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Posted by Abby on 10:58:16 01/07/09
Tom and I just got back to Arkansas from our annual trip to Florida. After visiting my dad for Christmas, we headed down to Everglades National Park on Dec 26. We parked my car at the visitor's center and brought all our camping gear into the park on our bikes. We spent the first 4 nights at Long Pine Key, then went down to Flamingo, where we rented a canoe overnight and camped at the South Joe River Chickee. We spent the rest of the trip down at Flamingo and rode back out of the park on Jan 3 after the Coot Bay CBC.
It would take a lot of space to list and describe everything we did and saw, but here are some of the highlights:
Anhinga Trail/ Gumbo Limbo Trail:
1 Snail Kite (flyover on Dec 27)
Black-throated Blue Warbler- 1 male
Magnolia Warbler
Limpkin
Purple Gallinule - 2
Short-tailed Hawk
Long Pine Key Campground:
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Brown-crested Flycatcher (1 in the hardwood hammock by the pond)
Great Horned Owl
South Joe Chickee:
at least 2 Eastern Screech-Owls, and my first bird of 2009!
White-crowned Pigeon - 1
Flamingo Campground:
Barn Owl- treated us to great views every evening as it flew around the fields by the walk-in camping area right at dusk
Lesser Nighthawk- 1 at the far loop, by the coastal prairie trail
Eco Pond:
several hundred Snowy Egrets congregated here in the mornings, making quite a sight- along with a few Great Egrets and Roseate Spoonbills
Coastal Prairie Trail:
lots of sharp-tailed sparrows- I crossed the field from the trail over to the far side, where I found a damp area with some type of bulrush. I saw at least 10 sparrows, mostly Nelson's but one definite Saltmarsh. By just standing at the edge of the bulrush, I could watch the sparrows as they flew around or inched up to the top of the grass to have a look around. With the sun behind me, the views of these guys were amazing!
Snake Bight:
1 Long-billed Dowitcher (1-2-09, state bird for me!)
Lesser Black-backed Gull- several
Marbled Godwit
Reddish Egret
Overall, a very exciting trip. We'll probably be back next year.
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