Posted by Bryant Roberts on October 08, 2001 at 18:18:21:
This morning at 10:45 there were 20 Greater Flamingos at Snake
Bight, due east of the end of the road. They were visible from the
beginning of the boardwalk and were easily identified with a 20x
scope. They were still there at 12:50 PM when I finally headed
back up the road. The high tide this morning was at 8:00 AM so
they were there on a moderately high outgoing tide. We are
forecast to have 20 to 30 mph northeast winds for the next few
days which will blow most of the water out of this part of Florida
Bay. It's unlikely that the flamingos will be in Snake Bight until
after the wind abates and the water returns, if they return at all. Here
is the list of the birds I saw from the Boardwalk:
6 - Brown Pelicans
1 - Double-crested Cormorant
1 - Bald Eagle (imm.)
2 - Ospreys
3 - American Kestrels
6 - Turkey Vultures
18- Great Blue Herons (Plus 1 "Wurderman's" and 3 "Great-
whites")
13-Great Egrets
3 - Tricolored Herons
1 - Snowy Egret
7 - Little Blue Herons
2 - Yellow-crowned Night-Herons
20-Greater Flamingos
3 - Roseate Spoonbills
8 - White Ibis
8 - Caspian Terns
2 - Laughing Gulls
3 - Black-necked Stilts
2 - Black-bellied Plovers
1 - Ruddy Turnstone
2 - Greater Yellowlegs
1 - Willet
2 - Dowitcher sp.
1 - Solitary Sandpiper
2 - Spotted Sandpipers
180-Least Sandpipers
10- Western Sandpipers (there may have been a couple of
semipalmateds mixed in)
1 - Belted Kingfisher
3 - Barn Swallows
1 - American Crow
These birds were seen on Snake Bight Road:
3 - Red-shouldered Hawks
1 - Cooper's Hawk
6 - White-crowned Pigeons (their numbers have dropped off since
mid September)
5 - Red-bellied Woodpeckers
2 - Catbirds
6 - Brown Thrashers (I didn't consider these a migratory species
so I didn't write down any dates or numbers, but there has been a
noticeable increase in their numbers around Flamingo since mid
September.)
5 - Great-crested Flycatchers
3 - White-eyed Vireos
25-Blue-gray Gnatcatchers
3 - Black-and-white Warblers (singing)
4 - Black-throated-blue Warblers (all adult males)
4 - Prairie Warblers
5 - Ovenbirds
3 - Northern Waterthrushes
2 - Common Yellowthroats
3 - American Redstarts
7 - Painted Buntings (4 were adult males)
6 - Northern Cardinals
There were also 6 Palm Warblers along the main park road.
Yesterday (10/7) there was a Rose-breasted Grosbeak beside the rental cabins road and a House Wren at Eco Pond (the trail is still closed but the observation platform is open).