Sanibel Island - Short Update 12/09/08

[PeterGruener]

Hi,

I just wanted to give you a short update on the current conditions at Sanibel Island (as far as I can tell):

Ding Darling NWR: The first round in the morning was quite exciting with a little feeding frenzy (Snowy Egrets) on the right hand side between the second pool and the tower pool at low tide. 20+ Snowy Egrets were there, light was an issue around 8:20 AM. Several Ospreys were flying around and collectiong nesting material. Some larger crowd of Roseate Spoonbills and White Pelicans were present. The second round in the afternoon had me report one guy wading through the second pool on the left side with a fishing net - what an idiot. For "Germans" plenty of birds but the light was not perfect - too early for sunset shots.

Blind Pass Beach: Construction at the beach is going on and the Captiva parking lot is closed. Dirty water appr. half a mile down south as they are pumping water and sand from the eastern end to the beach on the west beach - you may be lucky as several wading birds are around, as well as construction workers and material. 17 Magnificant Frigate Birds were cruising at high altitude. A better spot is currently Bowman's beach - lots of Royal Terns and wading birds and a couple of Ospreys.

The Sanibel Fishing Pier yesterday afternoon was kind of a disappointment as there was almost nothing going on (maybe 3-4 Snowy Egrets, 2-5 Pelicans).

I am going to upload a couple of images from today hopefully tomorrow and may post a link.

Take care,

Peter

[Michael Pancier]

Thanks for the update Peter.

Are the spoons still up in the trees across from the channel approx. at mile 2?

Can't recall the exact stop, but it's after the big ponds on the right side where there's a little boardwalk there. Tons of spoons would roost there and then start flying out around 9am or so.

[PeterGruener]

Hi Michael,

Yes, there was a larger crowd of the spoonbills in the trees on the right hand side. The sun was pretty strong after 8:00 AM and made shots in direct sunlight almost impossible.
Sometimes a couple of clouds are well appreciated ;-)

Peter

[Michael Pancier]

Hi Michael,

Yes, there was a larger crowd of the spoonbills in the trees on the right hand side. The sun was pretty strong after 8:00 AM and made shots in direct sunlight almost impossible.
Sometimes a couple of clouds are well appreciated ;-)

Peter

that's the problem...they normally start taking off like airplanes around 9-9:30am. good flight shot photo ops. if you have the right angle to the sun.

[Maxis Gamez]

Thank you for the update Peter.

[Judd Patterson]

Your update is really appreciated Peter! I haven't been over to Ding Darling in a couple years and would like to make a visit in early 2009. Thanks again.

[PeterGruener]

Additional update for today 12/11/2008:

Our hope to get some nice shots with a little overcast skies did not come true. We came in around 7:40 AM with still a little sun and some clouds but pretty soon dark clouds moved in but as there was almost nothing around. No single spoonbill, one white pelican, several herons (mainly night herons and great blue one's), two woodstorks and racoons. We have seen several ospreys catching nesting material and two red shouldered hawks. We decided to drive a second round when the clouds started to spill tons of water and after a warming coffee at the Sanibel Bean we ended up driving back to the hotel and will see how the weather will develop.
I will open a seperate thread for Estero Lagoon later on.

Peter