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Posted by David S. on 17:23:17 02/01/15
14 Participants arrived at Coe Visitor Center, at the entrance of Everglades NP for our South-Dade TAS field trip. Since one of our main birding locations, Lucky Hammock and the Annex are still closed, we changed our itinerary slightly.
At Coe Visitor Center, the main attraction was a Great Horned Owl on her nest with chick atop a large Mahogany tree in the parking lot. We also picked up our Red-bellied Woodpeckers there.
We traveled outside the park to the weedy field on the north side of SR 9336, just opposite of Aerojet Road. Hoping for sparrows but not able to ID the ones seen, we did spot a Northern Harrier searching for prey just above the weeds. A Northern Cardinal was seen and an Eastern Towhee was heard.
We stopped at the west side of C-111-E and searched the woods from the west bank to avoid the morning sun in our eyes. Naturally, most of the birds were on the east side of the canal. We did spot a Common Yellowthroat, 3 Savannah Sparrows and a Green Heron by the dam.
We took a short-cut to my place, about a mile away, and checked out my yard and back woods. It was slow, but we did get a Broad-winged and Short-tailed Hawk fly-over. A male Painted Bunting was seen and a Screech Owl was heard by 2 people.
From there we stopped by Homestead General Airport and everyone saw the Burrowing Owl in it's usual spot on top of the warehouse door. A Eastern Meadowlark was heard.
At Castellow Hammock, we had to share the birds with a large troop of camping Boy Scouts, but there were not enough birds to go around. Ruby-throated Hummers and a bright Yellow Prairie Warbler were seen, along with Purple Martins and White-winged Doves. Unable to eat lunch there, we headed to Black Point Marina.
During a cool, windy lunch at the marina basin, an adult Bald Eagle flew over, one of two that were seen in the area.
After lunch,we drove to the eastern parking and walked the jetty to the bay. Highlights were Red-breasted Mergansers, a Black-bellied Plover and a very close Ruddy Turnstone.
We ended the day with a walk to the Dump Marsh and were greeted by about 500 American Coots and other waders and ducks. We also had Killdeer, Blue-wing and Green-wing Teal, and a trio of Mottled Ducks and a 4th Mottled hybrid, possibly of a Mallard ancestor in the mix. Other birds spotted or heard as follows:
Mottled Duck
Blue-wing Teal
Green-wing Teal
Red Breasted Merganser
Pied-billed Grebe
Brown Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Red-shouldered Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Short-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Eastern Phoebe
Great-crested Flycatcher
Loggerheaded Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs heard
Ruddy Turnstone
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Royal Tern
White-winged Dove
Common Ground Dove
Mourning Dove
Eastern Screech Owl heard
Great Horned Owl
Burrowing Owl
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Myrtle Warbler (Yellow-rumped)
Yellow-throated Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Eastern Towhee heard
Savannah Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Painted Bunting
Eastern Meadowlark heard
Overall, a respectable day of birding with 68 species and some easy no-shows. Other participants, please add any species that I may have missed. Thank You, David
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