South Dade: searching for migrants and such


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Posted by Toe on 13:57:51 07/18/10

I started off at first light at Lucky Hammock, where I was greeted by 3 Barn Owls on the wires after turning onto Aerojet Road. I scanned the fields around Lucky Hammock in the early light but saw no other owls, except for the same Barns that were heading off to roost. I heard a Greater Yellowlegs towards the Annex so I moved a little further south and found 6 Greater Yellowlegs and 4 Least Sanpipers by standing on my car and looking into the canal under construction. They were in a small pond next to large mud pile. Just before the Annex there are some nice mud puddles where I found Solitary and Spotted Sandpipers, and a Louisiana Waterthrush feeding along the edge of the puddles. This was all before sunrise.

At the Annex there was little of interest except for some Great-crested Flycatchers, Pileated Woodpeckers, and White-eye Vireos.

In the fields along 9336 near 217th Ave. there were about a dozen Black-bellied Plovers, but no Upland Sandpipers yet. Give it a week, two at most. A few Barn Swallows flew south.

Along 328 St. just east of 137 Ave. there were 6 Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks on the north side of 328 St. I ended the morning at Cutler Wetlands where I added Short-billed Dowitcher and Lesser Yellowlegs to the shorebird list. I was done by 9:30, and it was already hot!

Here are the highlights:

Black-bellied Whistling Duck (6)
Barn Owl (3)
Pileated Woodpecker (2)
Great-crested Flycatcher (2)
Louisiana Waterthrush
Bald Eagle (Mt. Trashmore)
Barn Swallow (3 small flocks)
Cave Swallow (a few at Cutler Wetlands)

Shorebirds:

Black-necked Stilt
Killdeer
Black-bellied Plover
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Solitary Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Least Sandpiper

I set up a Flickr thing (I think), and although I only took a couple of photos, I put them up to see if it works. The first photos were taken before sunrise so they look pretty poor.



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