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Posted by Bryant Roberts on 23:36:41 11/17/04
I spent three days at Everglades National Park early this week with birding stops just
north of the park and on the way to the Flamingo area which is where most of my time
was spent. Among the more interesting birds seen were: American White Pelican, American
Bittern, Greater Flamingo, White-tailed Kite, Short-tailed Hawk, Lesser Black-backed Gull,
White-crowned Pigeon, Lesser Nighthawk, Vermilion Flycatcher, Western Kingbird,
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Sedge Wren, Hermit Thrush, Orange-crowned Warbler, Magnolia
Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, Summer Tanager,
Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, Indigo Bunting, Painted Bunting, and
Baltimore Oriole.
My first stop was Sunday (11/14) before sunrise at Flynn’s where the Tyranids failed to show up
in their usual area. While taking a last chance drive around the neighborhood I crossed paths
with Paul Bithorn and company for the first of several times and saw a lone Western Kingbird on
a powerline. The adult male Vermilion Flycatcher was at it’s usual spot at the C-111 bridge and
we proceeded to join the futile Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher search at Lucky Hammock. This effort
wasn’t entirely in vain as it produced a Summer Tanager, Hermit Thrush, and both Painted and
Indigo Buntings. I caught up with Paul’s group again at the end of Research Road where they
had located the first of three Lincoln’s Sparrows at the gate to the abandoned Hawk Missile
Base. By then a couple of rain showers had passed over and rain would continue to interfere
with birding for the rest of the day. Except for a dark morph Short-tailed Hawk at the turnoff to
Research Road the rest of my trip to Flamingo didn’t produce much of interest. Paul and his
crew were at the Flamingo Visitors Center when I arrived and they told me about the immature
female Vermilion Flycatcher they had seen at Paurotis Pond. We went to the upper breezeway
to scope Florida Bay and the rapidly disappearing sandbar. The most interesting birds there
were a Reddish Egret and an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. At Eco Pond there were a good
many birds but nothing unusual. I returned to Eco Pond after sunset to look for Lesser
Nighthawks but they didn’t appear. The highlight of this vigil was an American Bittern that flew in
from the coastal prairie area and landed in the open just west of the observation platform, after a
few minutes it took off again and headed south towards the Walk In Camping Area. A drive
around B and C Loops in the camping area after dark to try and spot the nighthawks in my
headlights didn’t produce any nighthawks but a Barn Owl flew across close in front of me.
A Bobcat stood watch from a large patch of dead vines beside the road as I walked from
the campground to Eco Pond at sunrise on Monday (11/15). Birding around the pond
didn’t produce any surprises, Least Bitterns and Soras called from the Cattails but stayed
out of sight. There were Indigo and Painted Buntings in the brush near the observation
platform and Palm, Yellow-rumped, Black-and-white, and Yellow-throated Warblers in
the fig trees.
My main project for the day was to hike Bear Lake Road and Trail. This trek produced
about twenty-five White-crowned Pigeons and eleven warbler species including two
Magnolia Warblers, a Worm-eating Warbler, and a great look at a Louisiana Waterthrush.
A Mangrove Fox Squirrel crossed the trail in front of me at the indian mound bend at
nearly the same place I watched one gathering nest material about three years ago.
Afterwards while driving out to C-Loop I spotted a spectacular adult male Scissor-tailed
Flycatcher working slowly into the wind at eye level about twenty feet from my car
window. I was able to keep pace with it by backing slowly and watched it drop into the
grass and come up with a large insect then disappear into a nearby Mahogany tree. While
on the way to check to see if the Coastal Prairie Trail and Sparrow Fields were still
flooded I saw a Black-throated Green Warbler, my fourteenth warbler for the day. Dusk
found me back at Eco Pond where the Lesser Nighthawks didn’t show but the American
Bittern repeated it’s evening routine.
I got to Eco Pond at a little after six Tuesday (11/16) morning where a male Lesser
Nighthawk was flying around the parking area. A few little while later a male and female
appeared over the pond and remained for a few minutes. After a walk around the pond
that didn’t turn up anything new I went out to the Coastal Prairie Trail where I saw my
FOTS Orange-crowned Warbler. My main objective was to check the Sparrow Fields for
Sharp-tailed Sparrows. There was a group about three hundred yards out, the three that
hopped up into view were all Nelson’s but about ten more chipped that didn’t pop up. A
Sedge Wren was also seen along with a few Savannah Sparrows and many Common
Yellowthroats. Later at the Visitors Center about a thousand American White Pelicans
congregated around the sandbar and there were two Cape May Warblers, a
Yellow-throated Warbler, and a Baltimore Oriole in the trees around the building. A little
before noon a dark morph Short-tailed Hawk soared over the camping area as I was
breaking camp.
Snake Bight was my afternoon destination, the walk down the road produced several
White-crowned Pigeons, an Ovenbird, four Northern Waterthrushes, and a male
Black-throated Blue warbler, my seventeenth warbler species for the trip. At Snake Bight
the tide was very low and the waders were scattered and mostly distant. The view to the
east is now blocked by mangroves and with the strong northeast wind the most likely area
for flamingos to be was on the protected eastern side of the bight which can no longer be
seen from the boardwalk. To check this area I got off the boardwalk on the far side of the
small creek and carefully picked my way along the creek taking care to avoid the soft
spots and channels. From a spot near the mouth of the creek I was able to see a flock of
about forty mostly adult Greater Flamingos against the far shoreline. My observation
point was accessible because of recent prolonged wind driven low tides and would be
harder to reach in more normal conditions.
It was late afternoon when I got back to the highway and on the way north I stopped at
Paurotis Pond where the immature female Vermilion Flycatcher was feeding actively north
of the parking area. My last birding stop was at research road where I was able to spot a
White-tailed Kite flying west of the road at about sunset.
Despite the many complaints from other visitors about the mosquitoes they really weren’t
that bad. They are certainly a problem to be dealt with but their numbers were much less
than a few weeks ago and can’t be compared to what they were like a couple of months
ago. The Coastal Prairie Trail and the Sparrow Fields are a little squishy but there was no
standing water where I went. There was standing water on Christian Point Trail and I
didn’t venture out on it. Bear Lake Road is still closed to motor vehicles but is dry and
mowed up to a large fallen tree about two hundred yards from the end which wasn’t hard
to get through. Bear Lake Trail had no serious obstructions but is pedestrian only. Snake
Bight Road is overgrown in places and has a few fallen trees which a bike could be walked
over or around. The section past the Rowdy Bend Road intersection is very overgrown
and probably shouldn’t be biked.
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