Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2002 13:16:50 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "Marko, Thomas L. GS BUMED" Subject: SW Florida Birding MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" I realize that I digress from the focus of MD Osprey, but I thought it would be nice to share this respite from MD winter birding. I spent the past 5 days in SW Florida that included visits to the J. N. Ding Darling NWR and the NAS Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. In true birding fashion (and because I had an afternoon flight back to DC), I awoke at 5:15 yesterday morning to a quick breakfast and a one hour drive to the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. I arrived by 7:00 and was the first person out on the boardwalk trail that loops through the cypress swamp. The sun was rising, the early morning air was crisp, clear and still, and a symphony of bird sounds emanated from deep within the very primeval environment. It was one of those transcendental moments that occur much too infrequently in life! I observed a total of 67 species during my stay in Florida to include 13 life birds. Some of the top birds for me were Swallow-tailed Kite (4), Wood Stork (many), Reddish Egret (1 in breeding plumage), Barred Owl (1), Great Crested Flycatcher (1), Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (1), and a variety of warblers to include Yellow-rumped, Pine, Palm, Black & White, and Common Yellowthroat. There were other warblers and vireos but I didn't have the time to properly ID them. So many birds and so little time! I'm looking forward to seeing some of these same birds when they arrive in MD this spring. Tom Marko Olney, MD MOS-MCC tlmarko@us.med.navy.mil ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================