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Posted by Angel & Mariel on 13:43:07 09/18/09
In Reply to: Bahia Honda Birding and Snorkeling posted by Roxanne Featherly
Funny we were camping at Bahia Honda SP from the 11th to the early morning of the 13th. We probably crossed paths on US1 as we headed home. We arrived on Friday and immediately set up our tents and headed to the public use beach where we had an awesome BBQ. Many Terns were out, shorebirds were picking at the wrack line, and Gulls were harassing us but we were loving it. We woke at sunrise on Saturday and were treated to a Common Tern flying right above our tent as we camped at a beach site. How many times can you say you had a Common Tern just out side your zip/door; awesome. Least, Western, and Semipalmated Sandpipers, Willet, Ruddy Turnstones, Black-bellied, 2 Piping and Semipalmated Plovers foraged at our beachfront campsite. Our luck continued with a Miami Blue latter in the day; what an awesome little butterfly.
Songbirds were out but as the day got hotter they seem to disappear, early morning before 9:00am seemed to be the best time to bird. Before sunrise we could hear the flight calls of Swainson's Thrush some Bobolink, and Shorebirds streaming overhead. Sitting at the campsite watching the sunrise we could see birds coming in off the ocean, first Common Yellowthroats started to make their presence known, then a couple of Ovenbirds chipped nearby. A stroll through the campground yielded a Swainson's Thrush, Hooded, Black-throated Blue, Yellow (Cuban race), B & W, Prairie, and Yellow-throated Warblers as well as Redstart, Gnatcatchers, Parula and a Waterthrush that would not come out enough to I.D. Gray Kingbirds had set up shop at several snags next to our site, keeping it hard to listen for chip notes. Two Eastern Kingbirds were perched up near the public use beach enjoying the rays, again Common Yellowthroats were common around this area of the park.
Laughing Gulls were very bold at the public beach as they even tried to grab food off the grill, crazy gulls! Two Sandwich Tern were resting on the beach north of us along with Royal and again one Common Tern. Had a probable Roseate Tern over the water but the glare was tough to look through and make a positive I.D.
A check of tidal flats on the ocean side hooked us up with an awesome Reddish Egret, 38 Redknot, Dunlin, and more of the same shorebirds seen at our campsite. We then continued out to Key West, along the way we saw lots of Gray Kingbirds perched on the wires, a Eastern here and there and plenty of White-crowned Pigeon to last us the whole trip.
Sunday about 4:30 a.m. after a nasty storm almost blew our campsite apart; we decided to stay up and go down to the beach to look at the amazing star display we miss here in Miami. While looking up we heard some shorebird and songbird flight calls getting closer then a bird caught my attention as it landed about 30-40 yards away from us at the shoreline coming in off the ocean. We tried to get a look at it but is was too dark so I turned on our LED stick and saw a Godwit on the shore, the bird just did not look right to us; as it took off I was able to see dark underwing and white underparts as well as a wide white rump stripe with black tips to the tail. With no light for photos we just had to settle for Godwit spp, we are still thinking it was not a Marbled since the coloration was off; maybe next time.
By this time we were tired of the bugs that surrounded our light and we decided to head out in the car to the old Flagler Bridge. Next to the marina we had a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron in our head lights; pretty cool to see this cool bird stalking a puddle at night. The sun started to provide some much needed light so we headed back to camp for breakfast. We packed up and hit the road early in the morning, wish we could have spent more time at the park but we had to go.
We expected more warblers during this time of year but the numbers were low and no concentration of migrants were found despite the storms that were over the ocean for a good portion of the night. Are they all coming in October; if they are then come on already October!
Nature is Awesome
Angel & Mariel
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