Friday, November 28, 2014

Anticipation At Felda's Church Road

A 13 November sunrise visit was made to Church Road with hopes of observing Western Kingbirds and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers seen last year.


The Great Blue Heron above (image 1) was photographed at Church Road in November 2014.

The Crested Caracaras all took flight from their roosts before sunrise this particular day which I considered unusual. They would not be seen again in the ensuing hours, thus no images of them this week.


The Red-shouldered Hawk above (image 2) was photographed at Church Road in November 2014.


The Common Grackle above (image 3) was photographed at Church Road in November 2014.


The Palm Warbler above (image 4) was photographed at Church Road in November 2014.


The Northern Rough-winged Swallow above (image 5) was photographed at Church Road in November 2014.


The Red-shouldered Hawk above (image 6) was photographed at Church Road in November 2014.

Northern Rough-winged Swallows had returned in decent numbers of at least a couple dozen. A few Tree Swallows were mixed in with them. It is downright fun to attempt to photograph their flight.


The Killdeer above (image 7) was photographed at Church Road in November 2014.


The Northern Rough-winged Swallow above (image 8) was photographed at Church Road in November 2014.


The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher above (image 9) was photographed at Church Road in November 2014.


The American Kestrel above (image 10) was photographed at Church Road in November 2014.


The American Kestrel above (image 11) was photographed at Church Road in November 2014.

At one point a Red-shouldered Hawk hopped along the ground about twenty feet behind be before settling briefly on a fence post. This bird was possibly the mate of the RSHA perched atop the oak tree adjacent to the canal.


The Mourning Dove above (image 12) was photographed at Church Road in November 2014.


The Tree Swallow above (image 13) was photographed at Church Road in November 2014.


The Red-shouldered Hawk above (image 14) was photographed at Church Road in November 2014.


The Eastern Phoebe above (image 15) was photographed at Church Road in November 2014.


The Tricolored Heron above (image 16) was photographed at Church Road in November 2014.

The specialty birds regrettably remained absent this day.


The Northern Rough-winged Swallow above (image 17) was photographed at Church Road in November 2014.


The Tree Swallow above (image 18) was photographed at Church Road in November 2014.

Friday, November 21, 2014

Winging It At Harns Marsh Preserve

While I've often referred to Bunche Beach Preserve as my favorite wildlife venue, an early November sunrise visit was made to my second favorite called Harns Marsh Preserve.


The American Coot above (image 1) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.

What immediately was obvious was the significant increase in the number of waterfowl present which exceeded their numbers personally seen at the peak of the season last year.


The Ring-necked Duck above (image 2) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.


The Ring-necked Duck above (image 3) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.


The Northern Harrier above (image 4) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.


The Northern Harrier above (image 5) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.


The Pied-billed Grebe above (image 6) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.

The Crested Caracara seen on my previous visit to Harns a few weeks earlier was absent on this trip. I also failed to see or hear Great Horned Owl which was heard two visits earlier.


The Palm Warbler above (image 7) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.


The Cattle Egret above (image 8) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.


The Sandhill Crane above (image 9) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.


The Sandhill Crane above (image 10) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.


The Sandhill Crane above (image 11) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.

It was fun to see a Northern Harrier if only at a great distance. It was not so fun to see a Sandhill Crane that appeared to be afflicted with disease on one of its feet.


The Sandhill Crane above (image 12) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.


The Sandhill Crane above (image 13) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.


The Belted Kingfisher above (image 14) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.


The Cattle Egret above (image 15) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.


Ron Bishop above (image 16) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.

Lee County Bird Patrol volunteer Ron Bishop was seen at Harns this day. Ron filled me in on the Purple Gallinule with chick he had reported at the preserve earlier in the month.


The Eastern Phoebe above (image 17) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.


The Sandhill Crane above (image 18) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.


The Eastern Phoebe above (image 19) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.


The Palm Warbler above (image 20) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.


The Black Vulture above (image 21) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.

Before catching a glimpse of what may have been the male gallinule, Ron and I had the good fortune of observing a pair of American Bittern in flight.


The Tropical Checkered-Skipper above (image 22) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.


The Tricolored Heron above (image 23) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.


The American Bittern above (image 24) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.


The American Bittern above (image 25) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.


The Purple Gallinule above (image 26) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.

A new butterfly personally seen was readily identified by perusing the Florida butterfly gallery of Larry Manfredi.


The Purple Gallinule above (image 27) was photographed at Harns Marsh Preserve in November 2014.

My thanks to Maria for the idea to number the images.

Friday, November 14, 2014

Bunche Beach Preserve In Late October

A late October sunrise visit was made to Bunche Beach Preserve's west channel in search of American Avocets.


The sunrise above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.

The low tide at the time offered many bird flocks. I passed about 15 Greater Yellowlegs with a few Marbled Godwit that were loafing at the water's edge quite distant from my path.


The Osprey above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.


The Tricolored Heron above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.


The Least Sandpiper above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.


The Marbled Godwit (center) with Greater Yellowlegs above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.


The juvenile Snowy Egret above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.

Peeps were intentionally neglected as there was a lot of flight activity from all directions that I preferred to focus on. As visits to Bunche Beach Preserve go, this was not a stellar morning.


The White Ibis above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.


The wildlife photographer above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.


The Belted Kingfisher above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.


The Belted Kingfisher above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.


The White Ibis above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.

A highlight of the morning was certainly the flyby of Northern Shoveler that approached so quickly I consider myself fortunate to have gotten the few photographs of them that I did.


The Reddish Egret above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.


The Northern Shoveler with Blue-winged Teal above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.


The Northern Shoveler above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.


The White Ibis with prey above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.


The juvenile Snowy Egret with prey above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.

With the glimpse of a pair of Yellow-crowned Night-Heron that seemingly appeared out of nowhere, I waded in the channel to closely observe the mature bird that appeared to drift in and out of a trance.


The juvenile Snowy Egret with prey above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.


The juvenile Snowy Egret with prey above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.


The Wood Stork above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.


The Wood Stork above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.


The White Ibis above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.

Tom Obrock advised me the morning before the publication of this article that he observed a Horned Grebe at Bunche Beach. A gorgeous species even in its winter plumage.


The Reddish Egret above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.


The Yellow-crowned Night-Heron above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.


The Yellow-crowned Night-Heron above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.

My next trip to Bunche will offer a long overdue trip to the east channel.


The Yellow-crowned Night-Heron above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.


The Yellow-crowned Night-Heron above was photographed at Bunche Beach Preserve in October 2014.