This afternoon, Tricia and I took a drive to Apollo Plaza to see and take photos of the Killdeer chicks. What a joy to see these little fuzzballs with their over-sized legs and feet. I think I missed out on photographing any Killdeer last year, so when I saw one in the distance at 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary this morning, it got me thinking that I should not miss out again this year. Just because they’re cute.
Author: mattzeit
Orange County Red-necked Phalarope, 5/23/15
*Click on photos to enlarge.*
I was on my way out the door this morning when I I received a text from Bruce Nott saying he had a phalarope on Orange Lake. He had originally located the bird yesterday, but the bird was quite distant and it had not been determined if it was a Wilson’s or a Red-necked. I made my way over and I was luckily able to locate the bird pretty quickly (that’s a small bird on a big lake!). At first, the views were a bit distant but eventually the bird got a little bit closer for some better looks in my scope. I called John Haas to discuss the identification of the bird; he eventually joined me and arrived while the bird was still in relatively close. He immediately looked at the bird in my scope and identified the bird as a RED-NECKED PHALAROPE, noting the completely vibrant red hind neck – it was totally red, there was no white stripe down the center as you would see in a Wilson’s Phalarope. In addition to this, the dark gray cap versus the pale gray cap of a Wilson’s was easily discerned. I managed to get some photos, which was tough because I struggled just to find that bird in the camera! The bird was still quite distant for photos and all the shots in this post are heavily cropped. Huge thanks and congratulations to Bruce!
Please Note: ORANGE LAKE HAS NO PUBLIC ACCESS! The lake is private and there are no public viewing areas.
Florida 2015 – SNAIL KITES!
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One of my target birds during our trip to Florida was the SNAIL KITE. When I checked on eBird before we got down to the Fort Myers area, it looked very likely that I would have to do some traveling if I was to see this federally endangered species. But, sometimes you get lucky. Twice. First, we met another birder (whose name I never got) at J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge and she shared with us a super location for Snail Kites – they could be seen hunting their favorite food, the apple snail in the canal that leads into Harn’s Marsh in Fort Myers. We went for them the next evening, as we arrived and parked the car, I could immediately see a Snail Kite over the canal – Yes! There were three kites present and they were actively hunting. Unfortunately, from our vantage point the light was terrible and the birds were all silhouetted. That’s when we got our second lucky break – we met local bird photographer Cindy Reilly. She took us to an amazing location just up the canal a bit, where there were 3 additional Snail Kites hunting. Huge thanks to Cindy – because of her we got amazing looks at these birds, who seemed completely unfazed by our presence. I was, however, still fighting the light for photos; it was getting later and some clouds had rolled in. I cranked up the ISO on my camera and did the best I could. I felt like I would like another try for some photos, so I went back two days later in the morning. The birds were not hunting, but I did manage to get some better perched photos of the male and the immature bird. What a super birding experience, so lucky and awesome.
6 1/2 Station Shorebirds, 5/19/15
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QUICK POST: Wow, it was a REALLY great afternoon for shorebirds at the 6 1/2 Station Road Sanctuary Citgo Pond. Here’s my list:
Short-billed Dowitcher (55!!!)
Dunlin (2)
Semipalmated Sandpiper (2)
Least Sandpiper (2)
Killdeer (1)
Spotted Sandpiper (2)
A Serious Case of PFBS
Since my return from Florida I have gotten out and done a lot of local birding whereI have seen and heard many birds, yet it has not felt overly fulfilling. I was thinking about it today and that’s when I realized that I am not well; I am suffering from a case of Post Florida Birding Syndrome. A while back, Linda Scrima warned me that this would happen. Who would have guessed that it would difficult to transition from taking super close-up photos of multiple life birds every day to trying to locate the smallest of birds among the leaves in the highest treetops?
The good news is that I think I’ve found a remedy: I’m thinking back on all the amazing first-of-the-year birds that I’ve had in the eight days since I’ve been back. The list is 50 species long just for Orange County! What better indication is there of all the great birding that is going on right now? And the Mearns Bird Club had their BREAK 100 event this weekend; every team but one had over 100 species in 24 hours! How awesome is that? Additionallhy, while they were not Florida-close, I did manage to get some decent photos during the week. It makes me think about what a great pastime birding is, how there are amazing birds at every turn and that you never know what the next big thing will be.
For those that are interested, these are the new birds added to my Orange County List in the last eight days:
Florida 2015 – Sanibel Island
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The J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island was definitely my favorite of all the birding spots I hit in southwest Florida. Like Montezuma NWR and Edwin B. Forsythe NWR, the refuge has a Wildlife Drive. The drive is five miles long and the birding is incredible, with many species of birds present, and they are usually close to the road for fantastic looks. A lot of folks ride bikes through Wildlife Drive, I think this would be an enjoyable way to experience it. The refuge is also really pretty and if you get there early the light is super for photographs. I made it out to the refuge two mornings in a row, the first day I was on my own and the second day Tricia joined me – there was no way she was going to miss out on seeing ROSEATE SPOONBILLS. The spoonbills surprised me in how beautiful and charismatic they were. I have, of course, seen many photos of the birds and I was never particularly moved, but seeing them in person changed that for sure. On the second day, after lunch we also went to Bailey Tract to go for the BLACK-NECKED STILTS We got really good looks at the birds, but due to the time of day the light was very harsh for photos.
Over the two days I had 43 bird species and a river otter between Wildlife Drive and Bailey Tract. Ten of the bird species were life birds for me (although the Anhinga and Brown Pelicans I had already seen outside of the refuge).
MOTTLED DUCK
Pied-billed Grebe
MAGNIFICENT FRIGATEBIRD
Double-crested Cormorant
ANHINGA
American White Pelican
BROWN PELICAN
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
REDDISH EGRET
Green Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
ROSEATE SPOONBILL
Osprey
SWALLOW-TAILED KITE
Black-bellied Plover
BLACK-NECKED STILT
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Willet
Sanderling
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
Eurasian Collared-Dove
COMMON GROUND-DOVE
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Great Crested Flycatcher
Fish Crow
Grey Catbird
American Redstart
CAPE MAY WARBLER
Northern Parula
Blackpoll Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
Nearly forgot – Tricolored Heron!
Florida 2015 – Bunche Beach
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I love shorebirds. I really love shorebirds, but boy can they be difficult to identify. Especially when you are at a beach in another state a thousand miles away and you really haven’t done your homework.
I got several recommendations to go to Bunche Beach while I was in Florida, and I ended up going there early in the morning on two different days. On the first day, the number of shorebird species I had was on the low side; two photographers were there ahead of me and were literally chasing the birds around. I did better on the second day when I basically had the beach to myself. What a great joy to have all these beautiful shorebirds in perfect, gorgeous light. But then, of course, you have to identify them. I struggled as I sorted through the birds, but I think I eventually figured them all out. Here is my list of shorebirds I had for the two days; if you see any of the photos here misidentified, please comment to help me get it right – thanks! Life birds are in all caps.
American Oystercatcher
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Willet
MARBLED GODWIT
Ruddy Turnstone
RED KNOT
Sanderling
Dunlin
Least Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Bunche Beach is a great location and I had more good birds than just the shorebirds. I enjoyed watching a large group of Black Skimmers flying in unison over the water in the distance; I estimated at least 65 birds were there. When they came to rest on a distant sandbar, I noticed that there were approximately a dozen ROYAL TERNS there as well. I also did well with wading birds, including: Great Blue Heron, Little Blue Heron, REDDISH EGRET, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, White Ibis, and five ROSEATE SPOONBILLS did a flyby on that second morning. Beautiful birds!
Orange County State Parks 5/10/15
QUICK POST: I hit two state parks that are close to home this morning, Sterling Forest State Park and Goosepond Mountain State Park.
GOOSEPOND MOUNTAIN: I got here very early this morning and had the place to myself, which was very enjoyable. I walked the trails there for probably 4 miles or so and saw or heard 38 species. Highlights included: Ovenbird, Common Yellowthroat, Blue-winged Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Eastern Towhee, Scarlet Tanager, Spotted Sandpiper, and hearing a Black-billed Cuckoo. I tried to wait out that bird, I heard it call 3 times, but never close by and I never got a look at the bird.
STERLING FOREST STATE PARK: It was not the optimum time of day to go here after walking Goosepond for a while, but I figured I would give it a shot. I walked the power cut at the end of Ironwood Drive; I had a total of 20 species. Here’s a list of the more noteworthy birds: Prairie Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, American Redstart, Yellow Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, and Yellow-throated Vireo. I also had one unidentified warbler that sounded vaguely like the squeaky wheel of a Black-and-white Warbler to me, but when I caught a glimpse of the bird and I thought I saw a flash of yellow.
Florida Starter and the Resumption of Local Birding
Well, it’s hard to beat the birding in southwest Florida! Birds were seemingly everywhere and I made it out to many great spots during the week that Tricia and I were there. I took loads of photos and its is going to take a little while to get through them, a task that has been complicated with some computer problems upon my return. I’m writing this post on my iPad, which is also what I used to edit the photographs. To say this is less than ideal is a gross understatement. With any luck, I will get this squared away in the next day or so.
Meanwhile, this morning I got out and did some local birding. I met up with Maria Loukeris and Linda Scrima early and we headed to Garret Mountain Reservation in Woodland Park, NJ. We had visions of low flying warblers in perfect light, but unfortunately that was not to be. Foggy, cool conditions with poor light was more like it. We saw or heard 27 species as we walked around the reservation. As far as warblers go, we had 7 species: Northern Parula, Yellow, Black-throated Blue, Yellow-rumped, Pine, Black-and-white, and Common Yellowthroat. A personal highlight of the visit was seeing a single Least Sandpiper in a mud flat on one of the small ponds there. We decided to try our luck elsewhere and headed to Pochuck Mountain State Forest in Pine Island, NY. As we drove, the weather cleared up and it started to become sunny and warmer. We did much better at this location with both birds and photos. While we did not have a large number of species (23), we made up for it in quality. Our best birds were: Worm-eating Warbler, Wilson’s Warbler, and Swainson’s Thrush, all three of which were lifers for both Linda and Maria. We also got a great look at a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, which is one of those birds that I struggle to get photos of. It was a great walk in the woods and was a nice way to finish up the day of birding.
Florida Bound
Tomorrow night, Tricia and I are heading to Bonita Springs, Florida for a week’s vacation. I’m excited as I plan on doing a fair amount of birding while we are there. I am going to post if I find the time while were are down there, otherwise I will post next weekend – I’m hoping for some good birds!