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Posted by Paul Bithorn on 19:46:45 09/04/12
The Tropical Audubon Society field trip on Saturday, September 1, 2012, to the sod farms and agricultural areas in Palm Beach County, offered twelve birders a mixture of life-birds, year-birds and beer-birds. The temperatures were in the mid 80 s, with a steady 8 mph breeze that made the birding quite comfortable. Serendipitously, mosquitoes and deer flies were almost non-existent.
Our first stop, the Holey Land W.M.A., produced a nice mix of species. On the drive to site where the water control structure and the Chinese Fan Palm nursery have been removed at the end of the pavement, members of our group spotted several species, including King Rail, Common Nighthawk, Barn Swallows, Eastern Kingbirds, and Prairie Warblers. As we turned north on the dirt road to the site, two members of the group spotted a Yellow-breasted Chat and a couple of cuckoos. The rest of the group parked a hundred yards up the road and quickly joined them on foot. One of the cuckoos was a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, but the second cuckoo, nestled in the same willow head, glowed a bright white belly, contrasting with a black body and cap and dark tail. Two birders went back to there cars and retrieved their scopes, and after close scrutiny, a slender dark bill, a faint sliver of rufous in the wing and a red orbital ring were seen, confirming Black-billed Cuckoo, a life-bird for 80% of the group!
We then headed north on US 27 and turned right (east) to the King Ranch sod farms, picking up several Black-bellied Plovers, Killdeer, Black-necked Stilts, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Least and Pectoral Sandpipers. From there we headed a little north and crossed to the west side of US 27, just before 827A, to a flooded field that s water levels swelled from the rains of Tropical Storm Isaac earlier in the week. Mottled Ducks, Long-billed and Short-billed Dowitchers, Black Terns and Roseate Spoonbills were the highlights.
We headed east on CR 827 to a flooded field on the north side of the road and picked up two American Avocets in flight and Western and Stilt Sandpipers. We then proceeded to SR 880, where we were tipped off to a flooded field by Toe & Company that had scads of Black-bellied and Fulvous Whistling Ducks, along with Blue-winged Teal.
We moved on to Brown s Farm Road, where Wood Storks, Roseate Spoonbills and almost every species of heron and egret were packing the pews , along the north side of the canal bank. A Brown Pelican and three Caspian Terns were also seen here. We rescued a young Eastern Mud Turtle from getting crushed, while crossing the road.
We headed back north on CR 880 and found 100 s of shorebirds feeding in the sod farms, just east of the Brown's Farm turnoff (6-mile bend) and added a Ruddy Turnstone, Semi-palmated Plover, and Semipalmated Sandpiper, when a single bird stood out, due to its brightly colored plumage. All scopes were focused on the shorebird that was larger than the adjacent Least Sandpipers and smaller than the adjacent Pectoral Sandpipers. The bird was buffy overall with a complete breast-band, white throat, long primaries - extending well past the tail - and a black bill and dark legs. The consensus was a juvenile Baird s Sandpiper. An excellent photo of the bird in this plumage is on Page 165 of the Shorebird Guide by Michael Obrien, Richard Crossley and Kevin Karlson.
The fields on Sam Center Road were too flooded from Isaac s rains and devoid of birds, so we decided to call it a day with 70 total species, and 16 shorebird species, and headed for home.
Many thanks to Toe, Rock, and Tio for sharing their birding sites with us by cell phone.
Life is good............ .my celebratory libation was Victory Brewing Company s Golden Monkey Tripel, brewed in Dowington, Pennsylvania. Strong and sensual, this tasty, golden Belgian-style ale glows and has a robust ABV of 9.5%.
P.S. I ve got the fever and the only prescription for the cure is another Miami Hurricane Victory.
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