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Posted by Alex Harper on 21:29:35 08/26/06
On behalf of Paul Bithorn, I shall write up the trip summary of Tropical Audubon's annual sod farms trip. Twelve birders met either at the Doc Thomas House at 6:00 or Sawgrass Recreational Area in Broward at 7:00. We headed northwest to STA-5 in Hendry County. On the way we had a Barn Owl perched alongside a canal.
At 8:30, we joined a few other birders at STA-5, and drove around one of the large impoundments. It was pretty slow, but you never know what can show up there. Some of the birds seen in about an hour and a half:
Black-bellied and Fulvous Whistling-ducks
Blue-winged Teal
Mottled Duck
Northern Shoveler
Ring-necked Duck
Pied-billed Grebe
Least Bittern
Yellow-crowned and Black-crowned Night-herons
Northern Harrier
Purple Gallinule
Pectoral Sandpiper
Purple Swamphen- about five
Common Ground-dove
Yellow Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
We headed out before 11:00 and headed towards the Cypress Stand along the Miami Canal famous for it's Barn Owls. A couple owls were seen, as well as a Yellow Warbler and Prairie Warbler.
Please be quiet and respectful of the owls if you plan on searching for them.
After a great lunch at Sonny's BBQ in Clewiston, where we met with Andy Bankert of Brevard County, we headed off to Roth Sod Road described by Bryant Roberts in a previous post. Here are directions from that post of his: "Roth Sod Road" is my name for a dirt road that runs south from SR 880 about 6.5 miles east of Browns Farm Road (Pranty, pg. 212) that is marked by a sign that says "Roth Sod"
Andy led us to "Roth Sod Road", where he had seen plenty of shorebirds earlier that morning. On one of the fields on the right after turning onto Routh Sod Road, an Upland Sandpiper was spotted pretty close to us. Both yellowlegs were out in the fields, as well as Pectoral Sandpipers.
Further down the road were two flooded fields occupied by many waders, shorebirds, and terns. It was so packed with birds, we barely payed any attention to a Roseate Spoonbill sitting right alongside the road. In the ponds were the following:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck- two
Roseate Spoonbill
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Semipalmated Plover
Black-necked Stilt
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Spotted Sandpiper
Ruddy Turnstone
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
RUFF
Short-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher
WILSON'S PHALAROPE- three
Gull-billed Tern- at least ten
Caspian Tern
Forster's Tern
Black Tern- perhaps seventy-five
Least Tern
Both the Ruff and the Wilson's Phalaropes were spotted initially in the pool on the left. Andy Bankert found both the Ruff and the phalaropes within twenty minutes of each other, once again proving he is not just another birder. I would describe it as inhuman. Eventually, the Ruff flew off but landed further back in the rather large field. More birds can be seen by turning left onto another dike that runs east. We relocated the Ruff that way. Photos were taken, but the bird was digiscoped from a good distance in bad lighting.
We checked out a couple other fields, including Kings Ranch. More of the same was seen, including Solitary Sandpiper and Black Terns. Pectoral Sandpipers were seen in very high numbers.
Here is a list of other birds of note seen today that I have not mentioned already:
Wood Stork
Glossy Ibis
White-winged Dove
Common Nighthawk
Belted Kingfisher
Eastern Kingbird
Purple Martin
Bank Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Eastern Meadowlark
Ninety-two species were seen by me and others. I hope I didn't leave anything out, and I apologize for a short report. I'm ready to sleep!
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