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Posted by Roxanne on 15:05:17 03/23/08
Yesterday, at dawn, Jeanette and I met at the 92 Ave. side of Cutler Wetlands to find the Snow Goose. We were greeted by a huge light orange-colored full moon in the western sky. Among the many bird voices I heard, I could identify the descending whinny of a Sora. Around 7:20AM the Snow Goose made its appearance from behind the clump of grasses; the same spot I first saw it last December. We had great looks through bins and scope while standing atop the berm across the road 20 feet from the guard rail. Then it waddled back around the grasses. We waited another 20 minutes expecting it to fly off, but it never did. We knew it was still behind the clump of grasses so we moved to the west side (apartment building side) of the wetlands and found it standing in the water, just resting. We saw most of the other birds Toe described yesterday in his post.
Among the Catbirds, Yellow-rumps, and Mockers, Bill Sadowski produced a Prairie Warbler with its brilliant yellow underparts and black side streaking. We did notice some fig trees beginning to fruit which should hopefully, soon attract a variety of birds.
Our last stop for the morning was the lake at Palmetto Bay Village Center. We must have spent an hour there enjoying watching up close and personal the 3 Red-breasted Mercansers, 2 Blue-winged Teal (male and female), Double-crested Cormorants, and Pied-billed Grebes swimming, diving, feeding, preening, calling. A male Northern Flicker flew in and foraged its way through a huge gaping cavity of a Queen Palm. Using the scope we could clearly see its brown, barred back and spotted underparts; black malar, black crescent bib and red crescant on the nape. We did not see one, but Jeanette heard a Pileated Woodpecker. Since it was beginning to rain, we decided to check out Larry and Penny Thompson Park another day.
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