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Posted by Angel & Mariel on 13:08:25 12/08/09
Sunday we birded Cutler Wetlands, Dump Marsh and the 173rd St. canoe launch spot with the great company of Elsa Alvear. We started off the morning early at Cutler Wetlands where we had an awesome morning and lots of good birds. Some of the highlights at Cutler Wetlands were a juvenile Bald Eagle that seems to have called the wetlands home for quite a few days along with the Great White Heron which we first saw there on Thanksgiving Day. The Eagle came in from the south and sneaked up on the Coots but did not manage to catch any, its appearance set off an explosion of birds taking to the wing. It tried a few times to catch Coots but no luck, then locked onto two Killdeer which after a few laps around the wetlands finally out maneuvered the Eagle; it then retreated to one of the Palms on the back of the property. The most surprising bird of the day by far was an American Woodcock! The Woodcock was doing its familiar "peent" call from the SW corner of the wetlands; it vocalized seven to eight times giving us a chance to try to zero in on its location. It was a bit after sunrise but the thick cloud cover was hiding the sun thus making it dark and gloomy. We thought what else makes that call and all we could only think of was Common Nighthawk but the two sound slightly different, we have studied and observed Woodcocks every year for the past three years on several occasions while they have been on Research Road in ENP so we are very familiar with the call. The Woodcock could have been as far as the property to the south of the wetlands, we did not get a visual on the bird but the call was loud and clear. It was so quiet that we could hear the sounds of the Coots dipping their bills into the water, what a cool sound when there are that many together foraging at the same time.
A little while after Elsa met up with us; we scoped the wetlands and found lots of great birds. We had great looks at two Forster s Tern, Short-billed Dowitchers, a Great White Heron, American White Pelican, Yellowlegs, Blue-winged Teal, Ruddy Duck, and American Wigeons just to name a few. While there we met Ernie and Vicky which had stopped by on their way to Key Largo, a very nice couple indeed. After birding the wetlands for a while we decided to give Dump Marsh a try where we saw mostly Coots and waders. No Marsh Wren could be coaxed up out of the reeds for us but the consolation prize was an immature bald Eagle and an adult which were locking talons in mid air as well as a flock of Cave Swallows that were working the air over the old dump. We looked for the Tropical Kingbirds but none was found; several large Iguanas were at the canals edge displaying their orange coloration. After Dump Marsh we went to the 173rd St. canal launch area where we picked up two Horned Grebe, one Common Loon and two Red-breasted Merganser, it was pretty quiet besides that. We gave Bill B a call so that he could try for his 113th try at the Horned Grebes and were later called by Bill that he was still Horned Grebeless =( . The weather was nice although the lighting was no good for photography; we still had an excellent time with Elsa while out birding in Cutler Bay.
Nature is Awesome!
Angel & Mariel
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