[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TAS BirdBoard ] [ FAQ ]
Posted by Angel & Mariel on 20:55:56 12/01/09
This afternoon after work we drove down to the canoe launch on 173rd street to look for the Buffleheads that Toe had called us about yesterday and were not disappointed. When we arrived we scanned the flat, calm Biscayne Bay waters and found a small raft of ducks and zoomed in to 40 power where we could easily see the white ear patch on the birds. In the group we saw three birds with larger white ear patches, we presumed these to be male Buffleheads. The rest of the birds sported the typical small white patch under the eye, they were either female or immature birds. One of the males took off the water for a very brief moment and landed behind the group, when this bird flew the white wing patches were clearly visible on the wing. Other than the Buffleheads we saw a Common Loon, three Horned Grebes, Scaups (probably Lesser) and nice numbers of Red-breasted Mergansers along with lots of waders. The Horned Grebes were actively feeding as well as the Loon, we spent alot of time trying to get good looks at both species as they were diving frequently. We also had a flyby flock of Blue-winged Teal, besides the birds we were treated to a beautiful sunset sky as the full moon rose out of the sea, with Spotted Eagle Rays jumping no less then 50 feet away and Tarpon rolling in the sunset colors that reflected on the still water, the end of the work day was incredible An awesome display of waders going home for the night at the roost just north of the canoe launch was the icing on the cake.
Buffleheads 9
Common Loon 1
Horned Grebe 3
Red-breasted Merganser 14
Scaup spp. 19
Blue-winged Teal 13
Great Blue Heron 3
Great Egret 5
Little Blue Heron 47
Snowy Egret 5
Tricolored Heron 25
White Ibis 155
Double-crested Cormorant 50
Brown Pelican 12
Royal Tern 3
Forster's Tern 1
Laughing Gull 45
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Osprey 2
Eastern Phoebe 1
Spotted Eagle Ray 3
Tarpon 2 (definitely more underwater but only two were rolling)
Snook 3
Nature is Awesome!
Angel & Mariel
[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TAS BirdBoard ] [ FAQ ]