J. Ding-Darling Wildlife Refuge - 28 Feb 2005


28 February 2005 Sanibel Island, FL

0900 Hrs.  Its partly sunny, humid, and much calmer than yesterday.  Temps in the 60’s.  Before we head up to Lakeland we decided to take a trip through J. ‘Ding’ Darling NWS on Sanibel Island.  We were not disappointed.  

The drive over to the island gave us numerous Brown Pelicans, Royal Terns, Forsters Terns and Black-bellied Plovers.  

In the sanctuary we saw our first adult Yellow-crowned Night Heron.  


We then came upon Roseate Spoonbills in a lagoon 







along w/ a Little Blue Heron, 


numerous Dunlin, Willet, 


and Double-crested Cormorants.  As we stopped for a second Yellow-crowned Night Heron I heard a pair of Prairie Warblers singing.  We then saw them fly across the trail and light in the trees next to our car.  

The sand fleas were eating us alive, so Robin stayed in the car while I chased still more Spoonbills, Willets, and Black-bellied Plovers in another stretch of the lagoon.  

A bit farther down the road we came upon an Anhinga drying itself in the trees.  Many close-ups were taken.  


Then we came upon a small group of Blue-winged Teal in the Mangroves.  I tried to photograph them but a passing septic hauler scared everything away!

 
We saw several Osprey, Least Sandpipers, Reddish Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Anhinga, Fish Crows, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, White Ibis, Wood Stork, Tri-colored Heron, and Short-billed Dowitchers.  

A pair of YCNHerons (adult and immature) posed nicely in the trees for a group of us as we passed by – I had to park the car and the general commotion scared them off before I was able to get pics.  




As we left the sanctuary at approximately 1200 Hrs. we came upon a Great Egret feeding alongside the ditch with an immature (red neck) Tri-colored Heron.  Both very tame and ignored us as we took many portrait pics of the



J. N. Ding Darling NWR (please consider using a more precise location), Lee, Florida, US
Feb 28, 2005 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 mile(s)
24 species

Blue-winged Teal (Spatula discors)  6
Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)  6
Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus)  6
Willet (Tringa semipalmata)  12
Dunlin (Calidris alpina)  24
Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)  6
Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri)  6
Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus)  6
Wood Stork (Mycteria americana)  2
Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga)  2
Double-crested Cormorant (Nannopterum auritum)  12
Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)  2
Yellow-crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violacea)  3
Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea)  2
Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor)  2
Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens)  2
Great Egret (Ardea alba)  1
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)  6
White Ibis (Eudocimus albus)  2
Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja)  2
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)  3
Fish Crow (Corvus ossifragus)  6
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea)  2
Prairie Warbler (Setophaga discolor)  2

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S41756497

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)

1400 Hrs.  We’re driving north along US-41 and US-17 to Lakeland.  Along the we spotted the following:  Wood Stork, Sandhill Cranes, Swallow-tailed Kite, Boat-tailed Grackles, Black and Turkey Vultures, Osprey and White Ibis.  We arrived in Lakeland around 4pm to take Esther and Hal out for dinner.  Since it is Robin’s and my 13th Wedding Anniversary we decided to celebrate at Cracker Barrel…