Habitat of Course

04/22/2024

I went birding up on Jane's Scenic Drive this morning. The birds weren't great but I liked these guys.

04/12/2023

Wrapped up another successful season of bird tours this past week. At Hole-in-the Wall we had 30 species including wood ducks, 4 Great Blue Heron nests, an Anhinga Nest and a Killdeer nest with one egg.
At Naples Lakes CC we saw 31 species including baby bluebirds and Purple Martin eggs.
Another great year. Thanks to all.

02/24/2023

Last, but not least, my third tour of the week was at Hole in the Wall Golf Club. We didn't see a lot of birds but got to enjoy the butterfly garden, osprey perching on it's tower, purple martins at their house and a cool Great Blue Heron Nest. Bird list is below.

Hole in the Wall Golf Club, Naples US-FL (26.1886,-81.7910), Collier, Florida, US
Feb 23, 2023 7:01 AM - 8:31 AM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 mile(s)
Checklist Comments: Hole in the Wall bird tour
20 species

Mourning Dove 1
Killdeer 2
Anhinga 7
Double-crested Cormorant 20
Great Blue Heron 8
Great Egret 5
Snowy Egret 1
Little Blue Heron 1
Tricolored Heron 2
Green Heron 1
Osprey 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Blue Jay 2
Purple Martin 5
European Starling 2
Northern Mockingbird 3
Common Grackle 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S129430078

02/24/2023

On Tuesday I led a group at Pelican Marsh. A couple of otters were really special. Here's the birds we observed.

Pelican Marsh Golf Club, Naples US-FL 26.25259, -81.78152, Collier, Florida, US
Feb 21, 2023 7:00 AM - 8:30 AM
Protocol: Traveling
3.0 mile(s)
28 species

Muscovy Duck (Domestic type) 1
Mottled Duck 6
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Mourning Dove 2
Common Gallinule 10
Killdeer 2
Anhinga 2
Double-crested Cormorant 5
Brown Pelican 1
Great Egret 1
Snowy Egret 2
Little Blue Heron 1
Tricolored Heron 2
Cattle Egret 1
Green Heron 2
White Ibis 3
Glossy Ibis 1
Osprey 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Blue Jay 2
Fish Crow 10
European Starling 2
Brown Thrasher 1
Northern Mockingbird 1
Red-winged Blackbird 4
Common Grackle 2
Boat-tailed Grackle 5
Palm Warbler 2

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S129291600

02/24/2023

A busy week doing bird tours. First on Monday was the monthly tour at Naples Lakes CC. A real bonus that day was a couple of coyotes seen out in the preserve on the west side.
A list of birds seen is below:

Naples Lakes Country Club, Naples US-FL 26.11993, -81.70004, Collier, Florida, US
Feb 20, 2023 7:08 AM - 9:08 AM
Protocol: Traveling
3.0 mile(s)
Checklist Comments: Nlcc monthly bird tour
33 species

Mottled Duck 2
Eurasian Collared-Dove 1
Mourning Dove 2
Common Gallinule 10
Limpkin 1
Killdeer 2
Wood Stork 10
Anhinga 2
Double-crested Cormorant 20
Great Blue Heron 8
Great Egret 3
Snowy Egret 1
Little Blue Heron 1
Tricolored Heron 2
Green Heron 1
White Ibis 10
Osprey 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Loggerhead Shrike 2
Blue Jay 2
Fish Crow 5
Purple Martin 10
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
European Starling 2
Brown Thrasher 1
Northern Mockingbird 5
Red-winged Blackbird 4
Common Grackle 2
Boat-tailed Grackle 9
Palm Warbler 5
Yellow-rumped Warbler 3
Northern Cardinal 1

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S129132400

02/19/2023

Yay! Found another Collier County Life bird today - a Lincoln's Sparrow at Bird Rookery Swamp. This brings my life total to 308 which ties me at least temporarily with Keith Laakkonen for all time top birder in Collier. I know Keith is out there looking for it. Good luck Keith.

02/19/2023

Had a wonderful time leading members of Audubon of the Western Everglades to the Marsh Tower at 10,000 islands on Friday. Here's a list of what we saw.

Ten Thousand Islands NWR--Marsh Trail & Observation Tower, Collier, Florida, US
Feb 17, 2023 6:50 AM - 9:20 AM
Protocol: Traveling
0.25 mile(s)
Checklist Comments: Audubon of Western Everglades Tour
46 species

Blue-winged Teal 52
Northern Shoveler 7
Mottled Duck 2
Pied-billed Grebe 3
Common Gallinule 2
American Coot 100
Killdeer 1
Long-billed Dowitcher 3
Greater Yellowlegs 4
Lesser Yellowlegs 7
Caspian Tern 1
Wood Stork 2
Anhinga 7
Double-crested Cormorant 8
Brown Pelican 4
Great Blue Heron 5
Great Egret 14
Snowy Egret 4
Little Blue Heron 5
Tricolored Heron 3
Green Heron 9
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
White Ibis 6
Glossy Ibis 6
Roseate Spoonbill 26
Black Vulture 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Osprey 1
Belted Kingfisher 5
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
White-eyed Vireo 2
American Crow 1
Tree Swallow 30
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
House Wren 1
Gray Catbird 1
Northern Mockingbird 1
Red-winged Blackbird 5
Boat-tailed Grackle 2
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Palm Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 3
Prairie Warbler 1
Northern Cardinal 2

01/31/2023

What a great tour today at Naples Botanical Garden. At least 40 birders and 59 different species of birds. A special treat was the Nashville Warbler that many saw although my part of the group was in another area. We'll get it another time. Our group did get the Orange-crowned warbler so we did well. Hard to believe we saw so many species in January. Hope to see you all again for the Feb. 28th tour.

12/28/2022

Led a great group of birders at the Naples Botanical Garden yesterday morning. Great birds including Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Merlin and Short-tailed Hawk. Read more in this post from Ed Kemnitzer, bird tour volunteer:

It’s a real head shaker; twenty volunteers scoured the grounds on Saturday for our annual Christmas Bird Count, cobbling together a list of 51 species. We were quite happy with the result given the arctic conditions. Today, suffering from bird hangovers, seven birders quilted a 44 species list. And, no less than seven species were not seen on the BIG day including today’s wonderful sightings of Merlin and Short-tailed Hawk. Time for Forest Gump and the box of chocolates analogy. Of course, it didn’t hurt that we had the assistance of Monica Higgins. She has been kind enough to join our group and share her sea of knowledge about Collier birds once a month for quite some time now. I just love trawling along in her wake. And just think, the next time we cabal on Tuesday it will be 2023! Time surely flies at the Garden with friends. Happy New Year to all who have joined and supported our weekly strolls. And especially to all who just need a happy.

12/26/2022

12/26/2022

Been busy the last few days with a couple of Audubon Christmas Bird Counts. The first was December 15th in the Fakahatchee. Walked 6 miles along Jones Grade with 3 others and managed to pick up 45 species despite the windy day.
The second one was the Naples Christmas Count. Birded Area 11 with Harris and Pete. Very cold - only in the 40s all day with 13 mph winds and completely overcast. We felt lucky to find 52 species with a total bird count of 878. Jill was able to find an Eastern Screech Owl to finish the count that evening. Here are a couple of birds we were able to find - an Eastern Phoebe and an Eastern Bluebird.

12/13/2022

Led a tour for twelve members of Naples Lakes CC on Monday. Thirty-five species were seen and heard. If you look closely at the second photo you can see two of the Loggerhead Shrikes we counted. And the last photo portrays a Tricolored Heron that perched on the bridge as we finished. See the eBird list below.

https://ebird.org/checklist/S123858205

12/10/2022

My 254th species for the year in Collier County. My 300th for the US.
Franklin's gull at Clam Pass. The park itself is closed because of damage to the boardwalk from Ian. But you can access the beach from the Seagate Beach Parking Lot and walk down.

see photos below

12/04/2022

Learning to use my new scope and adaptor today. Here's a video of avocets feeding north of Immokalee at wet field.

11/30/2022

Last, but not least, while out locating Lapland Longspur at Monument Lakes Campground, I also found a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow. Located along north side of campground, under oak trees and in front of tall plumy grasses. This and the longspur breaks my year Ebird record with a total of 253 species. See photo below.

11/30/2022

After leaving the garden tour, I sped out to Monument Lake Campground in eastern Collier County to see the Lapland Longspur reported there yesterday. Was afraid I'd missed it when I first drove up. Maintenance was mowing all around the area of the bird. Joe Hammond was there and said it had left about 15 minutes earlier. Needless to say, I wasn't happy. Joe convinced me to wait a bit. About 5 minutes after the mower left, the bird returned to the same spot. I noticed it really stayed in the shaded areas under the benches. Guess it doesn't like Florida heat. This is a lifer for me. Raises my Collier Co. life list to 310 species. See the photos below.

11/30/2022

Had a great birding day today. Started w leading a birding tour at Naples Botanical Gardens. One of the highlights of the day was seeing my first of season flock of American Robins. The second was seeing the first Rose-ringed Parakeets I've seen since Ian. The garden was in excellent shape although you could tell things had been thinned out by the storm. About 15 birders joined me, see the photo below. Here's the link to the bird list - https://ebird.org/checklist/S123205302

11/27/2022

If you haven't been out to Oil Well Road at Oil Well grade you should go soon. Called the Flooded Field Sanctuary and/or Tomato Field, this is a fantastic area to see a huge variety of ducks at this time of year. Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, Canvasback, Ringed Neck, Redhead, and Northen Pintail were all there today. I find just before sunrise is best. Multiple American White pelicans and Wood Storks were there on the 20th. And a flock of 50 Roseate Spoonbills flew over. But if you wait until after sunrise, these larger flocks were gone. Still 1000s of teal and American Coots remain. I was there today around 10 am for a short time and captured 4 Sandhill Cranes flying over. But go soon. Typically, this field starts drying up by mid-December and will be all dry by Christmas. Then it's planted to tomatoes.

11/27/2022

Got my 251st Collier County year bird today. A Sedge wren just off Immokalee Road. This ties my highest year record ever. Here's hoping I can get one more this year to break that record.

11/19/2022

No tours coming up this week with the holiday. But planning on being at Naples Botanical Gardens on Tuesday, Nov. 29th at 8 am. See you there?

11/19/2022

Went to the Marsh Tower trail this morning at sunrise to check for birds. Hoping to find a reported Gadwall but no such luck. Did get to see a small Sora just off the base of the tower but it slipped away before I could get a photo. If you go, there's lots of gunfire nearby at dawn. Hunting season has opened.
Here's the checklist for today.

Ten Thousand Islands NWR--Marsh Trail & Observation Tower, Collier, Florida, US
Nov 19, 2022 6:52 AM - 8:09 AM
Protocol: Traveling
0.49 mile(s)
31 species

Mottled Duck 2
Pied-billed Grebe 3
Sora 1 Very small, juvenile? Right at base of tower.
Common Gallinule 8
American Coot 100
Wood Stork 1
Anhinga 3
Double-crested Cormorant 4
American White Pelican 11
Great Blue Heron 5
Great Egret 3
Snowy Egret 6
Little Blue Heron 5
Tricolored Heron 5
Green Heron 2
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
White Ibis 100
Black Vulture 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
White-eyed Vireo 1
Blue Jay 1
American Crow 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Gray Catbird 2
Red-winged Blackbird 5
Common Grackle 4
Boat-tailed Grackle 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Palm Warbler 9
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1

View this checklist online at

Submitted by Monica Higgins.

11/19/2022

Decided to run over to Miami today to add some birds to my Florida Ebird list. Picked up Scaly-breasted Munia, Red-whiskered Bulbul, Scissortail Flycatcher and both Tropical and Western Flycatchers. A great day. See checklists below.

Your Cornell Lab account lets you access any of these projects: Bird Academy, Birds of North America, Celebrate Urban Birds, eBird, Great Backyard Bird Count, Project FeederWatch, NestWatch, Macaulay Library

11/15/2022

Added a year bird to my Ebird list today. Chipping Sparrow. Found along Jones Grade.