Pond Apple Park Trail 12/16-17

No vacation is complete without a trip to a water treatment facility, so when we got back onto Sanibel Island from Fort Myers Beach we headed over to the Bailey Homestead which has a trail that leads to gray water ponds of Sanibel. There were explanatory signs around about how the whole system worked hydroponically or something to that effect. All I cared about was that it didn't stink and that there were plenty of birds around.

We were pleased to find Wood Storks hanging on the cross-dike along with one Brown Pelican who seemed out of place. Plenty of cormorants, egrets, and herons. We liked it so much there that we decided that our final sunrise walk would be there instead of the beach. When Shari heard about the place she decided to come with us and forgo an extra hour of sleep.

No new trip birds were added at this site. Our last trip bird came later on Saturday, on our final run through Ding Darling--a lone drake Hooded Merganser was our 117th species for the week.

Wood Stork, Anhinga, Double-crested Cormorant, White Ibis, Brown Pelican

Then it was a long 12 hour trip back to New Jersey, due to inclement weather in the east and mid-west.

Wood Stork

12/16

28 species
Pied-billed Grebe  1
Wood Stork  4
Double-crested Cormorant  25
Anhinga  1
Brown Pelican  1
Great Blue Heron  2
Great Egret  1
Snowy Egret  1
Little Blue Heron  1
Green Heron  1
Black-crowned Night-Heron  2
White Ibis  13
Osprey  1
Red-shouldered Hawk  1
Common Gallinule  2
Killdeer  11
Mourning Dove  1
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  2
Pileated Woodpecker  1     Heard 
Fish Crow  2
House Wren  1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2     Heard 
Gray Catbird  3     Heard 
Palm Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  5
Common Grackle  1     Heard 

12/17

30 species
Mottled Duck  6
Pied-billed Grebe  2
Double-crested Cormorant  23
Anhinga  3
Brown Pelican  1
Great Blue Heron  4
Great Egret  2
Snowy Egret  3
Little Blue Heron  2
Tricolored Heron  2
Reddish Egret  1
Green Heron  2
Black-crowned Night-Heron  1
White Ibis  16
Osprey  2
Bald Eagle  1
Red-shouldered Hawk  1
Common Gallinule  1
Mourning Dove  1
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Pileated Woodpecker  2
Fish Crow  6
House Wren  2     Heard 
Carolina Wren  3     Heard 
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2
Gray Catbird  4
Palm Warbler  4
Northern Cardinal  1
Common Grackle  27