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Posted by Rick Schofield on 14:23:36 04/27/12
The last Wednesday walk of the season at Loxahatchee can often be hotter than hades, overwhelmed with bugs, and devoid of both birds and birders. This year was just the opposite! (Well except for the bugs at the end of the walk -- but they were merely Lovebugs not biters.) The weather was beautiful, the group of 7 was more than engaging, and the variety of birds was unexpectedly wonderful.
I arrived early to catch the Snail Kites in the fly-out but I must have missed them with all the other stuff that was going on in the Marsh Trail parking lot. I later found out from our fill-in leader, Tim, that she had seen plenty at the end of Lee Road at the boat launch (something like 2 in one group, then 7 in another, then 5 in yet another -- with at least 2 flying in the direction where I was waiting). But I missed them -- probably because I was busy with everything else going on around me.
I arrived to find C-6 full of "stuff" but I couldn't get as close as I wanted because a teenage Raccoon had just climbed down the ficus and I don't trust daytime raccoons. While I waited for said raccoon to wander away, I noticed that the ficus was full of Gray Catbirds feasting on the berries. Then I noticed that they weren't alone. There was so much activity that I couldn't keep up with it until I noticed an Ovenbird looking right at me. I tried to get photos of him but by the time I got my camera on him, he was obscured by the foliage.
By then the raccoon had gone its merry way and I could get better views of what was out in C-6. There were plenty of waders but also a whole lot of shore birds (which I'll get into later). I heard rustling behind me and when I turned to see if the raccoon had returned it turned out to be a Bobcat standing no more than 20 feet from me looking right at me. In my haste to get photos, I didn't calm down enough to hold the camera perfectly steady and they are not the greatest.
Sue arrived just as flocks of Cedar Waxwings were swarming overhead. One group kept swirling around the ficus where I was parked but didn't like the fact that we were standing right there. It was then that I realized that I had better move my car or suffer the consequences! They did eventually light and proceeded to pass ficus berries down the line from one to another.
Meanwhile most of the others had arrived and we were scoping out everything in the C-6 impoundment. Tom came by on his bike and said that a small flock of Semipalmated Plovers had just flown to our side of the impoundment so we decided to follow the Marsh Trail dike west to check them out. While we found all kinds of shore birds -- Solitary Sandpipers galore, Long-billed Dowitchers, Lesser Yellowlegs, and Black-necked Stilts -- there were some that were hard to ID. As it turned out, the Semipalmated Plovers had flown back to the opposite side of the impoundment and mingled with some Killdeer so they could only easily be distinguished with a scope. ("Does that one have one or two necklaces?") And then there was the mixed group of Semipalmated Sandpipers mingled with the Least Sandpipers. ("Does that one have yellow legs or dark legs?" and "I think that's a Snipe" -- which it was -- "No, that's a Long-billed Dowitcher" -- which had joined the group in between taking turns at the scope.) In the end we had a total of 9 species of shorebirds.
After checking out C-6, we went to the Visitors Center where we expected to find little if anything. Well, the totals only show 4 different warblers, 1 vireo, and 1 thrush but they held our attention (expecially the Blackpoll and Swainson's Thrush) for enough time to say, "Let's not bother going up to the Pavilion area and, instead, wander back to the parking lot."
It was then that Warren got everyone's attention by calling out, "Swallow-tailed Kite" to which we all took off as fast as we could. Most of us missed seeing it/them but it was our first -- and only -- sighting of the season.
Thanks to Tim Keith for filling in for Fred Test as our fearless leader. And thanks to all those who joined us for our last walk of the season. Stayed tuned for reports starting back up again next November.
Rick
Loxahatchee NWR--Marsh Trail, Palm Beach, US-FL
Apr 25, 2012 7:30 AM - 11:00 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 mile(s)
Comments: Weekly Wednesday morning birdwalk, Marsh Trail, Loxahatchee NWR, Boynton Beach, Florida. 7 birders. Tim Keith, leader.
58 species
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 3
Wood Duck 1 (male)
Mottled Duck 2
Blue-winged Teal 4
Wood Stork 2
Anhinga
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Swallow-tailed Kite
Snail Kite 1 (female) (many, many more were seen earlier in the morning by our fill-in leader)
Red-shouldered Hawk 2 (possibly 4)
Purple Gallinule
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Limpkin
Semipalmated Plover 5
Killdeer 4
Black-necked Stilt 6
Solitary Sandpiper 5
Lesser Yellowlegs 3
Semipalmated Sandpiper 3
Least Sandpiper 2
Long-billed Dowitcher 4
Wilson's Snipe 3
Mourning Dove
Nanday Parakeet 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Great Crested Flycatcher
Red-eyed Vireo 1
Blue Jay
Fish Crow
Barn Swallow 1
Carolina Wren
Swainson's Thrush 1
Gray Catbird (lots)
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing (multiple large flocks)
Ovenbird 1
American Redstart
Northern Parula
Blackpoll Warbler (many)
Northern Cardinal
Indigo Bunting 4 (1 adult male, 3 female)
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
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