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Posted by John Boyd on 10:16:50 11/08/09
Over 2 dozen birders gathered at Coe Visitor's center for Saturday's TAS Everglades trip. We started by going to Lucky Hammock. A White-tailed Kite remained perched long enough for the entire group to see it in the scope. Other raptors there included Northern Harrier, Red-shouldered Hawk, and American Kestrel. A couple of flyby Sandhill Cranes were seen by some of the group.
We walked west from the hammock in search of sparrows, toward the area where Toe, Trey, and company were finding them. The strong winds kept the birds down,
but we encountered several Savannah Sparrows as well as a Grasshopper Sparrow. Unfortunately, the Grasshopper Sparrow did not stay put long enough for everyone to see it.
We then went into the park to Anhinga Trail. We spotted two dark morph Short-tailed Hawks immediately upon arrival (one adult, one immature). We saw them thoughout our visit to Royal Palm. A couple of Broad-winged Hawks also flew over. Besides the hawks, the highlight on Anhinga Trail was an American Bittern sitting right out in the open in the usual spot just before the trail splits.
The Gumbo Limbo Trail was rather quiet. We then went to the intersection of Research Road and the road to Hidden Lake to walk the road though the hammock. We walked all the way to the trail for Hidden Lake without much success. On the way back we found a female Black-throated Green Warbler. A couple of other birds with it got away. The continued wind was a problem here and throughout the day.
Long Pine Key was next. I pointed out the tree where the Spindalises had nested this summer. We walked up the road to gate 4 and walked the trail a half-mile west to the intersection with the nature trail. We saw a number of Pine and Mytrle Warblers, but were unable to find many of the typical pineland species. Rather than trying to go through Mosier Hammock with such a large group, we took the other fork back to the parking lot for lunch.
After lunch, we drove to Mahogany Hammock. The hammock itself was quiet, although a Cottonmouth was of some interest. As we were leaving I saw a bird fly up from the side of the road. It turned out to be a winter-plumaged Chipping Sparrow. Usually it's fairly easy to tell them from Clay-colored Sparrows even in winter plumage, but a few of them are more challenging. This was one of the challenging ones.
Paurotis Pond was pretty empty, so we didn't stay long. Nine-mile Pond added Pied-billed Grebe to our day list, but didn't delay us much either. It was on to West Lake. There, most of us were surprised to see that the boardwalk was closed for reconstruction (it's gone!). A couple of coots and a grebe were all that was visible on the water.
Mrazek Pond was much more interesting. Early arrivers found Roseate Spoonbills. All of us saw both Night-Herons, Blue-winged Teal, other herons and egrets, coot, moorhen, kingfisher, etc. Some of the group had flyover White-crowned Pigeons on the way to Mrazek.
At Flamingo, we were confronted by vast mudflats. The strong wind and low tide had pushed much of the water far away. What shorebirds were around were way too far away to ID. We did see Great White Heron and Bald Eagle. As we left the parking lot, Bob found small flock of birds. Not all of us managed to get on all of the birds, but group sightings included Downy Woodpecker, Blue-headed Vireo, and Black-and-white and Yellow-throated Warblers.
We then scanned the flats from the ampitheater, but it added little to our totals. The walk around Eco Pond was a bit more productive. A Pygmy Rattlesnake was spotted in time to avoid stepping on it. The wet areas in the coastal prairie in back had Roseate Spoonbill and American Avocet.
Our last stop was the old cabin area. We did not find the reported flycatchers, but part of the group saw Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
Blue-winged Teal
Pied-billed Grebe
Mourning Dove
White-crowned Pigeon
Sandhill Crane
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Anhinga
Double-crested Cormorant
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
White Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
American Bittern
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Cattle Egret
Great Egret
Great Blue Heron
Great White Heron
Green Heron
Tricolored Heron
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
American Avocet
Caspian Tern
Laughing Gull
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Osprey
White-tailed Kite
Bald Eagle
Red-shouldered Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Short-tailed Hawk
Northern Harrier
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
American Kestrel
Monk Parakeet
Eastern Phoebe
Loggerhead Shrike
American Crow
Barn Swallow
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Common Yellowthroat
Palm Warbler
Myrtle Warbler
Pine Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Eastern Meadowlark
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
Chipping Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Northern Cardinal
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