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Posted by Paul Bithorn on 15:53:23 09/12/04
This morning, from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., Sunday, September 12, 2004, Bruce Purdy and I searched for the previously posted Hudsonian Godwits at the King Ranch sod farm in Palm Beach County.
Upon our arrival we were immediately disturbed by the fact that a young farmworker was spraying the turf for weed control from an All Terrain Vehicle (A.T.V.) Kildeer, a single Semipalmated Plover,Black-bellied Plovers,Black-necked Stilts, Greater Yellowlegs, Short-billed Dowitcher, Pectoral Sandpiper and Least Sandpipers were the only shorebirds seen in the area. Two large tractors were cutting the St. Augustine, just to the east of where the birds have been seen, totally killing our chances of seeing the godwits.
A Mottled Duck, Glossy Ibis, Northern Harrier, Black Terns and Caspian Tern were in the area. The old, abandoned open garage with the rusty metal roof to the north of the sod fields had a single Barn owl roosting in a Bischofia next to the structure. Rock Jetty and I found two owls there last Thursday.
We checked all of the adajacent fields including the tower area and came up empty.We swung through the Holeyland Road and picked up an Acadian Flycatcher and several Warblers. We decided to head to A.D. Barnes and take a crack at the probable Willow Flycatcher I saw yesterday.
We located the same bird hawking for insects between the cul-de- sac to the northeast of the office trailer and the nature trail back to the east parking lot. The bird called softly (whit) on at least four occasions at four different perches. It pumped its tail while making two of the calls.This species is shown on the park checklist as being seen on September 10, 1999.It was my 408th Florida bird and Bruce's 389th.
Other migrant species seen included: Worm-Eating, Yellow-Throated, Prairie, and Black and White Warblers, Northern Parula,Ovenbird,Common Yellowthroat, Yellow Throated Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Chuck-wills-widow, Eastern Kingbirds and Great-crested Flycatcher.
Pray that Hurricane Ivan weakens as it heads toward Florida's west coast.
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