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Posted by Paul Bithorn on 13:33:15 04/09/06
On Saturday, April 1, 2006, I birded with friends, Mauricio and Susan Schrader from Chico, California on their first birding trip to South Florida. The weather was breezy and overcast, keeping the humidity down and making the birding quite comfortable, despite temperatures reaching the mid-80 s.
We began our day at the crack of dawn at the end of Aerojet Road. Common Yellowthroats, Palm Warblers and White-eyed Vireo. We worked our way back, nesting Northern Flickers, Common Mynas and European Starlings were seen, when we found the previously reported Shiny Cowbird (Robin Diaz) consorting with Brown-headed Cowbirds. A pair of Purple Gallinules fed atop the swamp lettuce in the adjacent canal, while breeding plumaged male and Indigo and Painted Buntings and five White-crowned Pigeons were found by a fellow birder, Dave Anderson, perched in a dead tree offering scope views. Gray Catbirds gorged themselves on Strangler Figs. Lucky Hammock was quiet due to all of the farm activity going on in the yellow squash fields. We heard a singing Brown Thrasher at the Coe Visitor Center but could not find him to save our lives.
Water levels continue to recede at Anhinga Trail and alligators abounded amongst all of the post-breeding Anhingas with young as well as a few still on the nest. Several Purple Gallinules fed along the boardwalk along with a heard King Rail. The largest Soft-shell Turtle I have ever seen attempted to lay eggs on the bank of the paved path but Black Vultures annoyed her to the point she abandoned her nesting attempt. An Everglades Black Racer was spotted by Susan before entering the Gumbo Limbo Trail, where breeding male Black-throated Green and Prairie Warblers were seen at eye level.
Research road produced Red-shouldered Hawks, Eastern Meadowlark. Eastern Bluebirds, Pine Warblers and two Brown-headed Nuthatches were seen by hiking about a 1/4 mile past Gate 2A. Swallow-tailed Kites, Loggerhead Shrikes and an Eastern Kingbird (FOS) were seen from the main park road. Paurotis Pond had nesting Wood Storks and Roseate Spoonbills, Nine-mile Pond had a single Caspian Tern and West Lake had a pair of Blue-winged Teal, several singing Prairie Warblers and a juvenile Bald Eagle. We found a menacing American Crocodile with its mouth agape near the marina store at Flamingo, which reopened on March 15th. An adult Bald Eagle was spotted in the mangrove island at Eco Pond, where the vegetation has not rebounded due to the lack of rain making mosquitoes non-existent. No bugs = very few warblers. A Common Nighthawk (FOS) was seen on the powerlines after leaving the park. We finished up with West Indian Cave Swallows at the Florida Turnpike and S.W. 216th Street ending a great day of birding.
Life is good................so good that I quaffed a Key West Pale Ale as my celebratory libation.
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