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Posted by Alex Harper on 20:01:35 09/17/12
I ventured up late this morning to the Belle Glade area in search of shorebirds. I was able to find high numbers of shorebirds in several adjoined fields, which were off of C.R. 880 and Sam Senter Road (east of Belle Glade and Brown's Farm Road). I do not believe this location has been described in previous posts from this fall.
The fields harbored thousands of shorebirds, along with an assortment of terns and waders. It was possible to pull off along Sam Senter Road and scan the fields, but the easiest way to view birds is to drive to the end of Sam Senter Road to where it intersects with Gator Boulevard. At this corner, there is an area to pull off and view birds, but a scope is needed. Most birds would be most easily viewed from a dirt road running through the middle of the field, but after asking an employee if the company, he said it would not be possible to bird within the grounds. More time and a better angle could have produced something rare. At this location, I found the following birds of note:
Mottled Duck
American Wigeon- 3 (very early)
Roseate Spoonbill- 25
Merlin- 2
Black-bellied Plover- 20+
American Golden-Plover- 1; identified by slimmer profile and smaller bill than nearby BBPLs, dark cap contrasting with a white brow
Killdeer- 200+
Semipalmated Plover- 20+
Black-necked Stilt- 40+
Greater Yellowlegs- 50+
Lesser Yellowlegs- 70+
Spotted Sandpiper- 1
Ruddy Turnstone- 5
Baird's/White-rumped Sandpiper- slightly larger than other "peeps", it's tapered, long-winged profile stuck out. However, I could not make an i.d. due to horrible lighting
Semipalmated Sandpiper- 120+
Western Sandpiper- 200+
Least Sandpiper- 2,000+
Stilt Sandpiper- 6
Long-billed Dowitcher- identified by it's hunch-backed stature
Black tern- 14
Gull-billed Tern- 6
Caspian Tern- 4
Bobolink- 20 (flyovers)
Elsewhere along C.R. 880 and Brown's Farm Road, numbers appear to have drastically decreased since the previous posts. I was able to pick up Pectoral Sandpipers among more yellowlegs and Least Sandpipers, along with another Merlin and Northern Harrier.
Bobolinks were abundant around the intersection of US-27 and CR-827. There were easily over 1,500 flying overhead and dispersing into different fields.
Lastly, I birded the Holey Land WMA. The objective was to find Purple Swamphens, which were recently accepted by the American Birding Association as an established exotic species (although I cannot find an updated checklist with the addition of the swamphen yet). I easily found four, including a juvenile from the second pull off and across the walking bridge. Least Bitterns were vocal here, and Blue-winged Teal have begun to arrive.
At the boat launch just beyond where the cement road becomes gravel, I checked for migrants. I could not come up with any Black-billed Cuckoos or Yellow-breasted Chats, but migrants were around. Among the expected species, I had brief views of an Empidonax flycatcher species, Louisiana Waterthrush and a Baltimore Oriole. Three Peninsula Ribbon Snakes and a FOS American Kestrel were seen on the way out.
I should probably be looking for jobs,
Alex
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