Posted by Bryant Roberts on November 11, 2003 at 20:46:35:
My long weekend of birding started off on saturday (11/8) looking for the White-cheeked Pintail in an early morning shower. The bird was probably and escape but it wasn't much out of my way but I'd never seen one outside of an aviary and it didn't look like I was going to see this one. After spending about half an hour looking for it I headed towards the VERMILION FLYCATCHER location where I crossed paths with the TAS field trip and learned the exact location of the duck. After seeing the flycatcher I back-tracked to the pintail location and easily found it. It was getting a bit late in the morning when I reached Lucky Hammock and the only interesting bird I saw there was a CLAY-COLORED SPARROW on the edge of the field across the street. There were a few swallows flying past but all I could be sure of were Barns. There wasn't much at Anhinga Trail when I got there but a walk out on the Old Ingraham Highway through the hammock turned up Magnolia Warbler, Black-throated-green Warbler, Black-throated-blue Warbler, and American Redstart which along with Palms and Yellowthroats would set the tone for warblers over the weekend. That afternoon there was a WHITE-TAILED KITE at the end of Research Road over the old Hawk Missile base and a walk around Long Pine Key after setting up camp produced a LINCOLN'S SPARROW on trail along the west side of the hammock.
On sunday (11/9) I got an earlier start at Lucky Hammock and was surprised to see CRESTED CARACARA in the plowed field south of the hammock. There were YELLOW-BREASTED CHATS on both sides of the road and the CLAY-COLORED SPARROW was where it was the day before but that day it was with an immature DICKCISSEL. After breaking camp I headed south making a few uneventful stops along the way, but at Paurotis Pond I met up with a loose flock of well over a thousand Tree Swallows moving east, and a Mrazek Pond there were about a hundred Blue-winged Teal. I set up camp at Flamingo between showers and finished the day at Eco Pond where a Purple Gallinule was feeding under the platform and a couple of LESSER NIGHTHAWKS made a brief pass over the pond at dusk. One of the nighthawks passed close enough overhead to confirm that it didn't have conspicuous white wing patches which would indicate a female Lesser Nighthawk. The final bird of the evening was an American Bittern which flew over the platform in the twilight.
My first stop on at dawn on monday (11/10) was at Eco Pond where along with the usual early morning marsh birds a flock of about a dozen teal about 8 of which were Blue-winged Teal, and 4 were Green-winged Teal. Along with the Barn Swallows and Tree Swallows over the pond that morning were at least 2 Northern Rough-winged Swallows. Most of monday was spent hiking Bear Lake Road and Trail, nothing very unusual was seen but I kept a record of species and numbers and have included it at the end of this posting. I got back to Eco Pond late in the afternoon just in time to see about 300 White Pelicans coming in from the northwest in several long lines. After sunset a couple of nighthawks could be seen off to the west but they never came close enough to identify.
Tuesday (11/11) was unusually quiet at Eco Pond, even the Painted and Indigo Buntings that had been conspicuous there and about every other suitable place during the weekend weren't around, perhaps due to the wind that had started building during the night. My plan to check the sparrow fields north of the Coastal Prairie Trail fell through when I discovered that the trail had become totally overgrown since last spring, so I had to make do with some birding around the campgrounds. The first interesting find was another CLAY-COLORED SPARROW on the roadside in the Trailer Loop. Conditions were getting good for soaring as and a SWAINSON'S HAWK was circling over the campground when I got there as well as a light morph Short-tailed Hawk. There was a Western Kingbird on the north side of the campground and a Peregrine made a low pass then soared in circles to gain altitude before heading back out over the the cape. The winds continued to build and I broke camp at about noon and headed back north. I made a few stops along the way but the only birds worth noting were a couple of light morph Short-tailed Hawks near the Pineland Trail.
Hear is the species and numbers of birds seen on monday 11/10/03 on Bear Lake Road and Trail:
Great Blue Heron - 1
Great Egret - 40
Snowy Egret - 25
Tricolored Heron - 6
White Ibis - 20
Mottled Duck -2
Red-shouldered Hawk - 3
Forster’s Tern - 3
White-crowned Pigeon - 20
Belted Kingfisher - 4
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 4
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 3
Great-crested Flycatcher - 1
White-eyed Vireo - 3
Barn Swallow - 1
House Wren - 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 13
Gray Catbird - 1
Northern Mockingbird -
Brown Thrasher - 2
Magnolia Warbler - 4
Black-throated-blue Warbler - 2
Yellow-throated Warbler - 1
Prairie Warbler - 4
Palm Warbler - 1
Black-and-white Warbler - 5
American Redstart - 11
Ovenbird - 6
Northern Waterthrush - 6
Common Yellowthroat - 3
Northern Cardinal - 16
Indigo Bunting - 1
Painted Bunting - 2
Red-winged Blackbird - 1
Boat-tailed Grackle - 20
Bryant Roberts
Davie Fl