We had to get up early and we had a bit of a drive, but without a doubt we were well-rewarded on our trip to Stormwater Treatment Area 5, near Clewiston!  What an exciting day of birding we had..on a perfectly sunny and cool day!!

Margaret England of Hendry Co Audubon checked-us in and of our caravan of 6 cars were the 1st to proceed along the impoundment roads of the vast wetlands. Tropical Audubon and Caloosa Audubon also had groups there. Ms England intermittently checked in on us to see what birds we had seen and she kept us appraised of the locations of other interesting sightings being made that day. The tour finished at close to 1pm, but a few of our group were allowed to stay on a little longer to check out another area of the wetlands , where they found the elusive Cassin's Kingbird and Western Kingbird. That day , 2 new 1st time sightings were made at STA-5 (not by our group)....a Wilson's Phalarope and a Blue-headed Vireo.

Thank-you to our members Hart, Jewel and Dan for your guidance;  we are lucky to have such wonderful teachers in our chapter. A donation was made to Hendry Co Audubon on behalf of our chapter in thanks for the efforts their volunteers put forth in making the STA-5 bird tours perfect for the novice birder to the most experienced birder.

SLAS count for the day was 72 species...... List is below(19 members attended) 

1-Fulvous Whistling Duck	25-Roseate Spoonbill	49-Least Sandpiper
2-Gadwall	26-Wood Stork	50-White-rumped Sandpiper
3-American Wigeon	27-Black Vulture	51-Dunlin
4-Mottled Duck	28-Turkey Vulture	52-Long-billed Dowitcher
5-Blue-winged Teal	29-Osprey	53-Wilson’s Snipe
6-Northern Shoveler	30-Snail Kite	54-Caspian Tern
7-Ring-necked Duck	31-Bald Eagle	55-Eurasian-Collared Dove
8-Lesser Scaup	32-Northern Harrier	56-Mourning Dove
9-Ruddy Duck	33-Sharp-shinned Hawk	57-Common Ground Dove
11-American White Pelican	34-Cooper’s Hawk	58-Belted Kingfisher
12-Double-crested Cormorant	35-Red-shouldered Hawk	59-Red-bellied Woodpecker
13-Anhinga	36-Red-tailed Hawk	60-Eastern Phoebe
14-American Bittern	37-American Kestrel	61-Cassin’s Kingbird
15-Great Blue Heron	38-Peregrine Falcon	62-Western Kingbird
16-Great Blue Heron ( White Morph)	39-Sora	63-Loggerhead Shrike
17-Great Egret	40-Purple Swamphen (exotic)	64-Tree Swallow
18-Snowy Egret	41-Purple Gallinule	65-Northern Rough-winged Swallow
19-Little Blue Heron	42-Common Moorhen	66-Northern Mockingbird
20-Tricolored Heron	43-American Coot	67-European Starling
21-Cattle Egret	44-Limpkin	68-Palm Warbler
22-Green Heron	45-Killdeer	69-Red-winged Blackbird
23-White Ibis	46-Black-necked Stilt	70-Common Grackle
24-Glossy Ibis	47-Greater Yellowlegs	71-Boat-tailed Grackle
	48-Lesser Yellowlegs	72-Brown-headed Cowbird