LARGE SQUADRONS OR PODS OF AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS, DING DARLING NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE,SANIBEL,FLORIDA, 1/14/2021

 

 

MANGROVE CUCKOO, DING DARLING NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, SANIBEL,FLORIDA, 1/14/2021

   We visited Ding Darling this past Thursday, January 14, with a group of other birders.  Ebird has recently reported the sighting of a Mangrove Cuckoo in the vicinity of the Mangrove Overlook in Ding Darling.  When we arrived at the Mangrove Overlook, there was a large group of birders and photographers looking at something, further on down Wildlife Drive.  Low and behold, there was the Mangrove Cuckoo.

   We can ID this bird as a Mangrove Cuckoo as follows:

• Sighted in a habitat near mangroves
• Downcurved, stout bill with a yellow lower mandible with black tip (see 4th photo) and a black upper mandible
• Black ear patch and yellow eyering (see 2nd photo)
• Gray-brown upperparts
• Underparts are whitish with yellow-peachy wash
• Long, black tail with six large white spots

   The Mangrove Cuckoo is a new species to our Photographic Life List, which now stands at 999.

 

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NORTHERN PERULA, FREEDOM PARK,NAPLES,FLORIDA, 1/10/2021

 

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