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Posted by Bryant Roberts on 20:46:31 07/31/05
I spent a few days birding in Everglades National Park and the Lucky Hammock area from Thursday afternoon (7/29) through Saturday afternoon (7/31). The migrants and birds of interest seen included White-tailed Kite, Swallow-tailed Kite, Snail Kite, Great Horned Owl, Semipalmated Sandpiper (FOTS), Western Sandpiper (FOTS), Antillean Nighthawk, Belted Kingfisher, Mangrove Cuckoo, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Yellow-throated Warbler, American Redstart (FOTS), and Shiny Cowbird.
The trip began on a sad note; my last email check before shutting down my computer for the weekend included a message that Richard Cunningham had passed away. He was in my thoughts often during my visit to the park he loved so much and he will be missed.
When I arrived at Long Pine Key an Antillean Nighthawk was calling over the campground and could be seen and heard every morning and evening during my stay. This is almost certainly the same bird that was there in late June. A check of the White-tailed Kite location near the end of Research Road produced one adult kite and there was one there every time I checked the area late Thursday and Friday afternoon as well as midday on Saturday.
Friday was my day to bird around Flamingo and a stop on the way south at Mahogany Hammock produced the first American Redstarts and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers of the trip. The Gnatcatchers were common almost everywhere during the weekend and Redstarts were present in smaller numbers; two were seen at Mahogany Hammock and five along Snake Bight Road on Friday, and on Saturday there was one along the Old Ingraham Highway and two in the Lucky Hammock Annex . A Yellow-throated Warbler was seen in the pinelands on Saturday as well as a Prairie Warbler. The Prairie Warbler may have been a migrant or it could have flown inland from the mangrove zone where they nest about ten miles to the south.
There was a Belted Kingfisher at Eco Pond and another was heard calling by Mahogany Hammock. Two Mangrove Cuckoos were seen near the end of Snake Bight Road, one just east of the turnaround at the end. All three peeps were on the mudflat near the boardwalk at Snake Bight; about fifty Least Sandpipers, eight Western Sandpipers, and six Semipalmated Sandpipers. There were also a few Dowitchers and Willets, a Spotted Sandpiper as well as about twenty Roseate Spoonbills and the usual waders near the boardwalk. At Flamingo one female and four male Shiny Cowbirds were in the trees in front of the lodge lobby. Black-whiskered Vireos and Prairie Warblers seemed to have stopped singing but a few could be found around Flamingo. Small scattered groups of Barn Swallow passed through from time to time; some loitered to feed but the general movement inland was southward and along Florida Bay it was eastward. This direction of flight is typical of diurnal migrants in this area in the fall.
A stop at Pa-hay-okee on the way back to the north end of the park that afternoon turned up two Snail Kites over the glades north and east of the boardwalk. Only the handicapped ramp section of the boardwalk is open; the observation platform and the rest of the loop are closed and undergoing extensive renovations.
A Great Horned Owl worked through the tops of the pines at Long Pine Key after sunset and called a few times as I was having dinner back at camp. No Chuck-wills-widows were heard during my stay.
Saturday was spent in and around the north end of the park; there were frequent showers and thunderstorms early but the weather cleared by late morning. Three Swallow-tailed Kites passed northward over Anhinga Trail along the edge of one storm, these were the only ones seen during the weekend.
Many small flocks of White-crowned Pigeons flew over Anhinga Trail that morning, some heading east and others west and a flock of about six were feeding in a Poisonwood tree along Old Ingraham Highway. Later that afternoon a flock of about forty five was seen flying near the park entrance. The Poisonwoods are bearing heavily now and there are plenty of them in the north end of the park as well as the south end of the Lucky Hammock Annex area where the pigeons were also abundant. This probably has a lot to do with why there are so many pigeons this far inland at this time.
There wasn t much seen worth mentioning at Lucky Hammock but the Annex was a little bit better. Besides the Redstarts and White-crowned Pigeons that have already been mentioned above there were a couple of Yellow-billed Cuckoos near the north end of the Annex. There were also a couple of Cuckoos along Anhinga Trail and another on Old Ingraham Highway past the Gumbo Limbo Trail.
With the exception of Anhinga Trail the mosquitoes were very bad all over the park, especially around Flamingo. The Deerflies were also a bit of a nuisance in most parts of the park.
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