On Tuesday morning, I joined a small birding group going to Myakka River State Park.  We

met in Port Charlotte and traveled via Kings Highway and SR72 to the Park.  Along SR72

we observed several interesting birds, including three Caracara, at least one American Kestrel,

several Sandhill Cranes, and one very colorful Eastern Meadowlark.  Although sunny, it was a

windy and cool day.  Many of the water birds at the north end of the lake were huddled on the

north shore to reduce their exposure to the north wind.  Even with a scope, it was hard to

identify them.  Following is an eBird report that I submitted of my observations in the Park.  

Location:     Myakka River State Park

Observation date:     12/2/08

Number of species:     32

Green-winged Teal     20       Red-shouldered Hawk   3

Double-crested Cormorant  3    Limpkin   1    

Anhinga     1                  Killdeer   5

Great Blue Heron     3         Black-necked Stilts   16

Great Egret     8              Greater Yellowlegs   2

Snowy Egret     12             Lesser Yellowlegs   1

Little Blue Heron     3        Least Sandpiper   20   

Tricolored Heron     2         Long-billed Dowitcher   30

White Ibis     25              Forster’s Tern   14

Glossy Ibis     14             Belted Kingfisher   1

Wood Stork     12              Pileated Woodpecker   1

Black Vulture     80           American Crow   5

Turkey Vulture     20          Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   3

Osprey     2                   Pine Warbler   2

Bald Eagle     2               Palm Warbler   12

Northern Harrier     2         Boat-tailed Grackle   3

Following are a few images taken during this trip.  (For a larger view, double click on the desired image.) 

Tony Licata, Dave Lancaster and I traveled to the East coast this morning to kook for the
Ash-throated Flycatcher and Fork-tailed Flycatcher that have been reported the last 

several days at Pelican Island NWR.  We left Punta Gorda at 6:30 and arrived there at 9:30.
We parked in the parking lot at the north end of Jungle Trail.

We immediately saw a small group of people observing a bird in the field across the road.  

Lo and behold, it was the Fork-tailed Flycatcher.  We watched the bird for the next hour.

Although we had good looks in the scope, it never flew close to the road, so we were not

able to get really nice pictures of it.  Several persons in the group mentioned that they had

seen the Ash-throated Flycatcher earlier, but had not seen it recently.

We decided to drive further into the Refuge to visit the observation tower that looked out

over Pelican Island.  Interesting birds seen from the tower included an Oystercatcher and

Reddish Egret.  We drove back to our original location and found the group excitedly looking

at another bird, the Ash-throated Flycatcher.  It was closer, so we had some better picture

taking opportunities.  So, we had an excellent trip with all of us picking up two new birds for

our Florida list.  Following is an eBird report I submitted of my observations in the Refuge.

Location:     Jungle Trail

Observation date:     12/4/08

Number of species:     26

Blue-winged Teal     1         Osprey   2

Hooded Merganser     5         Black-bellied Plover   1

Pied-billed Grebe     2        American Oystercatcher   1

American White Pelican   8     Willet   1

Brown Pelican     3            Common Ground-Dove   1

Great Egret     2              Red-bellied Woodpecker   2

Little Blue Heron     1        Eastern Phoebe   2

Reddish Egret     1            Ash-throated Flycatcher   1

Cattle Egret     53            Fork-tailed Flycatcher   1

White Ibis     2               Blue Jay   2

Wood Stork     5               Gray Catbird   2

Black Vulture     3            Northern Mockingbird   1

Turkey Vulture     3           Palm Warbler   3

Following are a few images taken during this trip.  (For a larger view, double click on the

desired image.)  

During the past week, I visited the Prairie Creek Preserve (for directions click here) three

different days; on Sunday morning Dec 7, Thursday morning Dec 11 with a small group of 

birders, and this morning.  The Thursday morning trip had completely overcast skies with

rain commencing about 2 hours into the visit.

Birds seen on all three visits included Northern Harrier, American Kestrel, Killdeer, Loggerhead

Shrikes, Eastern Phoebes, Eastern Meadowlarks, Mourning Doves, Black and Turkey Vultures,

and Palm Warblers.  Birds seen on one or two of the trips included Great Blue Herons, Cattle

and Great Egrets, White Ibis, Wood Storks, Red-shouldered Hawks, Caracara, Blue and Scrub

Jays, Mockingbirds, Pine Warbler, House Wren, Tree Swallows, Grackles, Sandhill Cranes, 

Blue-headed Vireo, and Red-winged Blackbirds.  This is a fun place to bird with much of the

time spent watching and photographing from your car.

Following are a few images taken during these trips.  (For a larger view, double click on the

desired image.)  

This morning I met Cathy Olson and Gregg Klowden for a trip to Harns Marsh in Lee County.

We left the Sweet Bay parking lot at 7:00 am and arrived at Harns Marsh around 7:45 am.

There were a group of people from the Lee County Bird Patrol already there.  Cathy had the

key to the gate, which enabled us to travel around the marsh in our cars.  (For directions,
click here.) 

One thing very noticeable was the large number of Apple Snail shells along the shore.  This

is the reason there are Snail Kites and Limpkins in the area.  I saw about a half dozen of 

each of these birds.  This  marsh is a very birdy place and seemingly not well known.  It is

not a public recreational park, but it is open to the public for fishing and birding, although

one has to walk the path rather than drive.

Following is a report of my observations submitted to eBird.

Location:     Harnes Marsh (North)

Observation date:     12/20/08

Notes: Species reported are only those seen by me, not the total by the

group.

Number of species:     38

Mottled Duck   4		Red-shouldered Hawk    2

Blue-winged Teal   3		American Kestrel   2 

Ring-necked Duck   8		Common Moorhen   4 

Pied-billed Grebe   2		American Coot   200 

Double-crested Cormorant  3	Limpkin   6 

Anhinga   3			Sandhill Crane   3 

Great Blue Heron   3		Killdeer   3 

Great Egret   3			Wilson's Snipe   1 		

Snowy Egret   2			Red-bellied Woodpecker   1 		

Little Blue Heron   3		Northern Flicker   1 

Tricolored Heron   3		Eastern Phoebe   2 

Cattle Egret   6		Blue Jay   7 

Black-crowned Night-Heron  1	Tree Swallow   45

White Ibis   2			Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   1 		

Glossy Ibis   3			American Robin   12 

Black Vulture   30		Palm Warbler   2 

Turkey Vulture  20		Savannah Sparrow   11 

Osprey   2			Red-winged Blackbird   4 

Snail Kite   5			Boat-tailed Grackle   4 

Following are a few images taken during these trips.  (For a larger view, double click on the

desired image.)