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Posted by Bryant Roberts on 23:20:38 10/29/06
I got down to the Lucky Hammock area and Everglades National Park on Friday and Saturday (10/27 and 28) camping at Flamingo Friday night. Among the more interesting birds seen were; Clay-colored Sparrows, Blue Grosbeaks, Short-tailed Hawks, and a Yellow (Cuban Golden) Warbler.
My first stop on Friday (10/27) morning was at about 8:30 at Lucky Hammock. There wasn't much in the hammock besides Painted and Indigo Buntings. At least a dozen Blue Grosbeaks and two Clay-colored Sparrows were seen on the east side of the brushy area across the road from the hammock and another Clay-colored Sparrow was seen at the next crossover a few hundred yards to the north. A dark morph Short-tailed Hawk was seen soaring with the Vultures later in the morning over the annex. Several Sandhill Cranes were seen in the fields around the hammock.
The highlights of a stop at Royal Palm Hammock were Black-throated Green and Worm-eating Warblers seen along Gumbo Limbo Trail. A quick run down Research Road turned up a few Barn Swallows and another dark morph Short-tailed Hawk.
Little of interest was seen at Mahogany Hammock and there was no sign of the female Vermilion Flycatcher that has spent the last two winters at Paurotis Pond. The Mangrove Trail at West Lake was also very quiet.
After setting up camp at Flamingo I did a little birding around the area. The Guy Bradley Trail at Flamingo is now open but the cabin area is still closed; a Peregrine Falcon flew over the trail near the east end near the visitor center. A large flock of American White Pelicans could be seen from the visitor s center on one of the distant banks.
The B and C campground loops are still closed to camping but have been recently mowed and the road is clear of debris. There was a good evening flight of thousands wading birds over C loop, mostly Great Egrets and White Ibis. The egrets were making a steady course against a stiff head wind towards their roosting area on the islands in Florida Bay but the ibis were putting on a better show. Flocks of from twenty to over a hundred would circle and swoop over the tree line north of the campground converging and separating for several minutes until a flock would head south across the open coastal prairie then dive down to below treetop level with a great rush of wings then zigzag between the trees at top speed towards the next solid tree line along the shore which they would skirt before disappearing towards the open water.
The wading bird flight tapered off after sunset and while walking along the road to my campsite I was startled by the sound of loud rattling coming from my right coming from a large Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake lying parallel to the road just a couple of feet from the edge. I was able to get a pretty accurate estimate of its length which was at least five feet.
On Saturday (10/28) morning I was awakened by the sound of distant thunder and lightning flashes coming from the west and decided to break camp at dawn and do my early birding close to shelter near Flamingo. Eco Pond is still closed but five Gull-billed Terns could be seen from the parking area flying over the pond. I then headed out towards the Coastal Prairie Trail. A male Cuban Golden Yellow Warbler, Clay-colored Sparrow, and Blue Grosbeak were seen in the old Cotton Pickers Camp which is the large open area southwest of where the Coastal Prairie Trail opens up. The sparrow fields to the north are still in bad shape from last years storms but this looks like it could be a good place to look for sparrows this winter. It doesn't look like there has been any attempt to reopen the Bay Loop Trail.
Several attempts to locate cowbird flocks around the visitor center and marina parking areas didn't turn up anything but starlings but a visit to the upper breezeway was rewarded by a flyby Merlin and Marbled Godwit. The off and on drizzle and light rain that had begun while I was on the Coastal Prairie Trail seemed to be letting up so I started off to the longer trails.
A stop at the dump at the northwest end of Rowdy Bend Road turned up a nice warbler flock, both Painted and Indigo Buntings, another Blue Grosbeak, and a couple of White-crowned Pigeons.
My main birding project that day was to do Snake Bight Road, the road is overgrown with waist to shoulder high grass in places with not much of a trail passing through it. The main additions to my trip list along the road were Northern and Louisiana Waterthrushes. Hundreds of wading birds were feeding near the west side of the road near the north end where it looks like bay water pooled during last years storms killing most of the less salt resistant trees. These flocks consisted mostly of White Ibis and Great Egrets with lesser numbers of medium sized waders and several dozen Wood Storks and about a dozen Roseate Spoonbills. This would have made a pretty good concentration of birds had it been at Mrazek Pond which is part of the same basin area and has had a similar tree kill, if we get a normal winter dry season Mrazek Pond may be spectacular in two or three months. The overgrown condition of Snake Bight road suited the buntings well and I counted at least twenty Indigo and fifteen Painted Buntings along the road. The showers resumed when I was about halfway to the end but slacked off long enough for me to enjoy a bit of scoping at the bight. The tide was still pretty high but going out and the thirty five Black-necked Stilts and other larger shorebirds and waders that were there when I arrived were soon joined by about fifty Dunlins, two hundred Least Sandpipers, one hundred fifty Western Sandpipers, thirty Short-billed Dowitchers and lesser numbers of the usual shorebirds many coming close to the end of the boardwalk.
The mosquitoes were light at the north end of the park and moderate at the south end and deerflies were moderate all over
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