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Posted by Angel & Mariel on 16:19:51 08/03/08
Yesterday we met up with PB, Toe, Trey & Brian around Holey Land to take a trip up to the Sod Farms in search of Shorebirds. Fate had it that when we were going up US27 around Holey Land looking for Toe # in the contact list on the cell we spotted PB making a U turn to head back North on US27. The guys had already seen a Yellow-billed Cuckoo and a White-tailed Kite. Which was cool we had seen a Snail Kite shortly before we met up with them. We continued North stopping at the Radio Tower off US27 where two birders from Vero Beach where there already scanning the fields. Toe immediately spotted a King Rail in the distance along the veg right out in the open. We all got our views at the King Rail through the scope, which was great to see! In the fields along the tower some Wading birds, Killdeer, King Rail (3), Eastern Meadowlarks and many Grackles were seen. We headed towards our next PAUSE which was at King Ranch. Where we found a Purple Martin perched up on a line giving us some nice views. We headed down the road in search of Yellow Warbler. Instead we found 3 Fulvous Whistling-Duck and several Common Yellowthroats but no Yellow Warbler. On the way out we found a group of Swallows coming our from under the small bridge. We stopped to id them and were left between Cave or Cliff, armed with pictures we felt comfortable about being able to id them later. We headed up 827 to 880 where we stopped at a couple fields along the way. Some birds that were found in those fields were Black Tern, Caspian Tern, Dowitchers, American Avocets, Yellowlegs, Common Nighthawks along with some others. Afterwards we headed up 80 to meet up with up Bob Wallace, which we had the pleasure of meeting for the first time. He had called the guys earlier with info that he found a flooded field that was loaded with birds.
Along our journey we spotted several Common Nighthawk perched on the lines and also a few Green Heron which was rather akward looking. As we started our way down the gravel road we spotted the bird we had come for Gull-billed Tern! which we did not have for the year... Stopped to take some quick pics of the Tern and headed down to meet with Bob. Shortly after starting to scan the fields we found a nice group of birds, awesome numbers of American White Pelican and Wood Stork. Gull-billed Tern were on small exposed mud islands allowing for great looks through the scopes, Black Tern would make a fly-by every once in a while. To see all these shorebirds in these fields was amazing! We had to cut our trip short at around 10:45 to make it back to Miami for our nephews party. We said bye to everyone and jetted home. What an awesome introduction to the Sod Farms with such an great crew of experienced birders to teach us the ropes of "Sod Farm Birding" (you know it's a sport). We know that the guys will be able to add some things to our list and trip.
Thanks to everyone yesterday for a great morning! Here is a list of what we saw while "Sod Farm Birding":
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Fulvous Whistling-Duck
American White Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Wood Stork
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Swallow-tailed Kite
White-tailed Kite
Snail Kite
King Rail
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Solitary Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Semipalmated Sandpiper
White-rumped Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher
Laughing Gull
Least Tern
Gull-billed Tern
Caspian Tern
Black Tern
Royal Tern
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Common Nighthawk
Eastern Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
Purple Martin
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Common Yellowthroat
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
Nature is Awesome
Angel & Mariel
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