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Posted by Trey Mitchell on 20:12:55 11/24/07
Toe, Bill B., Angel, Mariel and I arrived at Flamingo at 6:15am looking for sparrows and wrens. We walked around ECO Pond, but didn't see much, just a few Palm Warblers, Harriers and Ibis. We headed to the Campground and looked for Sedge Wren in the field to the North. We located several and some House Wrens also.
Off to Coastal Prairie Trail in search of Sparrows. We walked the part of the loop that goes to Florida Bay and only saw a couple of Savannah Sparrows. We back tracked and walked about a mile and a half down Coastal Prairie Trail seeing only Palm Warblers, Harriers and a few Savannahs. We decided to walk off the trail into the coastal prairie hoping to find sharp-tailed sparrows. We flushed several while walking, but it took us a good while before were able to get looks that could identify them. We found 4 Nelson's and 3 Saltmarsh Sparrows together about 3/4 miles NNW of where we left the trail near the tree line to the north in ideal habitat. The sparrows were in some kind of grass similar to cat-tails but only about 30inches high with a tuft on top.
Everyone got very good looks at both species and everyone but Toe picked up a life bird in the process. Yeah!
I finally broke the 300 mark for my year list today. I am now at 301 and expect to add about 8-10 more species in 10 days when I go up to north Florida for more sparrows, ducks and birds you can only pick up in the north.
I added a map of the Coastal Prairie showing where we saw the Sparrows. The Coastal Prairie Trail is quite over-grown some areas and the trek into the prairie it self is a workout. I carried only one bottle of water and wished that I had carried two on our way out. Good luck if you try, it is more than a walk down a trail but it is worth it!
We did other birding as well, but I will let others report on that.
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