The main attraction is the J.N. "Ding" Darling NWR, which includes a 4 mile drive along dikes with impoundment pools and inlets on either side. An amazing amount of shorebirds and waders are around, particularly during low tide, including the spectacular Roseate Spoonbill, Anhingas, Reddish Egrets and Wood Storks lurking in the trees.
Wood Stork was one of our "target" birds, along with Limpkin and Snail Kite. We found 6 storks roosting in a tree the first trip around "Ding" and traveled to a storm water collection facility about 45 minutes away on the mainland--Harnes Marsh--to find the Limpkins and kites.
We'd gone down to Corkscrew Sanctuary, the site where the Audubon Society originally began protecting the egrets, to find the Limpkins, with no luck, but instead we were rewarded with a beautiful look at a PAINTED BUNTING. We had to hang around a feeder for a while but it finally showed itself out in the open, its colors incredibly intense.
Ever since I got my first Peterson, I'd wanted to see a Painted Bunting, but looking at the range maps I saw that it was mostly in the Ozarks of Arkansas and I knew I was never going to Arkansas. Florida, happily, is the northernmost part of their winter range, and Corkscrew gets them fairly regularly. A volunteer saw us waiting near the feeder and said that "patience" will be rewarded. 10 minutes later, it was.
We also added Sandwich Tern to our life list. This isn't an especially rare bird, but they don't come up to our area very much. The first day we were on Sanibel, exploring the beach near out hotel we found a flock of them.
My "wish I had the camera" moment came at Bunche Beach (named in honor of Ralph Bunche, since the beach was the only one set aside for African-Americans during the segregation era) when a couple of hundred Black Skimmers flew over, around, in front and in back of Shari. They bark like little dogs.
The full list for 12/7 to 12/14:
1
|
Mottled Duck
|
2
|
Blue-winged Teal
|
3
|
Hooded Merganser
|
4
|
Red-breasted Merganser
|
5
|
Pied-billed Grebe
|
6
|
American White Pelican
|
7
|
Brown Pelican
|
8
|
Double-crested Cormorant
|
9
|
Anhinga
|
10
|
Magnificent Frigatebird
|
11
|
Great Blue Heron
|
12
|
Great Egret
|
13
|
Snowy Egret
|
14
|
Little Blue Heron
|
15
|
Tricolored Heron
|
16
|
Reddish Egret
|
17
|
Cattle Egret
|
18
|
Green Heron
|
19
|
Black-crowned Night-Heron
|
20
|
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
|
21
|
White Ibis
|
22
|
Glossy Ibis
|
23
|
Roseate Spoonbill
|
24
|
WOOD STORK
|
25
|
Black Vulture
|
26
|
Turkey Vulture
|
27
|
Osprey
|
28
|
SNAIL KITE
|
29
|
Bald Eagle
|
30
|
Northern Harrier
|
31
|
Cooper's Hawk
|
32
|
Red-shouldered Hawk
|
33
|
American Kestrel
|
34
|
Merlin
|
35
|
Common Moorhen
|
36
|
American Coot
|
37
|
LIMPKIN
|
38
|
Black-bellied Plover
|
39
|
Semipalmated Plover
|
40
|
Spotted Sandpiper
|
41
|
Greater Yellowlegs
|
42
|
Willet
|
43
|
Lesser Yellowlegs
|
44
|
Marbled Godwit
|
45
|
Ruddy Turnstone
|
46
|
Red Knot
|
47
|
Sanderling
|
48
|
Western Sandpiper
|
49
|
Least Sandpiper
|
50
|
Dunlin
|
51
|
Short-billed Dowitcher
|
52
|
Laughing Gull
|
53
|
Ring-billed Gull
|
54
|
Herring Gull
|
55
|
Forster's Tern
|
56
|
Royal Tern
|
57
|
SANDWICH TERN
|
58
|
Black Skimmer
|
59
|
Rock Pigeon
|
60
|
Mourning Dove
|
61
|
Common Ground-Dove
|
62
|
Belted Kingfisher
|
63
|
Red-bellied Woodpecker
|
64
|
Downy Woodpecker
|
65
|
Pileated Woodpecker
|
66
|
Eastern Phoebe
|
67
|
Loggerhead Shrike
|
68
|
Blue Jay
|
69
|
American Crow
|
70
|
Fish Crow
|
71
|
Tree Swallow
|
72
|
Tufted Titmouse
|
73
|
Carolina Wren
|
74
|
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
|
75
|
American Robin
|
76
|
Gray Catbird
|
77
|
Yellow-rumped Warbler
|
78
|
Yellow-throated Warbler
|
79
|
Palm Warbler
|
80
|
Black-and-white Warbler
|
81
|
Ovenbird
|
82
|
Northern Cardinal
|
83
|
PAINTED BUNTING
|
84
|
Common Grackle
|
85
|
Boat-tailed Grackle
|
86
|
House Sparrow
|
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