Saturday, 7/19/07 Green Cay. 5:55 am. Full moon. Dark. cool, mid 70's. Humidity high when sun came up. Lightning in western sky around 6:30.
Elissa and I were 1st ones there. The man who usually pulls in just before or after us didn't show today. I hope he's OK.

No frogs heard. Different sounds heard at beginning of 1 mi loop. The limpkins were doing their usual loud crying/screaming , but another loud continual chirp -type cry also echoed across the water. When we got to the area just before the cypresses, we saw and heard a black necked adult stilt that was making all of the frantic flat/chirp noise. There was also an alligator in the area. In the past, we'd seen adult stilts with immatures in the same area. I hope the gator didn't feast on one of the babies. Egrets still flying in, but not in such huge numbers. A roseate spoonbill seen among some egrets. Lots of greens perching in reeds and on spots of greens in water, very still. Blue herons and tricolors flying and on railings. Saw 3 alligators in different areas. Grackles right on schedule, taking off at 6:30. At front end of 1/2 mi loop, saw the limpin with 2 young who must nest there as we've seen them in same area in the past few weeks and there was a tamped down area in reeds where they stood. The mate was about 30 feet away and very vocal. There was a small alligator about 20 feet away from them and it seemed that the lone adult limpkin was trying to distract the gator.
Upon finishing our walk, heading back to the nature center on long loop, an immature black crowned night heron posed on the rail, letting a woman take its picture and others to walk right by before it flew off. It was in the same area, about 150 feet from nature center at beginning of long loop, where we saw 2 immature night herons during the week. Only saw one wood stork today in a dead tree. Redwing blackbirds are gone. Didn't see any at all. Saw some duck families, not many. Purple martins still absent. Some anhingas swimming and some with wings outstretched.