Fort Myers Birding and Butterfly Watching - Part 2 Birding (Part 2 of 2)

Part 2 Birding


I had planned on lifering 10 extra species on this trip... In particular - Snowy Plover .... But I got skunked! No new lifers for me!

These were some of the birds I was hoping to see:

1. Mangrove Cuckoo
2. King Rail
3. Backmans Sparrow
4. Saltmarsh Sparrow
5. Snowy Plover
6. Least Tern (arrives late march)
7. Scissor Tailed Flycatcher
8. Short tailed Hawk
9. White tailed Kite
10. Monk Parakeet

Still... The birding wasn't a complete letdown. There were some decent sightings. Some photos below:

Backtrack Birding & Blogging : Biking at Ojibway Park - May 6th & May 8th 2018

***Editors Note: This was an unpublished posting from May 2018. Its being published in November 2018 so the context of the posting is passed now***

Since I spent the full day at Point Pelee yesterday, I figured I would go to my local forest and tried my luck at Black Oak Heritage Park today.  It was a pretty good trip. I had good looks at Black throated green Warbler, N. Parula, Brown Thrasher, Yellow throated Vireo and one of my favorite birds, a Red-headed Woodpecker!

The interesting thing about the Yellow throated Vireo is that I very clearly heard one  singing in a tree above the path I was driving my bike on. I just stopped my bike, put the kickstand up and immediately saw the Yellow throated Vireo! To my amazement, there was a pair of Vireos in this tree. Were they migrants or a mated pair that are in the process of nesting???

I started this post around May 6th - and had just left it incomplete and unpublished. I've added a photo of a Blue winged Warbler - which I saw at Ojibway just a few days after I took the photos in this posting. I guess if you consider the Pine Warblers, the Rusty Blackbirds, the Cerulean and Yellow throated Vireo that was seen at Ojibway --- it goes to show that there is decent birding to be had right here in West Windsor. I imagine many birds are simply going undetected because there are so few birders that bird the park.


Good birding!
Dwayne

May 10th Birding at Point Pelee

*Note: This posting was written on May 10th so its already a little dated in terms of context etc*

I took a "personal day" today (May 10th) and had the day off from work. After reading predictions from Ken Kaufman's blog and hearing all the rain last night, I figured that today would be a pretty good day at Point Pelee. I did get 85 or so species --- not bad considering I didn't even go to the Hillman Marsh shorebird cell.

Its strange - I don't know if the years of experience under my belt, or if its because I'm getting older, but I just don't seem to feel like there are many birds to look at when I go out. Its almost like I start to get  a little bored and I want to go home after lunch time. Maybe this Saturday will be a major "wave" day ... who knows.

One of my day's highlights was to see a Philadelphia Vireo near White Pine.  I also saw a White eyed vireo - which I think has been several years since I've seen one.  I found the Phily Vireo when I walked back to White Pine to put my jacket away. I found the white-eyed vireo by following a strange call that I was hearing out on woodland nature trail. The call sounded a little like "Quick three beers" --- but not convincingly enough like an Olive sided Flycatcher call. I ended up seeing the White eyed a surprisingly close views.

Other quick observations:
*Another bird that I have not seen for a while (years) was a Northern Mockingbird.
*I've had 2/2 attempts at seeing Kentucky Warbler on my last two trips to Point Pelee.
*I dipped on a reported female Cerulean Warbler today. I don't think I've ever photographed one - although I feel that I saw one many years ago at Skunks Misery.

On a side note, my phone - (LG G5) has an "LG Health App" which kind of acts like a "fit bit". One thing that my phone does is count my steps on a daily basis. Today I had the most steps I've ever taken since I've started using that option --- 22,000 steps --- over 16km!


Good birding!
Dwayne

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