Dear readers and oglers, my deepest apologies for the radio silence. About a month ago I finally contracted Covid courtesy of my youngest son. That effectively meant I was too sick to bird and was quarantining myself until I was confident that I was no longer contagious. I spent many hours catching up on Netflix and curating some of my old photos and working in the yard.
Last week I was pretty much totally recovered and was itching to get out and about despite the ridiculously high temps. I made some small forays to the beach and Airlie Gardens but it was so hot all the birds were either hiding in the shade or dead. Let's hope it was the former. I was checking the American Airlines website and saw that I could use some of my old miles to fly to Fort Myers in Florida so I booked it and took Friday off from work. For those of you not following the ABA Rarities reports, a Large-billed Tern from South America has been hanging out next to a gold course in Naples for the past month or so.
I don't typically chase rarities on a plane, but this was one was so reliable, seemingly easy to find and convenient.
Friday morning I headed out to the Eagles Lakes Community Park and started looking for the tern. It had been seen foraging in a pond next to the park, but also at some little sandy spits next to the adjacent golf course. The pond next to the park was hosting 3 different species of terns feeding on small fish, but there was no sign of the Large-billed.
Some of the Royal Terns had a ton of black on the dorsal side of the primaries which made me do double-takes, but I had seen Large-billed Terns in Brazil and Colombia and knew when I saw it flying it would stick out like a sore thumb.
It was so hot that I was sweating constantly, but I couldn't replace fluids because this sign said no drinking. This Anhinga looked relatively hydrated so not sure if they sign was only for humans.
Caspian Terns were getting in on the action too.
Sandwich Terns too.
I explored the neighboring golf course ponds but no cigar. On the way back to my car I was passing the community park lake again and Bingo!
Large-billed Tern! No mistaking that pattern. Some other folks showed up and I got them on the bird.
I think that is my Hyundai Tucson rental behind the tern! I got it for $99 for two days.
Even though I took Friday off, I had some work to do so I worked for most of the hottest part of the day in the hotel room. In the afternoon I went out to explore some parts of Florida I haven't seen yet. I started with Marco Island, specifically Tigertail Beach which had some good eBird reports. I was a little annoyed to find legions of Floridians on pool floats in the lagoon at Tigertail which meant no birds. The lady at the park entrance said that the lagoon was dredged which ruined most of the good shorebird habitat. I decided I couldn't drive all the way there without exploring some more so I made the half mile death march out to the beach to check on some of the distant flocks in between the masses of beach goers.
Black Tern
The majority of terns were Royals in all kinds of plumage phases.
Usually when you see dark carpals on a tern its a Common, but apparently Sandwich's also have them as juveniles.
This Royal Tern had some pigment issues but it looked pretty cool.
Snazzy looking Royal juvenile.
Young Least Terns like to do Stint impersonations.
Red Knot
Black Tern
I had soaked through my shirt again so I huffed it back to the air-conditioning in my Tucson. The afternoon ended up being a big wash. I drove inland in a big loop hoping to find Snail Kites and/or Short-tailed Hawks but came up empty.
In the morning, I checked out of my hotel and headed north to JN Ding Darling State Park on Sanibel Island near Fort Myers. My primary target was Mangrove Cuckoo which is pretty tough to get in the ABA area although that park is a pretty good place for them according to eBird. I saw a handful of recent reports and none elsewhere in southwest Florida so it was a no-brainer. Sanibel is still recovering from Hurricane Ian that pretty much wiped it clean in 2022. Here is a video I found online that shows the devastation.
A full year later, much of the mangroves are still in the process of recovering but I was able to find a few birds.
Roseate Spoonbill
I've never seen so many Tricolored Herons - they were everywhere.
Prairie Warbler - I got out and walked around a bunch of times but would have to retreat into the AC every 20-30 minutes. The Wildlife Drive through the park is one-way and about 2-3 miles long. I drove it slow checking for my target - Mangrove Cuckoo. I made it all the way to the end with little to show for it but ran into a dutch couple and they told me they had seen the cuckoo about a mile after the entrance. I was getting short on time but I just had to try the loop again. I am glad I did! About 1.5 miles in, I heard a Mangrove Cuckoo and then it was just a matter of time before I found them.
I ended up having two of them just chilling feet away from me and I had to step back to shoot them.
What a great way to end the trip. I headed back to the airport and made my fight with no problems! If only all chases could be this successful! If that Steller's Sea Eagle comes back to Maine in the winter, I think that will be worthy of a chase.
