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Posted by Bryant Roberts on 22:34:11 07/20/07
I made my late summer scouting run through the Belle Glade area today to look for flooded fields and any birds that might be around. Following my usual route, I found a few birds that may be of interest: Fulvous and Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Barn Owl, American Avocet, Stilt and Pectoral Sandpiper, Black and Gull-billed Tern, Tree, Bank, and Cliff Swallows, Yellow-throated Warbler, and Shiny Cowbird.
My first stop was at the Microwave Tower on the west side of US 27 fifteen miles north of the Broward Palm Beach County line where there was nothing of interest to see in the sod fields. A check of the King Ranch Sod Fields across the canal on the east side of US 27 a few miles to the north was also unproductive but there was a flyover Fulvous Whistling Duck along with a few Roseate Spoonbills and some of the larger waders flying around the ditches on the west side of the highway.
I continued north and then west onto CR 827 where a few more Spoonbills were seen, along with the first Barn Swallows. At the Barn Owl Grove across the Miami Canal from the end of CR 827, I found about three Barn Owls along with several Black-crowned Night-Herons and my FOTS Yellow-throated Warbler. From there I went north along the west side of the Miami Canal then east on US 27 towards Belle Glade.
My destination at Belle Glade was the Belle Glade Marina and Campground at the west end of Canal Street. The only real surprise there was a male Shiny Cowbird on the power lines in the campground with a few Brown-headed Cowbirds. Other birds seen there included Eastern and Gray Kingbirds, Northern Rough-winged Swallows, and Swallow-tailed Kites. The water level in the lake is still very low and the wetlands surrounding the campground are dry and overgrown.
Going east out of Belle Glade on CR 880 I found the first shorebirds and terns in any numbers in flooded fields south of the highway a mile or two past Duda Road. The shorebirds were mostly Lesser Yellowlegs and Black-necked Stilts but there were also about twenty Black Terns along with a few Least Terns and a Gull-billed Tern along with a few Fulvous Whistling Ducks.
Continuing east then going south a mile or two on Brown s Farm Road, I found another flooded field that mostly the same mix of birds along with a Dowitcher and a few Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. Continuing south just past the microwave tower and turning right onto the dirt road at the Miami Sod sign then left at the first intersection I soon came upon a roosting flock of Swallows that I ve found in about the same place for the last three years in late July in the early afternoon. The composition of this flock has also been remarkably consistent: two or three hundred Bank Swallows, a few Purple Martins, Cliff, and Barn Swallows, along with a few very early Tree Swallows.
Returning to CR 880 and continuing east for about 6.5 miles I turned south onto a dirt road marked by a Roth Sod sign. The sod fields along the first part of this road can be good for Pectoral, Buff-breasted, and Upland Sandpipers and other birds when they are wet but today they were dry and nearly empty of birds. I continued a couple of miles further south past the sod fields and found a large area of flooded fields but saw little besides a few Fulvous and Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and Least Terns flying over the area.
Backtracking through Belle Glade I almost missed what turned out to be the highlight of the day. A block or two after staying on the main road past the first fork I saw what looked like water a few blocks to the south. I turned around and turned south onto Tabit Road and found a large flooded field south and west of the Tabit Road and SE G Ave intersection. After driving for miles down remote highways and dirt roads, I found a field right in Belle Glade that had hundreds of waders and shorebirds including: five American Avocets, ten Stilt Sandpipers, Pectoral, and Least Sandpipers, and my only Greater Yellowlegs for the day. There were also a couple of dozen Dowitchers that were too distant of hear or see well enough for positive identification, but the ones in alternate plumage looked like Long-billed Dowitchers.
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