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Posted by Abby on 15:01:28 03/20/05
Another great weekend of birding... we began by driving through the storm Thursday night up to the canaveral area, where we camped at Riverbreeze park. Our first bird of the trip was a Black-crowned Night Heron at the dock, seen in our headlights as we searched for the campground. In the morning we did a quick search of the park and found a few good birds. Off the dock were a couple Common Loons and Red-breasted Mergansers, plus Black Skimmers and Marbled Godwits with a flock of Willets on a sandbar. The hammock had good songbird activity, including Yellow-throated Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Black-and-white Warbler, and a male Painted Bunting. Off to Merritt Island.
Wildlife Drive:
Short-billed Dowitcher, Western Sandpiper, one Black-bellied Plover. Many shorebirds were out of our viewing range.
Pumphouse Road:
Large numbers of dowitchers, dunlin, least sandpipers, and western sandpipers, plus some Marbled Godwits, both yellowlegs, Stilt Sandpipers, and Red Knots. Without a scope and in poor light, I was not up to the task of searching for Semipalmated Sandpipers. On the footpath behind the pumphouse was more of the same, plus a few Semipalmated Plovers and a Reddish Egret.
We stopped along the main road across from pumphouse road, where there were thousands of coots, and good numbers of Blue-winged Teal and Northern Shovelers. In the distance we spotted a flock of American Avocets resting. Farther up the road, near the oak trail, was a wild pig.
Scrub Trail:
Florida Scrub Jays, Merlin, armadillo, one Marsh Wren by the pond.
Jetty Park:
A large group of Northern Gannets, of all ages, was feeding just offshore, providing incredible views.
We arrived to our next destination, Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, after dark. We set up our tent and went for a walk to enjoy the loud chorus of mostly unfamiliar frogs and toads. As we stood in the parking lot of the park office, we noticed a large shape on one of the handicapped signs, and when we turned on our flashlight, we saw a Barred Owl, only about 15 feet in front of us! Wow.
In the morning as we waited for the TAS group to arrive, we did a little birding. Near the campsite Eastern Meadlowlarks were singing away, as were at least five Bachman's Sparrows. We saw three Crested Caracaras, a Merlin, and a few Bobwhite were singing by the entrance to the park. I will leave the reporting of the rest of this day to the leaders of the trip; but I will say it was a very good day!
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