Why Have I Not Been Birding?

Locks at the Cheshire Canal

As birders will talk, there has been an influx of migrants in the pst week and I have not taken the time to find the returning birds. My CT list this year is pathetically low, especially considering I started out with 70 species in January. This blog title may be a little misleading though because I have in fact been out. It's just that the majority of my efforts have been restricted to an hour lunchtime walk on the property at work. It seems that the other things in life have been getting in the way. It is still interesting though how even without "birding", I have had some rewarding bird things happen.


Painted Turtles

One bird event was while watching a Downy Woodpecker, from my deck, drumming away on the neighbors tree something large caught my eye. Changing focus, I watched a female Wild Turkey fly up to a tree top a couple yards away. Granted turkey are pretty common in the general area, my neighborhood is devoid of any woods, most lots being less than a 1/4 of an acre. She was clearly lost but after taking a glance around for a few minutes she seemed to have found a new direction and away she went.

I took a walk with some friends on the canal trail in Cheshire. The bird life was pretty ordinary. The Red-winged Blackbirds were singing and Common Grackle were flying overhead. A few Mallards were running around (litterally) and this one pair seemed to have decided the side of the path was a good place to nest. At least that's my assumption because the female refused move whenever anyone even came near them.


Mallard pair

On Easter I went to visit some friends in Orange. Lots of common birds singing and flying around. A great view of a Tufted Titmouse singing from an open perch was a nice compliment to the Sharp-shinned Hawk hunting in the neighbors yard.


Black-capped Chickadee snacking on a seed


Little Art-esque picture

I'll be in northern Vermont in a week for a long weekend. Time to make a list of the birds I want to see!

Rainy Day Excitement

Trumpeter Swans!

That's about all there is to say. Rumor has it that these birds are not listed (yet, there is a 2007 record as well) as having a record in CT before. Originally spotted by Brian, the ID was confirmed by many other birders. What's better than Trumpeter Swans in CT but Trumpeter Swans in Stratford!!!



With Sue joining, we hopped in the car at lunchtime and rushed over to see them. And for sure it was worth the time!! We found a place to park and walked back over to the easiest viewing spot. First impression was: this is not a Mute Swan! These beautiful swans were large and graceful looking. They were moving slowly across the pond, feeding along the way. Hopefully, they will hang around a few more days, until the rain stops and I can get some nicer shots!



Also, the Killdeer have made an appearance at work. I'm hoping that they decide to nest on campus, last year we had 2 that were hanging around most of the summer. On Friday I had three running around the guard station, here are 2 of the 3.

The final day

Babcock/Webb Wildlife Management Area is a location you might never hear of just because those who know about it want to keep it a secret. Today was my first visit and I'm sure it will be repeated. If super heroes are known to travel in fours, the super heros of this park would surely be Sandhill Crane, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Brown-headed Nuthatch, and Swallow-tail Kite. This was definitely a great way to finish off my vacation.


Red-cockaded Woodpecker

Most of the park is drivable on dirt roads where you may need to wait for a clearing to pass the cars coming in the opposite direction. The visitable section of this 79,013 acre park is mostly slash pine with some flooded meadows mixed in. Rather than telling you about it. Here are some pictures and the list.


Limpkin

Loggerhead Shrike

List: Northern Mockingbird, Gray Catbird, Bluejay, Boat-tailed Grackle, Common Yellow-throat, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Palm Warbler, Osprey, Swallow-tailed Kite, American Kestrel, Red-tailed Hawk, Bald Eagle, Logger-head Shrike, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Little Blue Heron, Limpkin, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Brown-headed Nuthatch, White-eyed Vireo, Brown Thrasher, Eastern Bluebird, Sandhill Crane, and other Warblers, I'll have to use some sleuthing to ID.

Brown-headed Nuthatch


Baby Sandhill Crane

Not a Birdy Day

Putting away the telephoto lens, the focus of today was to enjoy the scenery that makes up some of the most beautiful in Florida. Lovers Key State Park is one of my new favorite stops when in the Fort Myers area. Parking in the first main lot, you can either take the tram or the walk to the beach about 1/3 of a mile away over Inner Key to Lovers Key and some beautiful shoreline. This area is definitely more geared to the sunbather but still an Osprey nest near the parking lot and these Laughing Gulls lining up to watch the view were around.


Following the main road in a little further you get to the Black Island parking lot and trail. This morning I took the looking more and walking less approach. The birds around this area included, Northern Cardinal, Gray Catbird, Palm Warbler, and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.


The one thing I reallllly wanted to see was the Gopher Tortoise. But I didn't even though I did a pretty good job looking.


At home there was a pretty exciting new bird at the feeder. The male only showed up yesterday and left me with some guesses as to what it was. But with the female showing up today and the male showing more of it's breeding plummage, the ID of Indigo Bunting was straight forward. Here they are!

Shorebird Galore

Black Skimmers settling back down

Yesterday I headed back over to Bunche Beach first thing in the morning to see if I could get a few more shore birds under my belt. Luck was on my side, when I stepped onto the beach I was greeted with low tide and at least one thousand shore birds spread out as far as the eye could see. Another piece of luck, not another birder on the beach so I headed straight out over the sand to get close to the birds.


Western Sandpiper headed to breeding plummage

I will preface this entry (in the middle of it) by saying that I am horrible at shore bird identification. This is all new territory to me and I'm sure I'll mess up a bunch before getting it right. With that said I will attempt to describe what I was seeing. The first group of birds I walked up on were a mix of Sanderlings and Sandpipers. I wasn't sure about which they were and before I got more involved with trying to ID what they were I wanted to get some pictures as a record. I continued to walk a little bit and found a few Dunlin mixed in with the group as well.


Sanderling (who looks scared of his shadow)

A nice couple from Miami out doing some birding walked up at this point and pointed out the Piping Plovers that I hadn't gotten up to yet. I pointed out the Short-billed Dowitchers which were hanging out right at the waters edge. The husband informed me that the sandpipers were mostly Least Sandpipers. Looking back at my pictures though, they mostly seem to have dark legs and a few have reddish tinges on the heads and cheeks, indicating they are probably Western Sandpipers. Take a look above.


Piping Plover

Of the three Piping Plovers I saw, one of them was tagged with at least 4 leg bands. Also in the same area were Willet, Black-bellied Plover, and Killdeer. Brown Pelican flew over, Black Skimmers were huddled down further out, and Laughing Gulls were mixed in between.


Killdeer

Other birds around included: Red-shouldered Hawk, Bald Eagle (immature), Red-bellied Woodpecker, White Pelican, Least Sandpiper, Semi-palmated Plover, Tri-colored Heron, Double-crested Cormorant, Little Blue Heron, and White Ibis. I found a nice gentleman who was willing to look at some birds I had spotted out with the Skimmers and ID'ed them as Marbled Godwit! They were too far out for a picture but still an exciting spot!


Short-billed Dowitcher

All in all it was a nice way to start learning the shore birds. There was certainly LOTS of practice in identification.

Pecking of the Wood

Six-mile Cypress Slough was the target for yesterday mornings excursion and it once again came through with a plethora of species and all within easy viewing distance. This park is still relatively quiet on the human side of things although, with an addition of a nature center/museum last year this is quickly changing. In the past the 9:30 am guided tours would have maybe 5 people on them, yesterday when I passed the tour there were easily 15 people.

The Slough path itself is approximately 1.2 miles located off of.... Six-mile Cypress Blvd. Plenty of parking is available for $1 an hour. I didn't venture into the center itself so I'm not sure if there is a cost to look around inside. The trail starts right off the parking lot and immediately drops you into a young cypress stand. But I didn't even need to get that far before having some great birds. Looking around the parking lot I found 3 Swallow-tailed Kites perching in the treetops. I never saw them again once they left for the day. Also, in the parking lot was Tufted Titmouse and Red-bellied Woodpecker along with a few Warblers that flew over.

Swallow-tailed Kite

I did get a chance to see 4 woodpecker species total at this park. Pileated, Downy, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. This trip has also been a chance for me to start to learn the Warblers. I have never gotten into Warbler identification at all and it's proving a detriment this trip. I am however learning quickly especially with the more brightly feathered members of this group. The flush of warblers that were working the Slough this morning included: Common Yellow-throat, Palm Warbler, Northern Parula, Black and White Warbler, Blue-gray Gnatchatcher, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Yellow-throated Warbler. There were a few other non-descript warblers that I may try to get ID's on if I have pictures with distinguishable features.

Crappy picture of a Yellow-throated Warbler

Here are the rest of the species... American Coot, Common Moorhen, Tricolored Heron, Little Blue Heron (including immature white forms), White Ibis, Anhinga, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron, Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, Red-shouldered Hawk, Bluejay, Northern Cardinal, Gray Catbird, and Green Heron.

American Coot

In the afternoon I took a quick trip over to Cape Coral to check out another boardwalk trail, 4-mile Cove Park. The part of the trail that I walked was not good for birds, the cove itself yielded a single Anhinga. The trail pulled in a small flush of maybe 4 warblers, the only one I got a look at was a Black and White Warbler.

However since I was in Cape Coral and I knew of a couple of Burrowing Owl Spots, I decided to go take a peak and I was not disappointed. The nests are all within about 20 feet from the road side.

SUN!!!

Today was sunny finally, although the breeze still kept temperatures rather tepid for Florida. I headed out to Corkscrew Swap Sanctuary, known for it's unique opportunity to get close to wildlife found along the boardwalk. Once again there is plenty of information available online for this park located in Naples. Here is what I came across while at the park


Gray Catbird on the trail at Corkscrew

Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, Red-shouldered Hawk, Common Grackle, Boat-tailed Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Little Blue Heron, Gray Catbird, Common Yellowthroat, Northern Parula, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Black and White Warbler, Palm Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Downy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Tufted Titmouse, Mourning Dove, Northern Cardinal, and Eastern Phoebe.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher catching Gnats?

Once again I saw many of the same birds along the way as I have already stated for the past few days. One species of interest I saw again were the Swallow-tailed Kites, flying above the road. I also, spied 2 Kestrels sitting on power lines, one male and one female about half a mile apart. I may have neglected to mention before but I've seen many Loggerhead Shrike on the side of the road as well. Hopefully I'll have an opportunity to pull off and take a picture of these species.


What I ID'ed at a Blackpoll Warbler


Black and White Warbler

One lesson I have taken from today is that Warblers are difficult to take photographs of. No set plans for tomorrow but there are a couple of places I still want to hit.

White Ibis gnawing on a crayfish of some kind