Snail Kite
The second bird I saw in SW Florida, also at Harns Marsh was a female Snail Kite. She gave me goosebumps. She was a great flier and snail hunter.
Category: Extralimital
Limpkin
Although the vacation started a few days late due to a snow related flight cancellation, my trip to Fort Myers turned up some new birds for life list.
A Limpkin was on my list because all of my friends had teased me about this noisy bird. I saw the species on December 31st at Harns Marsh in Lee County. An off the beaten trail place that has lots of Apple Snails.
There were two pairs of Limpkins in easy viewing distance.
Rockefeller Preserve
I visited the Rockefeller Preserve on Saturday and got to see a fun American Kestrel vs. Red-tailed Hawk show. It was all about territory protection. The Kestrel was protecting its family’s territory. The family seemed to be two adults and two juveniles.
London Peregrine Falcon Pair
I’m in London on a business trip without my birding equipment, however I had a pleasant experience with a pair of Peregrine Falcons just the same on Saturday afternoon.
I’m staying in a hotel with a view of the British Library and the St. Pancras train station. As I was waiting for the elevator, a Peregrine flew within twenty feet of the hotel. After a few minutes, it flew back and perched on St. Pancras’s clock tower.
I left the hotel and went in search of the Peregrine. I couldn’t find it, but after about ten minutes saw a Peregrine fly towards a construction crane at Kings Cross. It landed on top of another Peregrine and they copulated. The male then returned to the St. Pancras clock tower.
Londoners were like many New Yorkers, that Saturday afternoon. Other than myself, no one seemed to be aware that birds of prey were in the area, as they rushed to get their trains or the underground.
Southwestern Florida Birding
On Christmas Week, I was in Southwestern Florida and visited J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge and Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. I was birding casually but had one life bird, a Reddish Egret.
If you wonder why I haven’t been posting lately, I’ve been studying owls this January. The owls are easily disturbed in their winter roost, so I’m postponing reporting about them until the late Spring.
Yellowstone Gray Wolf
I spent about eight hours trying to see a Yellowstone Gray Wolf, and finally did for about 30 seconds. I only ended up with one fuzzy picture but it was worth it.
Wolves were reintroduced to the Yellowstone in 1995, and have generated interest with the general public since then.
The “wolfers”, are a die hard group of wolf watchers. Spending a few mornings and afternoons with them, reminded me of what hawk watching is like in New York. The group had the same spectrum of individuals as the New York hawk watchers, hard-core scientific experts, addicted animal lovers, and casual watchers. Many of the wolfers plan their Yellowstone vacations around wolf watching or live and/or work in surrounding areas and spend evenings or weekends in the park looking for wolves.
The wolfers have a network, just like the hawk watchers too. They use radios and the internet to communicate about sightings and keep in touch with each other.
Below are pictures of a morning wolf watching.
