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Posted by Bryant Roberts on 18:48:39 07/30/06
Yesterday I met up with the Hendry-Glades Audubon Society field trip at STA 5 and birded the Belle Glade area afterwards. Among the many interesting birds seen during the day were Fulvous and Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Ring-necked Duck, Northern Shovelers, American Avocets, Upland Sandpipers, Solitary Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpipers, Pectoral Sandpipers, Barn Owls, Bank Swallows, Tree Swallows and a Cliff Swallow.
My birding began when I got fuel well before dawn at the Race Trac gas station on Davie Road that has had thousands of Purple Martins roosting in front of it since May. The number of Martins has dropped off drastically over the last week and only two birds came out to the power lines that a couple of weeks ago would have been crowded all night with overflow from the roost trees.
A stop shortly after dawn at the Barn Owl roost on the Miami Canal (Pranty, pg. 212) produced at least five owls but there could have been many more. I didn t go past the road on top of the levee so as not to disturb the owls unnecessarily.
The STA 5 (Pranty, pg. 211) highlights included a male Ring-necked Duck, Two female Northern Shovelers, a female Blue-winged Teal, Fulvous Whistling-Ducks, and a Solitary Sandpiper.
Afterwards I went to what I ve begun calling Roth Sod Road . This is a dirt road that runs south from S. R. 880 about 6.5 miles east of Browns Farm Road (Pranty, pg. 212) that is marked by a sign that says Roth Sod . A little bit past the sod fields that extend for a mile or two down the west side of this road are two large recently flooded fields on either side of the road. The water in these fields seems to be a little too deep to attract many shorebirds but it should become more productive when it is being drawn down. Notable birds seen included six Pectoral Sandpipers as well as about thirty Black-bellied Plovers and Lesser Yellowlegs in the sod fields on the west side of the road. In the flooded fields past the sod fields there were three Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, about ten Fulvous Whistling-Ducks (flying over) two American Avocets, one Gull-billed Tern, and five Black Terns.
Brown s Farm Road (Pranty, pg. 212) was my next stop; while it doesn t have any accessible flooded fields at this time it has always been a good place for swallows this time of year. There were hundreds of Barn Swallows, a couple of hundred Bank Swallows, a few dozen Purple Martins, one Cliff Swallow, and about six rather early Tree Swallows. The Tree Swallows were very near where I saw several and photographed one on 7/22/05 but neglected to check for white axillaries to rule out Bahama Swallow, these had dark axillaries.
A check at the Kings Ranch sod fields north of the microwave tower and on the east side of US 27 (Pranty, pg. 211) turned up three Upland Sandpipers in the third section back from the banana trees
A flooded field by the Star Pit Mine entrance on the west side of US 27 south of the microwave tower had over a hundred each of Stilt Sandpipers, Lesser Yellowlegs, Long-billed Dowitchers, and Least Sandpipers along with a few dozen Black-necked Stilts (including a few young chicks) and lesser numbers of Black Terns, Gull-billed Terns, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Western Sandpipers, Killdeers, and Semipalmated Plovers.
In addition to the flooded fields mentioned above there is another that has recently been flooded just north of the US 27 Kings Ranch sod fields opposite the Okeelanta sugar refinery entrance near the area where Hudsonian Godwits were found a couple of years ago. Only a few Lesser Yellowlegs and couple of Long-billed Dowitchers were present but this area could get better later in the season.
An interesting miss yesterday was Greater Yellowlegs; they seem to show up a little later than the Lesser Yellowlegs.
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