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Posted by Rick Schofield on 17:38:10 01/03/13
I try to get my weekly Loxahatchee report up within 24 hours or so but with a magnificent male Western Spindalis in my general neighborhood (Spanish River Park, just south of me), there were things of higher priority. I'll just say that I met up with Al Pelligrinelli (who first spotted the bird) this morning but we dipped on it. We did, however, run into Marcello who not only saw it but got great photos! He promised to post them on TAS.
Anyways...
We had 15 great birders this week. And we had our highest species count of the season -- in large part to our hero Rodney (who just got down from Maryland). He got to Loxahatchee early enough to catch the fly-out and had some birds that we haven't yet seen -- FOS Green Heron.
It started out slow and became a day-long "little bird" walk.
There were a few interesting birds at the Visitors' Center -- Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (today's photo) being one -- but nowhere near the numbers of the last few weeks.
We walked Lee Road all the way to the boat launch parking lot, dividing in half to straddle the line of almost bare Cypress trees approaching that lot. We had some decent birds in that stand of trees, including Palm, Prairie, Yellow-rumped, Pine, Black-and-white Warblers as well as Blue-headed Vireo.
The humongous alligator that likes to bask on the bank of our return route has caused that section of trail to be closed so we found another way back to the Marsh Trail parking lot -- one that we normally don't walk. While on that route, however, we had a pair of Limpkin calling (screaming) to each other, a nice Loggerhead Shrike, and -- when we got back to the normal trail -- a fly-over of 4 Roseate Spoonbills.
We finished up earlier than in past weeks so people could get to their chores -- mine being getting to Spanish River Park, along with a couple of other people, to search for the Western Spindalis. You know where your priorities are!
Until next Wednesday,
Rick
Loxahatchee NWR--Marsh Trail, Palm Beach, US-FL
Jan 2, 2013 7:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.75 mile(s)
Comments: Weekly Wednesday morning birdwalk, Marsh Trail, Loxahatchee NWR, Boynton Beach, Florida. 15 birders. Rick Schofield, leader.
57 species
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Pied-billed Grebe
Wood Stork
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Northern Harrier
Red-shouldered Hawk
Short-tailed Hawk 1 (Dark morph)
Purple Gallinule
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Limpkin
Caspian Tern
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Pileated Woodpecker
American Kestrel
Merlin
Nanday Parakeet
Eastern Phoebe
Loggerhead Shrike
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue Jay
Tree Swallow
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Black-and-white Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)
Prairie Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S12456302
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
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