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Posted by Rick Schofield on 13:45:31 03/01/12
Two groups of ~15 (30 people, total) spent the morning checking out the offerings at Loxahatchee NWR on Wednesday.
We were lucky to have Mark (I missed his last name), in addition, give us an overview of the LILA project (Loxahatchee Impounded Landscape Assessment) -- a research project that hopes to help define causal effects of high/low/flowing water in the Everglades in the attempt to restore it to its original form.
One of the recent findings was the fact that drought is a necessary (and in undisturbed nature, a recurring) thing. Drought kills off most of the large predatory fish and allows the small fish and crustaceans (i.e., crayfish, etc.) to rebound in population. They, in turn, provide the needed food source for other fish and wading birds. These water levels also impact the growth of Apple Snails which are the necessary food for the Snail Kite and Limpkin.
But, back to birds, we were happy to see that the Great Horned Owls, while not nesting to our knowledge, are still hanging around. One provided decent views (though through Spanish Moss and other distracting branches). We had the ongoing singing of Carolina Wrens but Beth had very good views of two different birds perched right out in the open. She also had our first-of-season Black-necked Stilts in C-6 but they flew before most people could see them.
Meanwhile, a pair of American Kestrels were flying overhead and, only briefly, landing in the tree tops near us.
In the Visitors Center parking lot we had a Baker's dozen Cedar Waxwings high up in a cypress where, occasionally, they would fly off, circle around, and return to the same spot.
The water levels in C-6 are really too high for most shorebirds and the Wilson's Snipe that are still present have moved one impoundment south to C-7 (where one of them met his demise last week). I understand that the water levels will be maintained as high as possible to make it through the summer -- this as a result of last year's drought where C-6 went totally dry. (As did C-7, which has still to recover.)
We had a small flock of Fish Crows fly overhead. They have been noticeably absent from the refuge this year even though they have been hanging around my neighborhood all season. And a lone Brown Pelican flew high overhead on his way to ...?
One person in our group, a photographer from New Jersey, got his life Purple Gallinule and wondered what the chances were that he could also see a Painted Bunting. We told him that, based on the past few weeks' sightings, the chances were good. And they, indeed, were. A strikingly bright colored male was spotted in the same general vicinity as in past weeks and he didn't disappoint our NJ friend.
Because of the windy conditions, we didn't see many warblers or other little birds so our total species count is lower than in the last few weeks. But, hey, it was a nice walk on a nice day with some nice people.
Rick
Loxahatchee NWR--Marsh Trail, Palm Beach, US-FL
Feb 29, 2012 7:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 mile(s)
Comments: Weekly Wednesday morning birdwalk, Marsh Trail, Loxahatchee NWR, Boynton Beach, Florida. 30 birders. Fred Test, Bob & Janet Phillips, Jan & Dave Conley leaders.
56 species
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Pied-billed Grebe
Anhinga
Brown Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Northern Harrier
Red-shouldered Hawk
American Kestrel
Purple Gallinule
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Limpkin
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt 2
Wilson's Snipe
Mourning Dove
Monk Parakeet 2
Great Horned Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
White-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
Fish Crow
Tree Swallow
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Black-and-white Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Parula
Palm Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)
Northern Cardinal
Painted Bunting
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
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