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| July 8: Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary |
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This morning, John Livernois and I
traveled south to the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, located in northern
Collier County, arriving there about 8:30. The primary purpose of this
visit was to see and photograph the Ghost Orchid, a very rare orchid. A
single blossoming plant was discovered last year at Corkscrew. This
same plant blossomed again in the last week or two.
We were quite surprised to learn
that the swamp has been dry, due to minimal rainfall the past year and
early this year. It was about a mile walk along the boardwalk to the
location of the orchid. Staffers had set up a spotting scope looking at
the orchid, which was about 150 ft away. Even with the scope pointing
at the plant, it was still difficult to find.
We set up our cameras with 400 mm
lenses on tripods. We also used 1.4x teleconverters, making the
effective focal length of our setups equal to 900 mm. There were only
several spots where one could get a clear unobstructed view of the
orchid. If you got too far to the right or left, a branch would obscure
the view. Lucky for us, there were very few people stopping by to view
the orchid. It was quite hot and muggy, causing one’s glasses to fog up
when looking in the viewfinder. After capturing a few images we started
back. There were no water birds to be seen, due to the lack of water.
We did spot one Red-shouldered Hawk sitting quite close to the
boardwalk. There were a number of small birds around, such as Grackles,
Carolina Wrens, Mockingbirds, and Woodpeckers. By the time we got back
to the visitor’s center, we felt a few drops of rain. Good timing.
Following are a few images taken during
this trip. (For a larger view, double click on the desired image.)
The left-most image is a full-frame image taken directly from the
camera. The second image from the left is a cropped image showing the
Orchid in more detail. The third image from the left is a cropped
image taken from a different angle. |
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| June 27: Punta Gorda Burrowing Owls |
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On Friday morning, I decided to go
into Punta Gorda Isles and check on the status of two Burrowing Owl
nests I was aware of. The first one was on Tropicana. This nest had
four young juveniles; one adult was seen watching over them. It was
interesting to note that the eye color of the juveniles ranged from dark
to pale yellow. None had, at this time, the bright yellow eyes usually
seen in these owls.
The second nest I visited was on
Colony Point. There were two juveniles along with two adults watching
over them. These birds, including the juveniles, had bright yellow
eyes. These juveniles, as well as the others on Tropicana, were nearly
full grown.
Following are a few images taken during
this trip. (For a larger view, double click on the desired image.)
Note the bright yellow eyes in the lower right image compared with the
dark eyes in the image on the left of it. |
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| June 13: Rampart Blvd ditch and Walmart marsh |
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For the past several days, I noticed
four Roseate Spoonbills feeding, along with other wading birds, in the
drainage ditch along Rampart Blvd between Walgreens and the I-75
overpass in Port Charlotte. This morning I decided to visit the ditch
and obtain some pictures of the Spoonbills. I arrived there at 730 a.m.
and, guess what, no Spoonbills. I did take some images of a Tricolored
Heron periodically flying over and dipping in the water. Other birds
seen included Glossy and White Ibis, Great and Snowy Egrets, and a Great
Blue Heron.
Around 8:00, I decided to drive over
to the marshy area in back of the Walmarts on Kings Highway. Lo and
behold, mixed in with the various wading birds were four Spoonbills
about half way out in the marsh. Other birds seen included Little Blue
and Tricolored Herons, Great and Snowy Egrets, Moorhens, Killdeer, and
eight Sandhill Cranes on the far bank.
Following are a few images taken during
this trip. (For a larger view, double click on the desired image.) |
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| May 10: Ollie's Pond |
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Based on a conversation I had with a
friend, who stated that he had seen several Stilt Sandpipers at Ollie’s
Pond yesterday and the day before, I decided to visit Ollie’s Pond this
morning. I arrived at 7:45 and stayed until 10:00. Much of the pond
has dried up; I suspect it will be completely dry in another week or
two.
Unfortunately, I didn’t see any Stilt Sandpipers. Neither did two other
birders, who I saw while there. Shorebirds seen included Least and
Western Sandpipers, Killdeer, and a single Lesser Yellowlegs. There
were quite a number of wading birds, including Egrets (Great & Snowy)
and Herons (Great Blue, Little Blue, Green, and Tricolor). Along the
trail I saw the usual Red-winged Blackbirds, Cardinals, Blue Jays,
Mockingbirds, Mourning Doves, a Brown Thrasher, and a Killdeer on a
nest.
Following are a few images taken during
this trip. (For a larger view, double click on the desired image.) |
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For summaries of earlier trips, click on Archives.
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