Harn's Marsh and Indian Creek farewell

 

We took an early morning trip to Harn's Marsh to the east of Fort Myers,  a new area to explore.

The first treat was a Purple Gallinule crawling over the Alligator Flag plants.

Harn's Marsh, 4 miles of dike trails

Limpkins seen and heard closeup

Limpkin with big Apple Snail

Sandhill Cranes, one napping

Crane lifting grass looking for breakfast underneath

Sandhill Crane dancing, feels like Spring here?

Aren't you impressed?

Pishing brought this Barred Owl 

Cocking head to study the pisher

Two blocks later, a second Barred Owl comes out

Wintering Blue-winged Teal flocks

Purple Swamp Hens, unusual call we hadn't heard before

Another Purple Gallinule

Hundreds of Black Vultures use this marsh for roosting, resting and feeding

White Ibis Adult and Juvenile

Tricolored Heron

Anhinga

Little Blue Heron Juvenile captures a frog

 

Back at the RV Park, it's our local Pileated Woodpecker

Fish hatch at one of the "lakes" attracted over a hundred wading birds: Great & Snowy Egrets, Wood Storks, Great Blue, Little Blue, Tricolored, & Green Herons, plus a Roseate Spoonbill, Brown Pelicans, and Cormorants.

Great Blue Heron issues loud croak

Female Belted Kingfisher landing over the creek

Green Heron watches Bald Eagle overhead

River Otter crosses the roads between the ponds

Crunching the "Catch of the Day"

The Otter is very curious about the cameraman pishing

He ended up crawling under one of the empty houses.

Bath time for the male Bald Eagle

The water flies

Eagle pair together, note larger female in back

Now it's her turn to bathe and shake

Eagle continues to line the nest

She has been incubating for seven days

Our pair of Eagles send us on the road with a hardy good-bye.

January 1st we drive 6 hours north to St. Mark's, Florida

Wishing you all a blessed and healthy NEW YEAR!

Love & Prayers,

Ty & Ida Baumann

Field trips around Fort Myers

 

In the last month we have traveled to many different birding areas, mainly with our new friend Tom who is living here at Indian Creek.  We appreciated him taking us to new areas that produced some good birds and wildlife sightings.  

This photo is the inland Prairie Pinelands of Babcock Webb State Wildlife Area looking for the Red-cockaded Woodpecker, and we found some.

Early morning find of our target bird - Red-cockaded Woodpecker

Pine Warblers by the dozens came to pishing

Hundreds of Tree Swallows, feeding and resting

Spotted Orb Weaver

Golden Silk Orb Weaver

No birding trip is complete without a visit to the local landfill.  Look for: Wood Storks, Bald Eagles, 

Cattle and Great Egrets, Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls, Fish Crows and Boat-tailed Grackles.

Bald Eagle Juvenile gives us a fly-over

Next stop, the local Florida Scrub Jays at Cape Coral 

Picking up acorns and hiding them

Red-shouldered hawk low in the Mangroves

Great Blue Heron spies prey

What a surprise, a big rat, and he swallowed it all down.

Little Blue Heron and Mottled Duck

Little Blue Heron Juvenile - bad itch

Loggerhead Shrike swallows a Dragonfly

Red-bellied Woodpecker stashing palm fruit

Black Vulture 

Dew covered webs at Prairie Pines Preserve

Some of you won't want to look at this Cottonmouth (Water Moccasin)

Sunning Cottonmouth at Six Mile Cypress Slough

Pileated Woodpecker at Cypress cavity 

Another trip to Bunche Beach and our favorite Reddish Egret

Short-billed Dowitcher sleeping

American Oystercatcher

Probes for food at low tide

Indian Creek Wood Stork

Brown Pelican feeding in our fresh water ponds 

Our local ospreys fly over the park to the Bunche Beach Preserve

Our local Loggerhead Shrike gets a Cicada

Red-shouldered Hawk at sunrise

Bald Eagle flushes Red-shoulded off the eagles's favorite perch

Pileated Woodpecker overhead

God's Christmas decorations, a beautiful sundog.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas

Love & Prayers,

Ty & Ida Baumann