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| April 1 - Peace River |
| This morning, six members of the Photo Adventures Camera
Club went for a ride on a pontoon boat on the upper Peace River in the
vicinity of the Navigator restaurant.
We spent most of the time around an island rookery containing Wood
Storks, Egrets (Cattle, Great, Snowy), and Tricolored Herons.
It was quite a challenge to obtain images of moving birds from a
moving boat. By going to the
leeward side of the island, the boat was much more steady (out of the
wind). We had great
opportunities to take pictures of these magnificent birds, many of which
were in their breeding plumage. The
birds were in the process of building nests or sitting on the nest.
We did not see any young chicks in the nests.
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| April 3-4: Key Largo and Anhinga Trail |
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Nine members of the Photo Adventures
Camera Club (North Port, Port Charlotte, & Punta Gorda area) traveled
to the southeast coast for a weekend photo outing.
We traveled south on I-75 and then east on US41 along the
Everglades. Our first stop
was the Clyde Butcher Gallery located about half way across.
In addition to viewing some of Butcher’s black & white
prints, we had an opportunity to shoot some wildlife in the marsh adjacent
to the Gallery.
We then continued on to Homestead with
a stop at Soroa Orchids to photograph some Orchids.
We had obtained permission to take photos using tripods earlier.
After a quick lunch, we traveled south on US 1 to the Bird
Sanctuary and Rehabilitation Center in Key Largo.
We arrived at feeding time, 3:30, which seems to attract a lot of
the wild native birds, such as Pelicans, Herons, and Egrets.
This Sanctuary is located at the water’s edge, which also helps
to attract birds. We observed at least four Great White Herons (no Great
Blues). We also observed an
almost white Turkey Vulture flying over.
After an overnight stay in a local
Homestead motel, we started at daybreak for the Anhinga Trail, located in
the Everglades National Park. We
arrived just as the sun appeared over the horizon.
We spent close to four hours walking the trail and taking photos of
the local birds and wildlife. Birds
observed included Egrets (Great and Snowy), Herons (Great White, Great
Blue, Little Blue, many Greens, and a Yellow-Crowned Night), Purple
Gallinule, Anhingas, Cormorants, Palm Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, and
Swallow-tailed Kites. We started
home in the afternoon with one final stop at Soroa Orchids for more photos
and purchases.
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| April 6: Babcock/Webb WMA |
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On Tuesday,
twenty one Peace River Auduboners spent a gorgeous Florida day looking for
birds, wildlife and wild flowers in the Babcock/Webb Wildlife Management
Area outside of Punta Gorda. Target birds were the Red
Cockaded Woodpecker (RCW), Brown Headed Nuthatch, Blue Birds, Brown
Thrasher and Bachman's Sparrows. Ranger Jenny of the Webb
joined us and showed us two new RCW spots-- and gave us an
informative brochure on the RCW. We ended the day in the Webb
with 61 species of birds (missing only the Bachman's Sparrow of the target
birds), seven deer, and five alligators and many beautiful wildflowers.
After
a picnic lunch at the Jones Loop rest stop, a few hardy souls ventured
to two burrowing owl sites in Punta Gorda--Success! and we added
five more species for a day count of 66 species. --- A SUPER DAY.
Thanks to Dillys Randall for leading today's field trip.
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| April 9 & 14: Fort DeSoto |
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On Friday, April 9th, I made a trip up
to Fort DeSoto with the express purpose of capturing some images of
migrating Warblers. I spent
most of the time around the mulberry bushes; however, I did hike the East
Woods, the area around the radio tower, and made a quick trip to see the
Great Horned Owls.
The mulberry bush area was the most
productive. I was able to
obtain images of several Warblers, including Black and White, Hooded,
Palm, Prothonotary, and Prairie. I
also captured images of several different Orchard Orioles, (male, juv
male, and female), and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
On Wednesday, April14th, after hearing
the forecast for a very windy day, I made another run to Fort DeSoto to
see some migrants. It proved
to be a good day. I managed to capture good images of the Scarlet Tanager
(m & f), Summer Tanager, Orchard Oriole, Indigo Buntings, Blue
Grosbeaks, Eastern Wood Pewees, Hooded Warblers, and a Hummingbird.
I spent all of my time around the mulberry bush area and the east
woods area (side towards the bay).
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| April 17: Emerson Point Park and Celery Fields |
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Two dozen birders from the Peace River Audubon
Society traveled north to Emerson Point Park.
After a slow start, the birding activity picked up when we explored
the area around the Portavant Temple Mound near the Park entrance.
Quite a number of migrants were observed including Gray Catbirds,
Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Indigo Buntings, a Baltimore Oriole, Scarlet
Tanagers, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, several Warblers (Hooded, Palm, and
Prairie), a Northern Parula, and Red-eyed Vireos.
A Red-shouldered Hawk nest with two young chicks was located
directly above the Mound. We
observed 47 different species at the Park.
Quite a number of different butterfly species were
observed at the Park. These
included the Zebra, Gulf Fritillary, American Lady, Mangrove Skippers,
Tropical-checkered Skippers, and many others we were not able to identify.
On the way home, ten of us made a short stop at the
Celery Fields. Within 45
minutes we observed 24 different species.
The most notable species observed were the Black-necked Stilt,
Lesser Yellowlegs, Shrike, Blue-winged Teal, and several Monk Parakeets in
the process of building their nests.
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| April 20 - Fort DeSoto |
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A few members of the Peace River
Nature Photography Group traveled north to Fort DeSoto to try to capture
some images of migrants that are now returning north.
We spent most of our time around the mulberry tree area and the
east woods. Birds observed
included Indigo Buntings, Catbirds, Frigatebirds, Orchard Orioles,
American Redstart, Scarlet Tanager, Summer Tanager, Warblers (Blackpoll,
Black-throated Blue, Hooded, Palm, Prairie), Wood Thrush, and the
Louisiana Waterthrush.
Note: After hearing about sightings of
Bobolinks at the Celery Fields, I made a run up there on Sunday morning
(April 25). I found the field across from a farmer's pond, about 0.7
mile east on Raymond Road, that had the Bobolinks. There appeared to
be two or three small flocks numbering about 10-30 birds each, that would
flit in and out of the field. Posted two images of a male Bobolink
below.
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| April 27 - CREW Marsh Trails |
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Two fellow Auduboners and myself
traveled south to an area known as the CREW Marsh Trails.
(For directions, go to the Birding page and look under Collier
County.) The 5,000-acre Corkscrew Marsh is part of the Corkscrew Regional
Ecosystem Watershed (CREW) located in the northwest section of Collier
County. The Marsh Trail
System consists of three interconnected trails that traverse a part of the
Marsh. These trails vary in
length from 0.16 mile to 0.90 mile. The
trails are wide and well maintained.
Unfortunately, we only observed 20
different species of birds. More
notable birds observed included Great–crested Flycatchers, Blue-gray
Gnatcatchers, a Red-shouldered Hawk, several Swallow-tailed Kites
(overhead), an Eastern Towhee, several White-eyed Vireos, a Pileated
Woodpecker, and several Red-bellied Woodpeckers.
The marsh is quite dry now, which may account for the absence of
birds. There were quite a variety of wild flowers observed along
with several different species of butterflies.
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