Our Thursday birding group traveled south into Lee County this morning to Harns Marsh.  We arrived there about 8:30.  The sky was still overcast and foggy.  However, it burned off about an hour later.  We birded until noon, then went to Manatee Park to eat our lunch.

We saw some nice birds, including four Limpkins, two American Bitterns, one Roseatte Spoonbill, and, later in the morning, three Snail Kites.  There were a large number of Coots, but very few ducks.  We didn’t see any plovers, sandpipers, or yellowlegs, which was a bit unusual.  Maybe the water level was too high.

There were quite a few butterflies in the area, especially Queens.  We saw a fuzzy caterpillar crossing the road, which I think was a Salt Marsh Moth caterpillar (Estigmene acrea).  Thanks to some help from folks on BugGuide.net for their help with the identification.

We also saw quite a few snail eggs deposited on the vegetation by the water’s edge.  They were probably apple snail eggs, as the marsh has large numbers of these snails, which the Limpkin and Snail Kites feed on.

Following is the list of birds submitted to eBird.

This morning, our birding group (8 people) visited Prairie Creek Preserve, which is located off of US 17 a few miles north of Punta Gorda.  Most of the birds we saw were along the 4-mile access road on the way to the Preserve.  Some of the interesting birds seen included two Northern Harriers flying low across the fields and 71 Sandhill Cranes feeding in the fields.  We also saw a hawk that we were unable to identify because of the distance.  It appeared larger than the Red-tailed Hawk, which is our largest hawk in this area.  Following is the list of birds seen.

This morning I went over to the Circle B Bar Reserve, arriving there at 7:00, just in time to see wave after wave of White Pelicans flying over.  Unfortunately, the sky was overcast and dark, not the best conditions for taking photographs. However, they started returning about 2-3 hours later and the sun was out, much better for taking photographs.  The local Audubon chapter had their Christmas bird count last Saturday and the count for Circle B Bar had 7,000 White Pelicans, although many thought this was a conservative estimate.  The number may be as high as 10,000.  Watching this many large birds flying over and landing is a sight to behold.  The pelicans roost on the western edge of the Reserve just west of the trail Wading Bird Way.  They feed at Lake Hancock on the eastern edge of the Reserve.

I walked over to the marsh, then walked the Rabbit Marsh Trail that goes down the center of the marsh.  As usual, many birds everywhere.  There were about a hundred Wood Storks and a few Spoonbills feeding in the marsh by the beginning of Rabbit Marsh Trail. I did notice a very high population of Cormorants and a few Anhingas that roosted in several dead trees in the marsh.  There must have been at least a hundred of these birds on the trees.  There were a few species of ducks present, but not in large quantities.  I heard the County Commissioners banned duck hunting this season in the Reserve.  Maybe the duck population will increase if the ban is continued.

Other highlights included seeing about two dozen Glossy Ibis.  Unfortunately, I did not see the White-faced Ibis that has been reported feeding with them.  There was a flock of close to 50 Caspian Terns along Wading Bird Way.  I also saw a Limpkin in this area.  This Reserve has got to be one of the top 10 birding areas in the state.  Just fantastic.  Following is the list of observations I submitted to eBird.