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Posted by Rick Schofield on 16:22:00 01/11/12
Do more birders mean more birds? Today it seemed so.
Larry, the owl man, had pretty much given up on finding the Great Horned Owl today when, by chance, he found it perched in the same tree that it had been in a week or so ago. His find, which happened just before the group congregated, was our first highlight of the day. All 23+ in the group had excellent views and photographic opportunities for quite a while. He was still there when we moved on.
Intending to find little birds, we next went to the pavilion area behind the Visitors Center where I had seen quite a bit of activity before joining Larry and the owl. When we got back to that area it had pretty much evaporated. But the small pond back there usually has a lone Green Heron and/or River Otter which we decided to check on. Bob thought he saw a shore bird bobbing in the middle of the pond and, to our amazement, it turned out to be the second highlight of the day -- a Louisiana Waterthrush. Of course there was much discussion over Northern vs. Louisiana but, based on field marks and its response to a played call note, we zeroed in on Louisiana. (There are multiple photos in the link at the bottom of this posting.)
We then took a circuitous route back to the Marsh Trail parking lot to pick up scopes and leave cooler weather clothing. But before we could head south on the trail we had the third highlight of the day -- an enormous flock of mixed little birds (warblers, vireos, kinglets, and gnatcatchers) descended in the trees all around the parking lot. (I'm sure that some were from the group I had seen earlier behind the Visitors Center.) They started in one tree and then moved on to another. At one point there were tens and tens (I can't quite get myself to use the term hundreds and hundreds -- but it was close!) in one Cypress tree alone.
We then moved on to our intended route and split into two groups -- one that took the first berm to the west and another that went further south to the second berm in search of the Peregrine Falcon that Larry-the-owl-man had seen yesterday. Unfortunately, we didn't find it today. We did get a Northern Harrier, another Kestrel (one was seen earlier), and a pair of Loggerhead Shrikes though. And on the way back to the parking lot we had the fourth highlight of the day -- at least 35 Killdeer on a berm west of the canal that we were walking. (There is a photo of most of them at the link below but I bet you can't find them all!)
At the end of each walk a few of us gather to put together the list of sightings for the day. To our amazement, we were presented with the fifth (and final) highlight of the day -- a River Otter came up over the bank from the C7 impoundment, right under the bench that two of us were sitting on, and onto and over the bank back further up into C7. I was yelling "Otter...otter...otter" but did any of the three of us with cameras get a shot? You guess.
The day turned out better than what the weather people were predicting, we had a very good turn out of birders, and we got to see a great number and variety of birds. What more can you ask for? Well...maybe another Fork-tailed Flycatcher. But that's being greedy!
Rick
Loxahatchee NWR--Marsh Trail, Palm Beach, US-FL
Jan 11, 2012 7:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Protocol: Traveling
2.6 mile(s)
Comments: Weekly Wednesday morning birdwalk, Marsh Trail, Loxahatchee NWR, Boynton Beach, Florida. 23 birders. Fred Test & Bob Phillips leaders.
60 species
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Pied-billed Grebe
Wood Stork
Anhinga
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Northern Harrier
Red-shouldered Hawk
American Kestrel
Virginia Rail (heard)
Purple Gallinule
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Limpkin
Killdeer -- 35+ in one spot, more in others
Solitary Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
Wilson's Snipe
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Loggerhead Shrike
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue Jay
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Carolina Wren (heard)
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Louisiana Waterthrush -- Broad white eye-stripe extending to nape of neck; white, unstreaked throat, pink legs; very little, if any, yellow. Photos available.
Black-and-white Warbler
Northern Parula
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)
Yellow-throated Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Savannah Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
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