality of dry pine woodland with saw-palmetto. They can be difficult to pick up when not singing in the Spring time.
I finished up the day around the Celery Fields/Ackerman Park. This was a small area that I nearly picked at random from the guidebook as I happened to be making my way up to Tampa at the time. This was an excellent example of how good some of these smaller lesser well known spots compared to the larger, better known sites. There was an excellent line up of waterbirds here including my best views of Roseate Spoonbill, they had all been a little distant up until this. Some nice views of Lesser Scaup and Ring-necked Duck also but the light conditions made it difficult for photography.

Roseate Spoonbill

Roseate Spoonbill, only noticed the ring on the left hand bird on reviewing the shots, can't make out the code though.

Roseate Spoonbill

White Ibis

First-winter Tricolored Heron

Snowy Egret

Adult Tricolored Heron

Little Blue Heron

White morph Reddish Egret

White and red morph Reddish Egrets

Red morph Reddish Egret

Red morph Reddish Egret with a tocuh of white

American Bittern, taken in near darkness with a shutter speed of 0.8 seconds.

Double-crested Cormorant

Brown Pelican

American Oystercatcher

Western Willet

Greater Yellowlegs

Knot

Magnificent Frigatebird

Red-cockaded Woodpecker

Red-cockaded Woodpecker hole with someone at home.

Red-cockaded Woodpecker habitat

Sandhill Crane

House Wren

Fish Crow

Lesser Scaup and Ring-necked Ducks

Cooper's Hawk

Monday, 10 December 2012

Florida 13th November 2012

I started my way up North after spending three nights in Homestead on the outskirts of the Everglades. Making my way along the Tamiami Trail I stopped off about half way across the glades to have a look for Snail Kite. The area just opposite the Shark Valley entrance to the Everglades National Park is supposed to be a good stop for the species. After about three stops I managed to get very brief views of one in my bins but it had disappeared before I could get it in the scope. I had one bird earlier in the trip on Lake Jackson but it was at a range of about a kilometre. These were unfortunately my only Snail Kites of the trip.

I had planned to make a straight run for the Gulf Coast but decided to make a few quick stops along the way in Big Cypress National Preserve. The numbers of waterbirds seemed to be far better here than my past two previous days in the disappointing Everglades National Park. Had I the choice again I would have done the Lucky Hammock area but wouldn't have bothered at all with ENP and concentrated on Big Cypress. Belted Kingfishers were just about on every second telephone pole. A quick stop at the Oasis Visitor Centre got me surprisingly my only Great Crested Flycatcher of the trip. The visitor centre itself was closed for some reason. I was still hoping for a few more warbler species so on the off chance I chose a random small road off the Tamiami Trail which lead to Burns Lake. I walked a few hundred metres up along the road with not a whole lot showing. I began to pish on the way back as I could hear a few distant warblers "chipping" in flooded Bald Cypress woodland. Within minutes the place was absolutely hopping with an assortment of warblers and other smallbirds. The flock consisted of Black-and-white Warblers, Common Yellowthroat, Northern Parula, Palm, Pine, Yellow-rumped, Yellow-throated, Prairie and Black-throated Green Warblers, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Downy, Pileated, Red-bellied Woodpecker, White-eyed and Blue-headed Vireo, Tufted Titmouse and Carolina Wren. The birds were on every side, at all levels of the trees making it impossible to know where to look. At times there were so many birds all I could do was point my bins in a random direction and see what turn up in my field of view. It was a real struggle to tear myself away from the place and I really felt I had wasted my time in the Everglades NP.

I made my way to the coast to Marco Island. My first spot here was Tigertail Beach, a good wader site. I had arrived at the wrong time for the tide as it was pretty much fully in. There was still thankfully a small selection of roosting waders present along with my first Wilson's Plovers. The birds were incredibly tame but looking straight into the sun hampered my attempts at photography. I also had four very distant but very distinctive Magnificent Frigatebirds off the beach. I decided try again later that evening when the tide would be lower.

I then had a look around the island for Burrowing Owls. Only two blocks back out the road from the beach I came across my first burrow. It like all the burrows were all fenced off with orange tape. It was on a busy crossroads in well developed suburban area and only four metres away from the "sidewalk". The birds was oblivious to power-walkers and myself. I've attached a Google Street image of the site itself. I came across at least three other burrows later. There seemed to be an incredible concentration of burrows on the island.
I tried Frank E. Mackle Jr. Community Park and an area around Frickney Road but these produced virtually nothing. Eagles Nest Community Park was much better with a good range of waterbirds and a bonus of Bronzed Cowbird in amongst large numbers of Common and Boat-tailed Grackles and European Starlings feeding on the floating vegetation on the ponds.
I finished up the day with a return to Tigertail Beach. The tide hadn't appeared to have changed a whole lot and I was quickly hounded out of the place by tiny but annoying Sand Flies. I headed on further North to the Fort Myers area for the next two nights.