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Posted by Gary Davis on 10:23:13 04/06/10
On Monday April 5th, I stopped several times just south of Mahogany Hammock to listen for birds between 6:00 and 6:30 am. Several Chuck-will's-widow were calling from the pine area to the northeast. When I pulled over for the fifth time, I immediately heard a Black Rail calling and it continued to call for the couple of minutes that I was there. It was on the west side of the road no more that 20 feet back in the grass. It was dark and hard to see exactly where I was, but I would estimate I was about a half mile south of the Mahogany Hammock road. This is the same area where the Cape Sable Seaside Sparrows are seen.
I went on to Flamingo and arrived at 6:45 am. Eight very weary acting Whimbrels and no Godwits were the only birds present at the Bar-tailed Godwit spot. Not surprising, as I saw 3 seperate families repeatedly flush the birds until they all flew away late Sunday afternoon. I waited a couple hours until high tide and no other birds flew in. Only 5 Godwits and 20 Willet flew in during the period before high tide on Sunday afternoon. On Sunday morning I arrived at 7:15 and campers flushed all the 80 or so Willets and Godwits present as I was walking from my car to the bay. Apparently the constant intentional harassment by the children, as well as the adults, in the campground over the holiday weekend has unfortunately driven off most of the Willet and Godwit flock. Thus nobody was able to see the Bar-tailed Godwit this weekend through Monday morning to my knowledge.
I stopped at Long Pine Key to see if the Spindalis might have returned but saw no sign of them. A park employee there told me that rangers had "busted a kid for shooting several birds with a BB gun" on Sunday.
Regards
Gary Davis
St Johns, Florida
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