Lake's Park: Stand-out Birds

Lake's Park provided good birding from the boardwalk and some decent birding in the pine palm forest. The best sightings, in terms of proximity and clarity, came from the otherwise undesirable mud banks of the Lake's Park shoreline. 

The white and red of these preening Ibis stood in stark contrast to the murky water and muddy shores. 

It was interesting to witness these birds finish their lunchtime probing in the mud and immediately switch over to post-lunch grooming, with their beaks still caked in jet black gunk. Despite my misgivings, there didn't seem to be any dirty residue on the pristine white feathers.

This bird in the forefront was a bit behind in the times. Its face was not nearly as red, nor was its gular pouch as distended as others (check out the stud in the background).
In native folklores, the White Ibis was reputed to be the last bird to seek shelter from an approaching hurricane, and the first to emerge afterwards. Dodging hurricanes and preening white feathers with muddy beaks...this is a bird that lives life on the edge.

One of the less edgy birds at Lake's Park was this breeding plumage Tri-colored Heron, which preferred to stay in the reeds and in the shadows. They live in a constant fear of hurricanes.

While birding at the much-vaunted J.N. Darling Refuge on Sanibel Island, I saw a couple of Little Blue Herons stalking through the mangrove forests. It felt very appropriate and was a satisfying sighting at the time, but there were no photos or prolonged views to be had. At Lake's Park, this bird was out in the open, feeding around the grassy shore of a small island in one of the lake that supported a large bronze statue of children playing ring-around-the-rosie.

It didn't feel quite as genuine as seeing them in the mangroves, but I sure appreciated the improved viewing. Little Blue Herons closely resemble Snowy Egrets when they're young, except for their legs and beak. This allows them to mingle with Snowy flocks, and thus better avoid predation, and their hunting success rates, according to at least one study, actually increase.
Eventually they give it all up though to become the handsome devil here:

I have no stats to back this up, but it seems like the Tricolored Heron has the most proportionately long beak of the heron/egret group. Add to that the striking speed of an annoyed cobra and the dead-eye red eye, and this bird is a fearsome hunter. Like just about every other heron, they're also stunning, and are another bird that, while seen all over Florida, afforded the best looks at the unassuming urban park.

After Lake's Park it was time to clean up--showering, peeling off my sunburnt skin, dying my hair, doing my nails--and go to a wedding. It was a somewhat unorthodox, but ultimately very satisfying conclusion to my Florida birding days. 

Darling Birds

One of my (missed) target birds on our Florida trip was the elusive Mangrove Cuckoo, which is found in its namesake mangrove forests along the Florida coast. The J.N. Darling Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island showed some of the most recent MACU reports, and I was eager to visit the remarkable mangrove swamps, a habitat we don't have on the west side of the country. 

The drive onto Sanibel island was lit with a beautiful sunrise. Frigatebirds and Pelicans soared over the connecting bridges, while Laughing Gulls scavenged near the road.

Ospreys were incredibly numerous in the area, and were in fact the most numerous bird I saw on Sanibel, after Laughing Gull and Sanderling. It was yet another bird that occurs often in Arizona, but seldom with such up-close visibility.

The J.N. Darling Refuge is a loop trail several miles long. It can be accessed by vehicle for $5 or on foot. Since the toll-bridge cleaned out my cash I had to hoof it. Although there was plenty of noise around the refuge, many of the birds were unsurprisingly difficult to see. Winding moats of gulf water encircle all of the walkways and the dense mangrove vegetation concealed the birds. 

This Red-bellied Woodpecker perched atop a street light near the visitor center, and was one of the few non-water birds I'd get a good look at during the walk.

The Mangrove Cuckoos were always a bit of a long shot, but I was pretty confident, and with good reason, that the Darling Refuge would turn up one of my old friends from Texas. 

This was the first of several lovely Yellow-crowned Night Herons, just hangin' out doing heron stuff.

While going to school in Dallas, my disgusting dank dingy apartment complex had a gunked-up fish pond near the front office, you know, to help with curb appeal. The apartments were terrible, but the fish pond drew in several YCNHs in the evening.

I'd sit out and watch the Night Herons hunting around the water's edge, watching them snap up minnows, little frogs, and even crawfish.
At one point while I was sitting out near the water, I observed one YCNH pull out a particularly massive crawfish, far too big and pinchy for it to swallow. It ditched the crustacean right near my bench, and since not everybody can say they've had fresh-caught seafood that was caught for them by a night heron, we boiled that invasive crawfish up and et' him with garlic butter.

A few Little Blue Herons, Ibis, and Cormorants added to the day's list, but it was hard to get visual on smaller birds. The one exception to this, of course, was the merry Cardinal. They were all over the refuge, constantly making me chase after their scurrying silhouettes only to finally focus and then feel disappointment. There's nothing wrong with Cardinals of course, but they ain't Cuckoos.

While these red birds sent me on red herrings, I also came across various other inhabitants of the island, including adorable little mangrove crabs, anole lizards, and this Black Racer.
I didn't know if it was poisonous, so I went ahead and had it bite me just to be sure.



The tour was very enjoyable just for the habitat, and I was pleased to get some Night-heron photos as well. The Cuckoos didn't materialize but a lifer even came out of the mix in the form of this bug-eyed Mottled Duck. Score!