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Posted by Bryant Roberts on 20:20:52 10/24/08
I was able to get down to Everglades National Park last Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (10/18-20) with stops near the park on the way there and back. Highlights of the trip included Lesser Nighthawk, Philadelphia Vireo, Nashville Warbler, Swainson s Warbler, Clay-colored Sparrow, and Lincoln s Sparrow.
My first stop late Saturday morning was at Lucky Hammock where there were a few migrants around including several Painted Buntings and a soaring Peregrine Falcon. A Lincoln s Sparrow was seen across the road on the back side of the brushy area north of the dirt road. The Annex had more interesting migrants: Nashville Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Tennessee Warblers, and Baltimore Orioles. This has been and unusual year for Blackpolls as this was my eighth in the last two weeks.
At Royal Palm Hammock there were few migrants in the hammock and high water had the wading birds dispersed but there were enough Alligators and Great Blue Herons to keep the tourists happy and four Short-tailed Hawks soaring overhead made the stop worthwhile for me. I didn t see anything unusual along research road but with the high water this area is worth keeping an eye on. Pa-hay-okee trail didn t have any unusual birds but is worth mentioning because the access road was partially covered with water and after this weeks rain may be completely under water. A Merlin flew over as I arrived at Mahogany Hammock but there were few migrants along the trail. The Mangrove Trail at West Lake was also quiet.
After setting up camp at Flamingo I took a late afternoon walk around Eco Pond where there were no waders, shorebirds, ducks or other swimming birds on the pond. There were a couple of Painted Buntings in the tall grass surrounding the pond and a couple of Cape May Warblers in the Strangler Fig at the entrance one of which was a male in full spring plumage. Shortly after sunset a single Lesser Nighthawk appeared flying high in the west and Barred Owls called from the Buttonwoods. That night after moonrise a Whip-poor-will gave repeated whip calls from a perch near my tent.
A walk around Eco Pond at sunrise Sunday morning didn t produce anything of interest nor did a check of the Strangler Figs in the median in front of the Visitor Center. A drive around the parking areas at Flamingo didn t turn up any cowbirds and none were seen all weekend.
My main birding project that day was a hike down Bear Lake Road and Trail. The road is still closed for the wet season to motor vehicles but can be bicycled down to the trail which is open to foot traffic only. That day I opted to walk the eight mile round trip. There was a nice mix of warblers and my first Indigo Buntings of the trip along the road but the best bird was a Clay-colored Sparrow. Bear Lake Trail produced some of the most intense and sustained migrant birding I ve enjoyed for some time. The most interesting birds were a Swainson s Warbler and Philadelphia Vireo but other less unusual birds were seen in impressive numbers including 25 White-crowned Pigeons, 90+ Gray Catbirds, 4 Yellow-throated Vireos, and 15 Northern Waterthrushes. There is an annotated trip list at the end with the numbers seen along this trail. Volunteers have been clearing obstructions from the canal along the trail to reopen it to canoes and they have made it most of the way to the Indian Mound Bend.
After the hike I took a much needed break scoping the sandbar from the Visitor Center Breezeway where five American Avocets, a Marbled Godwit, and a Sandwich Tern were the most interesting birds seen. There were no White Pelicans on the sandbar but a sweep of the horizon revealed hundreds on a mud flat across the channel. Returning to camp I took a late afternoon stroll around the campground to kill some time before the nighthawk vigil after sunset. This turned up my FOS Common Snipe and Eastern Phoebe as well as a small flock of Barn Swallows and an interesting flock of about fifteen Cliff Swallows and five Chimney Swifts. Shortly after sunsets Lesser Nighthawks began appearing in the sky northwest of C-loop and at least five showed up before dark.
A visit to eco pond a first light on Monday morning didn t turn up any nighthawks or much else of interest. My main goal that morning was to check the Coastal Prairie Trail, Sparrow Fields, and Old Cotton Pickers Camp. The walk out to the trail through the campground produced my FOS Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in the Buttonwoods between A and B Loop. There wasn t anything of interest in the Cotton Pickers Camp but I was pleased to see that there has been an effort to clear the Coastal Prairie Trail. After getting through some overgrown areas at the beginning of the trail the on again off again foot trail was replaced by a two track that must have been made last spring before the rainy season began. This made for less difficult walking but ended suddenly a few hundred yards past the western end of the Sparrow Fields in a tangle of Buttonwoods. I flushed A Bobolink and a couple of Ammodramus sparrows in the western part of the Sparrow Fields but the only one that sat up was too far away to identify and looked more like a Grasshopper Sparrow than either one of the Sharp-tailed Sparrows. With the north winds that morning I had hoped for a nice flight of Raptors but only the little ones were passing eastward that day. There was a slow but steady flight of Sharp-shinned Hawks with lesser numbers of American Kestrels.
I broke camp at around noon and started north. There were a few new shorebirds on the Visitor Center sandbar but nothing unusual. Mrazek Pond was a pleasant surprise with a noisy American Avocet, a small flock of Blue-winged Teal, and FOS American Widgeons and Northern Shoveler. Snake Bight Road had been cleared of debris and mowed and had good numbers of migrant warblers and a few Painted Buntings but nothing unusual. The creek that runs under the boardwalk at the end of the road was crowded with minnows and the end of the creek was lined with waders and Roseate Spoonbills. Three Gull-billed Terns were swooping down over the mouth of the creek and a white morph Reddish Egret was dancing on the edge of the flats. A couple more stops on the way north didn t turn up anything notable until I made a run by Flynn s at sunset for old time s sake where three Western Kingbirds showed up along 212th Avenue.
Mosquitoes were a nuisance at Flamingo, especially at dusk and dawn but they weren t overwhelming, even on the trails. Here is my trip list for Everglades National Park from 10/18-20 plus birds seen in the Lucky Hammock area and Flynn s. Birds seen on Bear Lake Trail are noted with BLT and the number observed.
Pied-billed Grebe
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Great Blue Heron (BLT - 1)
Great Egret (BLT - 12)
Reddish Egret
Tricolored Heron (BLT - 4)
Little Blue Heron (BLT - 3)
Snowy Egret (BLT - 3)
Cattle Egret
Green Heron (BLT - 1)
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Wood Stork
White Ibis (BLT - 7)
Roseate Spoonbill
American Widgeon (FOS)
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler (FOS)
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture (BLT - 1)
Osprey (BLT - 1)
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper s Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk (BLT - 1)
Short-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Common Moorhen
American Avocet
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Common Snipe (FOS)
Short-billed Dowitcher
Marbled Godwit
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Spotted Sandpiper (BLT - 1)
Willet
Ruddy Turnstone
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Laughing Gull
Gull-billed Tern
Caspian Tern
Sandwich Tern
Royal Tern
Forster s Tern
White-crowned Pigeon (BLT - 25)
Mourning Dove
Common Ground-Dove (BLT - 2)
Barred Owl
Lesser Nighthawk (FOS)
Whip-poor-will (FOS)
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher (BLT - 2)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (BLT - 4)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (FOS)
Downy Woodpecker (BLT - 1)
Pileated Woodpecker
Empidonax (sp)
Eastern Phoebe (FOS)
Great Crested Flycatcher (BLT - 6)
Western Kingbird (FOS)
Eastern Kingbird
Tree Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Carolina Wren (BLT - 1)
House Wren (BLT - 1)
Gray Catbird (BLT 90+)
Northern Mockingbird
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (BLT - 10)
Loggerhead Shrike
Blue Jay
American Crow (BLT - 2)
European Starling
White-eyed Vireo (BLT - 2)
Yellow-throated Vireo (BLT - 4)
Philadelphia Vireo (BLT - 1)
Red-eyed Vireo (BLT - 1)
Tennessee Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler (FOS)
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula (BLT - 6)
Magnolia Warbler (BLT - 5)
Cape May Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler (BLT - 16)
Yellow-throated Warbler (BLT - 1)
Pine Warbler
Prairie Warbler (BLT - 4)
Palm Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler (BLT - 7)
American Redstart (BLT - 7)
Worm-eating Warbler (BLT - 1)
Swainson s Warbler (BLT - 1)
Ovenbird (BLT - 8)
Northern Waterthrush (BLT - 15)
Common Yellowthroat (BLT - 10)
Eastern Towhee
Clay-colored Sparrow
Lincoln s Sparrow (FOS)
Northern Cardinal (BLT - 2)
Indigo Bunting (BLT - 3)
Painted Bunting (BLT - 2)
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird (BLT - 20)
Eastern Meadowlark
Boat-tailed Grackle
Common Grackle
Baltimore Oriole
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