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Posted by Jim King, Miami-Dade County Parks on 16:29:58 01/16/11
Twelve enthusiastic birders join me at Crandon Park on Saturday, January 15, 2011 for the Crandon Beach Bird Walk. The tour started at the Crandon Visitors & Nature Center and followed along the beach to lifeguard towers 9-13 were the mud flats were exposed at a perfect low tide. An adult Peregrine Falcon greeted the group at the start of the tour as it flew low over the sand dunes. The first birds to be seen on the beach were two Piping Plovers giving us great close looks as the birds fed along the shore. Off-shore were several Northern Gannets feeding as well Brown Pelicans, cormorants, Herring Gulls, Royal Terns, and an Osprey. There were several Jaeger-looking birds feeding far off-shore that were hard to identified even with a scope. The flats were rich in an assortment of shorebirds highlighted by groups of Short-billed Dowitchers, Dunlins, Black-bellied Plovers, Semi-palmated Plovers, Wilson's, Piping Plovers and a nice assortment of gull species. The article on the Crandon Piping Plovers by Robin Diaz that appeared in the Tropical Audubon Winter Bulletin was good timing as the group did observed several banded birds. The bird walk wrapped up in Crandon Garden where the group observed a Purple Gallinule (first), Blue-winged Teal, Pied-billed Grebes and a very visible American Crocodile lying on the island in the back pond. Crandon Garden also contains several species of exotic waterfowl and rehab native birds such as Sandhill Cranes (off-spring are free flying in the park). The following is a partial list of birds observed on the walk:
Dlb-crested Cormorant
Anhinga (Garden)
Pied-billed Grebe(Garden)
Blue-winged Teal (Garden)
Common Gallinule(Garden)
Purple Gallinule (Garden)
American Coot (Garden)
Brown Pelican
Northern Gannets
Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Greater Black-backed Gull (3, 1 adult, 2, 1st winter)Seen later in the day
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Laughing Gull
Royal Tern
Tri-colored Heron (Garden)
Great Egret (Garden)
Sandhill Crane (2-free flying)
White Ibis
Black-bellied Plover
Ruddy Turnstone
Semi-palmated Plover
Piping Plover (31 - counted in two groups on 1-14-11)
Wilson's Plover
Killdeer
Short-billed Dowitcher
Sanderling
Dunlin
Osprey
Peregrine Falcon
Kestrel
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Fish Crow
N. Mockingbird
Palm Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Starling
Thanks to all that came out on the walk - I hope to see you at Greynolds Park in April.
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