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B i r d i n g | |
| Collier County Audubon Society ~ Naples, Florida | ||
Birding checklists
Local birding spots
Choose the right binoculars for birding
Birding Adventures now on local cable television
Climate change affecting bird migration and ranges
Report rare bird sightings
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Great Florida Birding Trail newsletter
Bird Brains quiz
Frequently asked bird questions
Great Backyard Bird Count coming in February
Birding links
Birding miscellany
Least Bittern one-ups Pelican
Birds in Decline lists pinpoint common losses
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Bird news
- Ted's 2006 Summer Observations:
- July 21: Summer's Over
- Ted's 2005 Summer Observations:
- June 7 : morphing Great Blue/White Herons
- June 22: summer White Pelican
- August 31: a first for Collier County-- Buff-breasted Sandpiper (right)
- Ted's 2004 Summer Observations:
- July 1: Willets are back, some in breeding colors
- July 5: Kingfishers are back at Corkscrew
- July 12: A Kingfisher on Marco, plus many Sandwich Terns
- July 14: Piping Plovers and breeding-plumed Western Sandpiper & Short-billed Dowitcher
- July 21: Gray Kingbirds ready to go
- July 28: More Sandwich Terns and a Long-billed Curlew
Bird notes
Kinesis in shorebird bills: Kinesis (Greek for movement)
In some (maybe all) long billed shorebirds the birds are able to open, close and sense with the tip of the bill. This allows them to probe in mud, sand, water etc. and not only feel pray but grasp it without opening the whole bill and ingesting goop.
An example of this flexibility is shown in the photo at the right: a Short-billed Dowitcher, for some reason (social display ??), is seen with what appears to be extreme Kinesis. I have verified this in three shorebird species; Willet, Western Sandpiper and Short-billed Dowitcher.
Ted Below
Birding miscellany
- Accidental (Birds are highly mobile; some get lost and provide new records for an area, including Collier County.)
- Are Birds Free? (Even out in the hinterlands of Collier County birds are getting kicked around by man)
- Coastal Waterbirds & A Mystery Booby (Fall migrations can bring some unusual and confusing species)
- Common Names (What is in a name? Everything, when you want to understand what is being written or talked about.)
- Eurasian Collared Dove Nesting Preferences (Here's a possible reason why they are more prolific than natives)
- Hurricane Visitor (Hurricane Charley brings a new species to Southwest Florida)
- Second Chance (Least Terns take advantage of a second chance to raise their young, away from people)
- Seeing or Watching? (Don't twitch -- watch! Some of the best shows in town are free)
- White Feathers (Most adult Little Blue Herons are all blue, but a very strangely colored one occurred in Collier County)
Steve Carbol's birding pages
- from the Audugram: Swainson's Thrush ~
Backyard birding resources
- Bird feeding and other backyard ideas (from Cornell University's Project FeederWatch)
- Creating a bird-friendly backyard (from National Birdfeeding Society)
- For additional links to birding information, please visit the LINKS page.
Online birding guides
- Important Birding Areas in Florida
- A2Z4Birders Online Guide
- Life Histories of Familiar North American Birds by Arthur Cleveland Bent
Additional bird checklists
more Collier County lists -- for specific areas
- Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary (most commonly observed wildlife including birds, mammals, butterflies, reptiles, amphibians)
- Eagle Lakes Community Park
- Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park
- Sand Dollar Island (off Tigertail Beach on Marco Island)
other Florida county lists
- Alachua County (Gainsville area)
- Dade County (Miami area)
- Pinellas County (Tampa-St. Pete area)
- Polk County (Lakeland-Winter Haven area)
- Sarasota County (Sarasota-Venice area)
- Volusia County (Deland-Daytona area)
Florida state lists
North America list
- American Birding Association (A.B.A.)
Least Bittern one-ups Pelican
- From: Florida Birds On Behalf Of David Hartgrove
- Date: March 3, 2009
Hi,
While teaching groups of 4th and 5th graders about birds this morning, I came across an unexpected sight. We were at Bicentennial Youth Park, in central Volusia County. It's off the south side of SR44, one mile east of I-4. This is essentially a remnant pine plantation with mixed hardwoods and some wet areas. There is a small, ephemeral stream that parallels the main road running south from the main gate. There's only a 100 foot long section that still holds a foot or so of water right now due to our extended drought. The pines, sweet bay and cypress crowd right up to the edge of this wet area.
The aquatic invertebrates class was using small dip nets in one portion of this little wet spot to pull out minnows, crawfish, etc. and identify them before releasing them back into the water. One of the teachers came back and told me there was a small bird under the edge of the little dock. She said that at first she thought it was dead since it didn't appear to be moving. Upon closer inspection, she thought it must be sick but that it had a fish in its bill. I asked her what kind of bird she thought it was. She had no idea but asked that I come look at it.
I gathered my group up and we headed down the trail past the dip net class to the dock. The teacher and I carefully walked out onto the dock and peered over the edge. I almost fell over backwards. There, staring back up at me from the least likely of places, was a Least Bittern. It had a minnow in its beak and after I watched it for a while, I realized that its crop was bulging and its overall appearance seemed swollen. Aside from the fact that it was moving very slowly, it appeared healthy.
I had all of the kids come over to the edge quietly (or as quietly as a group of 10 year olds can be) and tried to make them understand just what an unexpected scene this was. We watched as the bird looked back up at us, then we walked back down the trail. I picked up the next group and after looking at some bird pictures and listening to their calls, we walked down the trail to see if the bird was still there. Not only was he there, he now had a second fish in his bill.
Of course, the kids had all kinds of suggestions about what was going on with this bird. After watching him for a while longer and wondering why he was holding these fish in his bill instead of swallowing them, I think I determined why.
Last night here at this spot, the temperature got down to the low 30's. The minnows were possibly stunned by the cold and along came this enterprising Least Bittern. He had more fish than he knew what to do with and they weren't able to elude his rapid bill. He continued to stuff himself until he was almost unable to move. He certainly couldn't fly. Still, once in a while, another minnow would wander too close and he couldn't help reacting by snatching that one up too, even though his crop was so full he couldn't swallow it at the time.
One of the girls bent over to see better and her paper name tag came off and fell into the water. When one of the boys asked to lean over the edge and retrieve it, the bird slowly edged back out of sight under the dock, still holding onto his two fish.
I thought of the poem by Dixon Merrith (though it's often misattributed to Ogden Nash):
My guess is that the Least Bittern is still holed up under that little dock digesting his largesse and will be gone tomorrow morning. You just never know what you're going to see out there.
David Hartgrove, FCD, Daytona Beach, FL
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since May 10, 2004
