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Posted by Larry Manfredi on 19:26:00 11/28/09
My son Philip and I decided to do some late afternoon, early evening birding. Philip has not seen a Short-eared Owl so I told him we would try and find one. The farm fields just before the entrance to Everglades National park have not been plowed this season. Apparently they will not farm these areas this year as part of the Everglades restoration project. The fields are really nicely overgrown with mostly native weeds and not too much exotic stuff growing in it yet.
Just before going to check these fields, we looked for Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and Western Kingbirds not too far from where we live. We had 7-Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and 5-Western Kingbirds. These birds were seen on s.w. 217 ave. north of s.w. 312 st. on the power lines on the west side of the road, about a quarter mile north of s.w. 312 street. This is due west of Homestead.
We then went to check the fields along state road 9336, the road that goes into Everglades National Park. The overgrown fields on the north side of the road had no less than 14-Northern Harriers and 3-White-tailed Kites. We also had 8-nighthawks which may have been Lesser Nighthawks. I feel confident that this area may have some rare raptors this winter, perhaps a Rough-legged Hawk! We looked here after sunset but did not see any Short-eared Owls. We then went to Lucky Hammock just west of here and and found 2-Short-eared Owls in the overgrown fields just south of Lucky Hammock. Along with the Short-eared Owls, we had at least 3-Whip-poor-wills flying around Luck Hammock. We drove the grassy road going west, on the south side of Lucky Hammock and had beautiful views of a perched Short-eared Owl. The owl was sitting in the middle of the road allowing us to get within about 30-feet of it. We then backed up and never flushed the owl looking at it the whole time. For some reason I decided not to bring the camera, what was I thinking!!
We then drove south through the annex area looking for more owls or other night birds. We saw perhaps another one or two Whip-poor-wills which was nice but no other owls. Our feeders at our house are still getting a few Shiny Cowbirds, anyone who would like to see them can contact me. Morning and late afternoon seem to be the best time.
Larry Manfredi
Homestead, FL.
E-mail: birderlm@bellsouth.net
http://www.southfloridabirding.com
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