Category Archives: Year 11

Birding Six Mile Cypress Slough: Night Herons and More

Year 11

If you want a quick spot for a birding outing, but which still gets you away from all the craziness of Fort Myers traffic, then visit Six Mile Cypress Slough. This boardwalk takes you deep into the slough, and makes it difficult to imagine the millions of people which live nearby. Given this wildlife preserve is right in Fort Myers, the best visits will be right at sunrise. As the day progresses the preserve fills up with people.

I followed my own recommendation and was the second visitor to arrive yesterday morning. Thus, birds had not been flushed by the hordes of visitors who will come later in the day. Having said that, many of our feathered friends are people tolerant at this spot. For those of you who like to bicycle, I feel the best cycling which avoids the most car traffic but also allows for nature viewing opportunities in the Fort Myers area is bordered by Six Mile Cypress Road on the east, John Yarbrough Linear Bike Trail on the West and then Daniels Parkway and Colonial Boulevard to the south and north.

Here are just a few of my sightings at Six Mile Cypress …

Black-Crowned Night Heron (video link for email subscribers)

Great Egret (video link for email subscribers)

Pileated Woodpecker

Doctor’s Visit Great Gray Owl

Year 11

I was distracted on New Year’s Eve Day on the way to and from some medical appointments yesterday. Three different Great Gray Owls decided I should take some time out and enjoy nature … one in the morning a few minutes before sunrise, and then two owls in the afternoon.

The first owl was quite concerned about some crows, but not about me or any of the cars rushing by on the highway. I definitely was NOT in a normal birding location while watching the first Great Gray Owl (video link for email subscribers).

Great Gray Owl #1 (in the morning just before sunrise … watching crows)

Great Gray Owls #2 (after my medical appointments)

Listen and Learn Birding: Spotted Towhee!

Year 11

Given I live in northeastern Minnesota, I rarely see towhees. Just a few minutes yesterday morning before I took the video included with this post, I watched another towhee and listened to its call. Minutes later I heard the same call, and found this individual! Don’t forget that the Merlin App (my review), which is from the Cornell School of Ornithology, is also a great tool in that it will help you learn bird songs.

Anyhow, I learned one the call of the Spotted Towhee, then heard another and these images and video were the result (video link for email subscribers)

The other bird of the day for me was what most folks out here would consider common, a slate colored junco (dark-eyed junco). However, even though the “scientific powers that be” in the birding world do not consider this Oregon junco variant a different species, browse to this post to view just how different the plumage is for this western junco (same species) as my local Minnesota bird.

Slate-Colored Junco – Oregon Plumage

All the photographs in today’s post were taken during drizzle conditions yesterday. While being out in the rain might not see like much fun, if one can keep the drab sky out of photographs, colors are often very intense on wet days.