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Posted by Bryant Roberts on 23:35:57 08/22/04
My weekend spent birding in the Everglades National Park and Lucky Hammock area turned up these species among others:
White-tailed Kite, Snail Kite, American Kestrel, Red Knot, Common Tern, Black Tern, White-crowned Pigeon, Mangrove Cuckoo, Bank Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Yellow Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, Ovenbird, and Painted Bunting.
After setting up camp at Long Pine Key late Friday afternoon (8/20) I checked Research Road and found a rather early American Kestrel near the research facilities. Heading south Saturday morning (8/21) my first stop was at Mahogany Hammock where the most interesting birds were a couple of Prothonotary Warblers and several small flocks of Eastern Kingbirds. Small groups of Kingbirds were also seen along the road to about the West Lake area. An unpleasant surprise at Mahogany Hammock were large numbers of Deer Flies in the parking area, these are usually only a problem in late spring and early summer. At West Lake mosquitos were the only problem, there was a Redstart and Black-whiskered Vireo in the parking area and from the end of the boardwalk overlooking West Lake about thirty Forster’s Terns could be seen over the Lake along with about fifty Least Terns and a couple of Black Terns. At Eco Pond I encountered the first of many Yellow and Prairie Warblers along with a Mangrove Cuckoo. Prairie Warblers would be the most common warbler seen during the weekend followed by Yellow Warblers. There has been a Mangrove Cuckoo at Eco Pond for three of my last four visits. A check of the sandbar off the Flamingo Visitors Center produced the usual waders; Marbled Godwits, Willets, Short-billed Dowitchers etc. along with a Common Tern and a few Red Knots. A walk out Snake Bight Road didn’t produce anything of note on the road or at Snake Bight besides amazing numbers of mosquitos, they were as bad as I can recall there.
While in the area I checked the area north of the Flamingo Marina where a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher was seen for at least a couple of weeks earlier this summer. When I saw it then it seemed to be getting along surprisingly well with a Gray Kingbird, at least once they shared the same branch only a few feet apart. A little research about out of season Scissor-tailed Flycatcher reports in Florida revealed that while they have been seen every month of the year those outside seen between the normal late spring to early fall dates haven’t stayed in one place for more than a day or two. These two bits of information became more interesting when I heard a couple of weeks ago about a report of a probable hybrid between a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and another species in the genus Tyrannus, possibly a Western Kingbird if my memory serves me correctly. Unfortunately my search this weekend didn’t turn up the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher much less mixed family or any odd looking juvenile kingbirds.
On the return trip to the north end of the park that afternoon a stop at Pay-hay-okee mainly to watch the thunderstorms over the glades also produced a male Snail Kite. At the south end of Research Road the White-tailed Kites were sitting in their usual area.
On Sunday morning (8/22) my first stop at Lucky Hammock produced a male Painted Bunting, Yellow Warbler, Ovenbird, among others in the main hammock and a check across the street turned up a couple of Eastern Wood-Pewees. There was a light but steady movement of swallows over the area, mostly Barn Swallows with smaller numbers of Bank Swallows and a few Cliff Swallows. A stop a Royal Palm Hammock turned up more of the same plus a Yellow-throated Warbler, my weekend warbler list came to about ten species. A bonus sighting was a brief look at a Florida Panther early in the afternoon at the three way stop at the turn to Research Road.
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