Sep 2008

Sept 8: Ponce de Leon City Park

I haven’t been birding much this summer. In early August, I went over to Bayshore Park for a couple of hours, but only saw seven species of birds. I did capture a nice image of a Little Blue Heron.

This morning, I combined my water monitoring duties with bird watching. I spent two hours, from 7:15 to 9:15 at Ponce de Leon Park in Punta Gorda. The first hour was spent at the dock and the second hour walking around the Park. The sky was partly cloudy and the tide was high. Thus, the only peep seen was a Spotted Sandpiper. Not only did I keep track of the number of species seen, but also the quantity seen. I entered the data into the Cornell University database found at www.ebird.org. Following is report of the data I entered.

Location:     Ponce de Leon City Park

Observation date:     9/8/08

Number of species:     18

Mottled Duck     2

Great Blue Heron     2

Great Egret     1

Snowy Egret     11

Little Blue Heron     2

Tricolored Heron     1

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron     2

White Ibis     8

Roseate Spoonbill     1

Black Vulture     1

Osprey     1

Spotted Sandpiper     1

Laughing Gull     17

Herring Gull     1

Royal Tern     3

Sandwich Tern     2

Mourning Dove     2

Belted Kingfisher     1

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Following are a few images taken during this trip. (For a larger view, double click on the desired image.) Note: The image of the Gopher Tortoise was taken in my back yard.

September 24: Ollie’s Pond Park

This morning I went to Ollie’s Pond Park, arriving there about 7:45 and stayed until 9:45. I walked the complete path around the Park. It was a beautiful day, sunny and temperature in the low 70s. My most interesting observation was a Pileated Woodpecker. The Pond once again has water in it. However, there is a lot of grass in the pond as a result of the exposed bottom during the past spring. Following is the e-bird report on my bird observations.

Location:     Ollie's Pond Park

Observation date:     9/24/08

Number of species:     17

Anhinga     1

Great Egret     2

Snowy Egret     2

Little Blue Heron     4

White Ibis     1

Black Vulture     1

Common Moorhen     3

Mourning Dove     2

Red-bellied Woodpecker     2

Downy Woodpecker     2

Pileated Woodpecker     1

Blue Jay     4

Northern Mockingbird     4

Palm Warbler (Western)     2

Northern Cardinal     2

Common Grackle     2

Boat-tailed Grackle     2

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

September 26: Port Charlotte Beach Park

I visited the Port Charlotte Beach Park this evening, primarily to see if there were any shorebirds around on an outgoing tide. I only saw two Semipalmated Plovers. However, there were many Laughing Gulls and Terns (mainly Sandwich) preparing for their nightly roost, mostly on the piers east of the beach. Following is an e-bird report of my observations.

Location:     Port Charlotte Beach Park

Observation date:     9/26/08

Notes:     Gulls and Terns were roosting on piers.  Tide was outgoing.

Number of species:     10

Double-crested Cormorant     1

Semipalmated Plover     2

Laughing Gull     83

Forster's Tern     3

Royal Tern     10

Sandwich Tern     70

Eurasian Collared-Dove     5

Mourning Dove     4

Northern Mockingbird     1

Boat-tailed Grackle     7

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