[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TAS BirdBoard ] [ FAQ ]
Posted by Susan Schneider on 19:20:04 11/20/07
On Monday I put paddle to Florida Bay in my continued search for the wild Flamingos of Flamingo. The trip began propitiously with a Bronzed Cowbird in the marina parking lot. I had timed my launch to arrive in Snake Bight just before Flamingo s high tide, 10 AM. It turns out that high tide is about an hour later in the bight than at Flamingo (and of course the winds can make nonsense of any of these predictions). But I was in the bight for several hours, and if the flamingos were to put in an appearance then (as apparently can be their preference), I was prepared to greet them.
On the trip out and in the bight, Mullet up to 2 feet long entertained me by letting their dorsal fins protrude as they guzzled from the bottom. Once I rounded the point, I saw many, many White Pelicans in the distance, with other white waders--the closest we ll come to snow this holiday season. Another group of pelicans, much smaller, was feeding nearby, also fun to watch, and of course there were diving DC Cormorants, terns, Belted Kingfishers, and Osprey (you have to feel for the fish). Just like my trip last winter, one Greater Black-backed Gull was present. Maybe the same one? A few Barn Swallows raced over.
What turned out to be multitudes of shorebirds on the far shore were less evident than the other birds, but eventually something startled them. (I saw no hawks but that doesn t mean one wasn t there.) Wow, several thousand took to the air in their swirling stunning geometry in motion. If I had to pick one highlight of the trip, that would be it. (Good luck to the Coot Bay CBC counters.) Now, as to ID, there s only so much you can do with compacts on a moving platform at a considerable distance, especially when your shorebird skills are decent but not great. I presume they were some combination of Dunlins and Westerns, but that s all I can say. More positively, I heard Greater Yellowlegs and saw five Willet overhead, also one Black-bellied and two Semipalmated Plovers and a Short-billed Dowitcher. Terns took turns, adding up to four species: Royal, Caspian, one Forster s, and several of the ever-appealing Black Skimmers. Waders added up too, with two Great White Herons and one Reddish Egret being the highlights (the Reddish right next to its smaller cousin the Tricolored), plus a couple Wood Storks and Cattle Egrets, a fair number of Great Blues and Great Egrets, and many, many white Ibis, Snowies, and Little Blues, the latter squawking and retiring in a huff even when I kept my distance. (Plus I picked up an immature Black-crowned Night Heron at the marina.) A Northern Harrier put in an appearance just beyond the shore. At one point, my heart fluttered when a pink wader flew along the shoreline, but it was a mere Roseate Spoonbill. I never did see any sign of pink in the distance, and what looked like a brewing storm forced me to turn around at 1 PM.
Once again, then, I returned to Flamingo Flamingo-less, but still happy. On the way back, a first-year Bald Eagle made me even happier, and two Spotted Sandpipers teetered along the shore. A crocodile basked in the usual spot across from the store. And more to come . . .
I headed to Eco Pond to track down shorebirds by the shallow pools noted on my TAS trip earlier this month. Not a single one appeared to be there (any thoughts? the tide?), but in their place, for the second time that day, I was hit with the odd juxtaposition of a Reddish Egret next to a Tricolored Heron. I flushed the same sparrow twice, but it dove for cover too fast both times for me to get a good look. A dark-morph Short-tailed Hawk was more cooperative. (I remembered to say morph instead of phase !) American Kestrels and Red-shouldereds seemed everywhere; two of the Kestrels strafed a Shoulder.
Back at the breezeway, I scoped the usual suspects on the sandbar (including two Ring-billed Gulls, just in I presume). The highlight here was a crocodile (with its bulbous nose) swimming across the little cove between the marina and the lodge, then out of sight around the corner. The park ranger said that he d never heard of such a thing. Apparently, the crocs that frequent the marina have been chasing the *alligators* out of the fresh water into the salt, a real habitat reversal. I thought our crocs were supposed to be docile . . . maybe that s just towards our own species. The thought did occur that I had just kayaked that cove, and the croc was nearly as long as my boat!
Good birding,
Susan
[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TAS BirdBoard ] [ FAQ ]