Page 65 - April 2017 Life In Naplles Magazine

shared the flat with the white giants. Here we
saw western sandpipers, dunlin, short-billed
dowitchers, red knots and three species of plover:
semi-palmated, Wilson’s and piping plovers,
which are listed as threatened in Florida but
endangered in other parts of the U.S.
Alli was very excited when she spotted two
piping plovers with banded legs that she had
seen previously. “Agatha” and “Finch” were
banded in 2015 at Edwin B. Forsythe National
Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey. She also spotted
T4N, which is a sanderling that was banded at
a migration stopover site in Delaware in spring
2015. This was the first time it’s been seen outside
of Delaware - now we know where it spends the
winter! KP5 is a red knot with a very faded band.
It was banded in 2007 on Sanibel and has been
seen in Florida almost yearly since then. 65T was
banded in South Carolina in 2012 and appears
to winter in SW Florida. It has been seen in
Massachusetts and New Jersey during migration.
In all, Alli counted 4,567 individual birds of 17
different species.
Like a lot of our human snowbirds, these birds
are a long way from home. They need every ounce
of energy they can save over winter to not only
make the return trip to their northern breeding
grounds, but arrive with enough energy reserves to
lay eggs and raise a family.
If you enjoy seeing these birds along our
provide that researcher with important clues to the birds’ migration patterns and shores, always respect posted areas and keep your
life history. distance to avoid flushing them unnecessarily. It’s
Our next stop was Morgan Bay on the west side of Cape Romano. As we not just polite, it’s a matter of survival.
approached Morgan Pass, I could see something big and white covering the
mudflat on the inside of the bay. This out-of-place snow drift was actually a flock
of white pelicans. Their large size and sheer number was almost blinding in the
bright sun. Alli’s scope confirmed that the flock numbered over 120 individuals.
With a wingspan of 114 inches, white pelicans are the second largest birds in
North America: only the California condor is larger. Seeing these majestic birds is
a special treat as this is another species that breeds in central and northern North
America each summer.
The pelicans excited me, but Alli was focused on counting the seemingly-
endless mass of tiny brown shorebirds, collectively referred to as “peeps,” that

Life in Naples | April 2017 65