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Posted by Brian Rapoza on 07:51:29 02/01/10
Paul Life is Good Bithorn, Roberto Toe Torres, Raul Rock Jetty Urgelles and I journeyed north yesterday in search of rarities, avian and otherwise. Our first stop was Sebastian Inlet State Park. Large numbers of American Robins and smaller numbers of Cedar Waxwings were around the McDonald s at the Sebastian exit of I-95. We arrived at the state park at 8:01 AM, only one minute behind schedule. We were apparently the first birders to arrive. We parked along the inlet just beyond the entrance station at the south entrance, where Toe almost immediately spotted the HARLEQUIN DUCK, associating with a Red-breasted Merganser just outside the lagoon on the north side of the inlet. After enjoying excellent scope views, we headed to the north side of the inlet, where we found the Harlequin inside the lagoon. We could not locate the Purple Sandpiper still being reported from this site.
Next, we stopped at Viera Wetlands, where we immediately found the MASKED DUCK, in its usual location in Cell 4. Also seen were 2 immature Crested Caracara who were engaging in rather adult behavior. As we moved on, an adult caracara flew in, hopefully to provide proper supervision.
Our next stop was at Bartram Farms in St. Johns County. We discovered that directions given in the FL RBA are incorrect: there is no exit on I-95 for CR 214. We exited a few miles north at SR 16 and stopped for lunch at Sonny s, where we found more robins and waxwings. We missed our left turn at CR 208 and ended up much farther north on CR 13A then intended. We eventually located Bartram Farms, on CR 13A about 1.5 miles south of CR 214. With phone assistance from Carl Edwards and Angel and Mariel Abreu, we eventually found the two immature TUNDRA SWANS, hidden in a small finger of the lake on the south side of the road. Many Bufflehead and a few Hooded Merganser were also present; we could not locate the Common Goldeneye reported here previously.
Next, we headed to Vilano, on the coast just north of St. Augustine, where large numbers of Red-throated Loons have been reported. At the Reef Restaurant on A1A, we found one loon in the surf, apparently a Common. Parasitic Jaegers were beyond the surf, but there were no signs of the Right Whales reported here previously.
We ended our epic journey at Daytona Beach Shores, where we hoped to find the possible Yellow-legged Gull reported here earlier in the week, or the Iceland Gull reported from just south at Ponce Inlet. At Frank Rendon Park on A1A, we found nothing unusual among the thousands of gulls lined up on the beach, but did see more Parasitic Jaegers offshore.
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