Posted by Paul Bithorn on July 09, 2001 at 14:41:30:
In Reply to: Loop Road July 1 posted by Bill Boeringer on July 02, 2001 at 12:43:37:
On Saturday 7/7 Juan Villamil, Bruce Purdy and myself birded Loop Rd., following the same basic itinerary that Robin Diaz, Jill Rosenfield and Bill Boeringer used on 7/1. On the drive West on the Tamiami (Tampa to Miami) Trail, we spotted a Great White Heron along the Tamiami Canal, which we saw again on the return trip. Our first stop was to look for Snail Kites at the usual spot west of Shark Valley. One male Snail Kite was seen hunting for Pomaceas out over the sawgrass prairie. We next entered Loop Road at Monroe Station and stopped along a cypress slough and immediately ticked off 12 species including Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, groups of both adult and immature Tufted Titmice, White-eyed Vireos and Blue-gryy Gnatcatchers, Great-crested Flycatcher, Yellow-billed Cuckoo (heard}and Common Yellowthroat.A White-tailed Deer was seen approaching us along the dirt road. Just past the bend turning to the east we saw a female Prothonotary and Northern Parula (heard), Carolina Wrens and our best bird of the day, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, at the southern limit of their breeding range. A limpkin foraged along the dirt road ahead of us. Further up the road we were were treated to an otter loping along the road towards us until he picked up our scent and slid into the slough. Water levels were such that they did not rush over the road, which is typical for the wet season on Loop Road. However, there were plenty of puddles along the road. Alas, no early Louisiana Waterthrushes, our target bird. When we enterd the pinelands we were greeted by a family of Pine Warblers with young, several young Eastern Bluebirds, a pair of Eastern Towhees and a single Eastern Bluebird. During the rest of the trip, we saw Pileated Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Red-shouldered Hawk, Turkey and Black Vultures and Purple Martins.All in all, the mosquitos were tolerable but I would recommend bringing along insect repellant. The deer flies were also not bad.This is an excellent field trip for those of you experiencing summer birding delirium tremors.We left Miami at 6:15 a.m. and were back by 12:30 p.m. On to the sod farms! Life is good..........