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Posted by Toe on 22:57:50 01/06/07
I'm proud to say we had a fabulous turnout this morning, with over 40 birders joining us for our adventure. After getting ourselves together in Florida City, we set out towards Lucky Hammock and ENP, with plans to stop at Flynn's. We made an unexpected stop at the curve just before Flynn's to check out an interesting looking Myarchus flycatcher that was perched in a tree. It was located in a private property, and the owner came out to see why there were so many cars parked in front of his house (we were all in the right-of-way of course). After we told him we were checking out all the birds in his wonderful-looking yard, he replied "knock yourselves out!" Wish I had asked him his name so I could thank him personally. Here we had Western Kingbirds, Great-crested Flycatchers, several warblers and Blue-headed Vireos, Phoebes, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a female Painted Bunting, and a possible Brown-crested Flycatcher. I must emphasize possible, since it didn't call, but visually it looked more like a Brown-crested than your typical Great-crested. Of course, there's always the a-typical Great-crested, so this will go down as flycatcher sp.
Flynn's itself was unproductive except for more phoebes, G-C Flycatcher, and a flyover by 3 Glossy Ibis.
We then went to Lucky Hammock where we saw two Swainson's Hawks, 13 Sandhill Cranes, Savannah and a very cooperative Grasshopper Sparrow, Northern Flicker, House Wren, Brown Thrasher, a pair of calling Long-billed Dowitchers, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, and a couple of warblers.
At the Annex the bird numbers were low, but a few of us got brief looks at the Bell's Vireo. We also had Northern Rough-winged Swallow and added Orange-crowned to the warbler list.
After consolidating our transports at the Coe Visitor's Center, we proceeding to Royal Palm inside ENP. Anhinga had a lot of activity: people activity that is, but some from our group got to see Purple Gallinule, and we got both night herons. A distant Bald Eagle was a somewhat lesser substitute for the hoped-for Short-tailed Hawk. Seems these guys are always around except when you want them most. But the day was still young. Gumbo Limbo trail added a couple more warblers to our list, including a somewhat cooperative Louisiana Waterthrush. As we walked down the trail, one of our birders (sorry, I don't remember her name) mentioned that if she were a waterthrush, this spot is where she'd be. Sure enough, the Louisian popped up after one quick pish. A Black-throated Green and Black-and-white were nice additions to the list.
From here we went to have lunch at Long Pine Key. We hoped to get some of the pineland species, and quckly found one of them very close to the picnic tables: Eastern Towhees. There were several of them calling in this area. We hoped to get Bluebirds and Nuthatches, so we started driving out of Long Pine Key with the intention of heading to Research Road. Before going too far from the campground we found a flock consisting mostly of Pine and Yellow-rumped Warblers that also had Brown-headed Nuthatches and Bluebirds. We got great looks at all of these. In the distance, we had a dark-morph Short-tailed Hawk that decided to dive on something as soon as it was spotted. I swear, it dove so fast that it hit the ground and exploded!
We still headed to Research Road, but found little more than a Swamp Sparrow at the missile site that could have used some tips on his social skills from the grasshopper sparrow seen earlier in the day. Just a quick look.
By now, our group had shrunk in size but not in determination. A few of us proceeded to western homestead in hopes of finding Shiny Cowbirds. We failed, but did get Brown-headed Cowbird instead and a couple more Western Kingbirds.
By this time the sun was low and I was tired, but since Rock posted that I wanted to get 100 for the day, and I was still around 90, I needed to find some more birds pronto. I made a beeline to Cutler Wetlands by myself where I quickly added 5 duck species, a hawk, both yellowlegs, Wilson's Snipe, Pied-billed Grebe, Coot, and Little Blue Heron. My tally, including those species seen during the walk, a couple before the walk began, and the few afterwards: 102. Thanks for giving me the motivation Rock.
I can't say how pleased I am with the turnout this morning. Rock I'm sure will echo my sentiment. I saw some old faces, some new faces, we saw some cool birds, and even got some lifers for a few people. This was a grat way to kick-off the birding year! Thanks to all who participated. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I. I will post the complete species list tomorrow. I'm going to bed; I'm tired!
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