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Posted by Angel & Mariel on 22:53:13 03/02/08
Yesterday we took advantage that the STA-5 was going to be open and headed up there to see if we could add Greater Flamingo to our year list. The Flamingo was a no show but we added some lifers and a good number of year birds that we need to hit our goal this year of 300+ bird species in Florida. STA-5 was very cool we saw lots of birds including our lifer Canvasback. Lots of White Pelican, Coots, Yellowlegs, and Least Sandpipers. Swallows were there in numbers as well we sorted thru the swarms in hopes of adding some year birds. We found two Barn Swallow and several Northern Rough-winged Swallows as well. One of the coolest moments at STA-5 was a group of four wild boar followed by a very large one running the grass flushing all the birds in their way.
After leaving STA-5 we followed Vince as he took us to go look for the Barn Owl but with no luck where he had seen it earlier in the morning. Off to our next stop which was an awesome Scissor-tailed Flycatcher with a tail that had to be at least 6 inches in length. Next was a Snail Kite that was perched on a low fence post, Vince pointed as they passed the bird and then stopped. We pulled over and looked for what he was pointing at when we noticed a beautiful male Snail Kite 8 feet from our window, wow we did not even notice the bird it was so close.
The Snail Kite perched on a tree across the canal after it took off from it's original location giving all of us awesome Scope views. Onward to look for the Cassin's which seemed to have other plans, we scoped a few Kingbirds only finding one Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and several Western Kingbirds. The group got together and left the spot; Mariel and I decided to stay longer and good thing that we did because after an hour of waiting in the hot sun looking at every Kingbird that would fly up off it's perch to catch a bug & dive back down to the resting spot, one lonely Kingbird flew right over our heads and landed in a cypress tree that was next to the road. We both stepped a bit closer to the tree and started looking for the bird and then Ahhhhhh...
There it was right in front of us the Cassin's Kingbird and then we remembered the words of our good friend Robin Diaz told us one day "if you need to look twice to see if it's a Cassin's it is probably not one" It was so true after going thru the 15+ Kingbirds on the other side of the canal this one just stood out.
Of course in the name of everything that could happen with a life bird as good as the Cassin's, I pointed the lens at the bird only to be surprised to see the words BUSY on the display screen. It just happened to be that the Camera was telling me the CF card was full, I tried deleting some photos to take a shot of our bird of day when it flew in some trees behind us giving me no shot with all branches in the way. Oh well we were happy to get the bird forget the picture. Maybe another day.
Awesome I said to Mariel Victory is ours today and we will celebrate when we get home with an extra good Brew!
Thanks to every one who let us use their scopes and an extra thanks to Vince and Margaret for leading an awesome trip around the STA-5.
This afternnon we stopped at Barnes to see if anything good was to be found but it was very quiet except for the sounds of amplified music from the party pavillions. We were very happy to get our year Purple Martins as the sun was going down. We met a very nice birder from Broward named Adam that told us about the Long Pine natural area that will be opening soon where the old Flamingo ESL was. We will definitely check that place out as soon as it opens.
Nature is Awesome!
Angel & Mariel
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