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Cross Bar Ranch Field Trip
Saturday, Oct. 27, 2007
Participants 29
Species 43
Once again our "3 hour tour" of
Cross Bar Ranch was a huge success.
We had very close encounters with both
target birds- the Florida Scrub Jay and Burrowing Owl. In fact, 2 jays, without
any leg bands, showed up the minute we stopped the bus! We had 2 more
encounters as we walked the road through their habitat. This habitat needs to
be improved.
The following is a composite list
off all birds seen by at least two people. Only the White-eyed Vireo was
identified by song and not seen.
The list follows the order of Birds
of Florida by Bill Pranty et.al.
Wild Turkey. Anhinga. Wading
Birds: Little Blue, Great Blue, & Tri-
colored Herons; Great Egret.
Vultures: Black & Turkey. Birds of
Prey: Cooper's, Red-shouldered,
& Red-tailed Hawks; American Kestrel & Merlin. American Coot.
Sandhill Crane. Killdeer. Mourning Dove. Burrowing Owl.
Woodpeckers: Red-bellied, Downy, Pileated, & Red-headed. Eastern
Phoebe. Loggerhead Shrike. White-eyed Vireo. Jays & Crows:
American Crow, Florida Scrub Jay, Blue Jay.
Chickadees & Wrens:Carolina
Wren, Carolina Chickadee, & Tufted Titmouse. Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher.
Eastern Bluebird. Mimics:Gray
Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Brown
Thrasher. European Starling.
Palm Warbler. Eastern Towhee.
Northern Cardinal. Blackbirds:
Eastern Meadowlark, Boat-tailed
Grackle, Red-winged Blackbird.
Some of you may not realize that
Cross Bar Ranch is owned by Pinellas County Utilities. Because of the changes
in water management, they have decided to sell it. There are 17 wells on the
property. Tampa Bay Water owns one acre around each pump house. This is a
critical recharge area for the aquifer and that is only one of many reasons to
keep this property natural. I hope you will all become advocates for keeping
this property in its natural state as part of Pasco County's Environmental
Land Acquisition& Management
Program.
Agnes Condon
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