Posted by John Boyd on November 11, 2003 at 16:30:04:
We started the day with Blue-and-yellow Macaws flying by the Doc Thomas House. Common Myna was seen as we passed though Florida City on the way to see the White-cheeked Pintail (now believed to be an escapee). The pintail site also brought us Greater Yellowlegs and Wilson's Snipe. Wood Storks were found a little to the west on Mowry. A quick stop at Flynn's turned up a Shiny Cowbird on the wire.
We met the rest of the group at the Coe Visitors Center where they had a Yellow-throated Warbler in view. We backtracked to the Greenway to admire the Vermilion Flycatcher. Several Sandhill Cranes were also seen flying by to the south. While we were watching the flycatcher, a Merlin ripped though our group in hot pursuit of a Mourning Dove, which it caught near the canal.
We next went to Royal Palm where we did the Gumbo Limbo and Anhinga Trails. It was very quiet, but the Swainson's Hawk that stooped on a Kingfisher (he missed) added some excitement. A dark Short-tailed Hawk provided a nice comparison. On Anhinga Trail, we turned up a Swamp Sparrow in addition to the usual birds. We dipped on the American Bittern.
Mahogany Hammock was next. This was a stop we couldn't make last fall as the boardwalk was still under construction. We ran into a small flock of warblers, but again the birding was quiet. Paurotis Pond didn't add much and the West Lake boardwalk was also quiet! I was surprised by the amount of water present there.
Mrazek Pond had well over 100 BW Teal. We pressed on to Flamingo and lunch. The sandbar was already covered when we arrived, but we still managed to easily add a dozen or so species, including Sandwich Tern. Two Cape May Warblers were in the sea grape, and we saw many large flocks of shorebirds go by at an unfortunate distance. One interesting sight was a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron perched next to an Osprey.
Eco Pond was next. A couple of Marsh Wrens were calling, as was a Least Bittern. Another Cape May was near the platform, as was a surprise Tennessee Warbler. A walk around the pond yielded two perched adult Bald Eagles, Merlin, Harrier, RS Hawk, and Roseate Spoonbills. A Sora was heard.
We then went to Research Road where we completely missed both the pineland species and the shorebirds and ducks that had been seen the previous day.
You might think that the general lack of activity would mean we saw few birds. However, it is November and it is the Everglades, so we still had a good day, ending up with 92 species as listed below.
Pied-billed Grebe
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Least Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great White Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Wood Stork
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Muscovy Duck
Blue-winged Teal
White-cheeked Pintail
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Red-shouldered Hawk
Short-tailed Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
Sora
Purple Gallinule
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Willet
Wilson's Snipe
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Caspian Tern
Royal Tern
Sandwich Tern
Black Skimmer
Rock Dove
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Blue-and-yellow Macaw
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Vermilion Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Common Myna
Tennessee Warbler
Northern Parula
Cape May Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Savannah Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting
Painted Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
Shiny Cowbird