Dear Tweeters: Hugh has already supplied a description of where we all went on our fieldtrips - but he and I were in different trip groups, and actually never met during the conference. Some of my highlights and a trip list below:

Everglades: I was surprised to find that this was not the swamp of my imagination - instead it was like a river of grass, with about 3 feet of water extending for miles around. Occasional islands with trees stood up among the grass. Of course, there are mangrove swamps, further south - we were at the north end of the Everglades. Highlights included trees full of storks and egrets, big alligators by the side of the road and in the swamp, some with babies, purple gallinules walking on top of lily pads with their long yellow toes, picking food off of the undersides of the pads, a snail kite and a limpkin cooperatively posing in the same tree. Herons, egrets, and ibises of every description were everywhere. You knew an alligator was passing by underwater when you would see large air bubbles and moorhens quietly and carefully moving out of the water to stand stock-still on the nearest rock or twig.

Corkscrew Swamp - here was the mangrove swamp of my imagination. Not many birds during most of the walk but wonderful plant life. We did have a good mixed flock of warblers, with yellow-throated warbler, blue-headed vireo, priarie warbler, pine warbler, and ash-throated flycatcher being new for me. Also a Louisiana waterthrush and yellow-crowned night-herons in plain sight.

Sanibel Island was pretty foggy, which in a way added to its ambience as Magnificent Frigatebirds and Roseate Spoonbills appeared out of the fog. Many many waders, shorebirds, a few ducks, including mottled duck. White-winged dove was one rarity seen that day, along with a variety of terns.

Our inland trip was fun, but pretty quiet. We missed some of the rarities seen by the other group, but found swamp sparrows and crested caracaras. The sight of burrowing owls and large bald eagle nests in the middle of the worst form of Florida suburbia was pretty weird, and the communal colonies of monk parakeets on ballfield light-standards was also odd. An osprey nest was built directly on top of the parakeet nests - you had to wonder how they got along. Also a number of sandhill cranes stalking among the ranches and cows as if they owned the place.

On the last day, we went to Tigertail Beach, where as Hugh mentioned, plovers of every description could be found, including many life birds for all. There were, as usual, a wide variety of wading birds also, and we found the white phase of both the Great Blue Heron and Reddish Egret. Also fun for me were American Oystercatchers and Black Skimmers.

Here is my total list, with lifers (40!) starred. Conspicuously missing are House Sparrows and Mallards!

Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Magnificent Frigatebird
Great Blue Heron (blue and white phases)
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
* Tricolored Heron
* Reddish Egret (dark and white phases)
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
* Yellow-crowned NIght-Heron
* White Ibis
* Glossy Ibis
* Roseate Spoonbill
* Wood Stork
* Muscovy Duck
Green-winged Teal
* Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
American Wigeon
Hooded Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
* Snail Kite
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Crested Caracara
American Kestrel
* Purple Gallinule
Common Moorhen
American Coot
* Limpkin
Black-bellied Plover
* Snowy Plover
* Wilson's Plover
Semipalmated Plover
* Piping Plover
Killdeer
* American Oystercatcher
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Spotted Sandpiper
Whimbrel
Ruddy Turnstone
Red Knot
Sanderling
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Short-billed Dowitcher
Common Snipe
* Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
* Royal Tern
* Sandwich Tern
Forster's Tern
* Black Skimmer
Rock Dove
* Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
* Common Ground-Dove
* Monk Parakeet
Burrowing Owl
Belted Kingfisher
* Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
* Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern (yellow-shafted) Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
* Eastern Phoebe
* Great Crested Flycatcher
Tree Swallow
Grey Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
European Starling
* White-eyed Vireo
* Blue-headed Vireo
Myrtle Warbler
* Yellow-throated Warbler
* Pine Warbler
* Prairie Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
* Louisiana Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Cardinal
* Eastern Towhee (white-eyed race)
Chipping Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
* Swamp Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
* Boat-tailed Grackle
Common Grackle
* Shiny Cowbird

- Teresa Michelsen, Kenmore