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Posted by Trey Mitchell on 23:47:58 10/22/05
Toe and I had a great day birding. I met Toe at 4:30 am and we headed down to
Snake Bight to look for Flamingo, Clapper and Virginia Rail. On the way down I
picked up a Life bird, Barn Owl, that was on the side of the road and flew in
front of the car.
We reached Snake Bight at about 5:45 and headed down the trail. I don't think
many have been down the trail since the storm that blew over the trees on the
trail. The mosquitoes were not very bad on the way in, but we had to create our
own trail in a few places. I one spot the grass was over our heads.
Finally about an hour down the trail we made it to the board walk. Just as we
stepped out of the mangrove a bunch of Dowitcher flew off that were right next
to the walk way. We took a quick break and then set up the scope and pulled out
the camera waiting for enough light to see what was waiting for us.
Soon we heard Clapper Rails calling. At least two and I believe three were
going back and forth. Toe pointed his scope towards the bank and scanned. There
it was a Clapper Rail looking right back at Toe. It was far to dark for a photo,
but there was enough light see one of our targeted birds.
The sun finally made it up and we got good looks at many waders and a few
shore birds. We also saw and heard quite a few warblers as well. We also spotted
4 large Crocodiles in the shallow water as well as several good sized sharks.
We were about to head back to the main road when we heard and briefly saw
another Clapper Rail. We spent about 30-40 minutes trying to get a photo, with
no luck. So we packed up and headed back. Over the next 500 feet of trail we had
a lot of warbler activity. Nothing unusual but it was a nice addition to the
morning.
It was a little easier getting back to the car, since someone had already cut
a trail through the over grown and storm damaged trail. :)
We also hit Flamingo the flats and Eco-Pond. Eco-Pond is dead! There were no
birds, no reeds or grass around the outer edge of either the island or the pond.
I expect it will take a while for this to be restored. There were a few birds
out on the flats and the beach at the campground. We saw both Brown and White
Pelican, Royal, Gull-billed, and Caspian Terns, also a few shore birds. In the
parking lot of the Visitor Center at Flamingo there were both Barn and Northern
Rough-winged Swallow.
That pretty much wrapped up the birding in the park except for a few raptors
on the way out.
Now we headed to get a photograph of the Black-headed Gull.
We found a bunch of gulls on a construction site about a 1/2 mile north of
Cutler Wetlands. We were browsing through the gulls when Larry Manfredi and his
family pulled up. They had spotted the bird a few minutes earlier at Cutler
Wetlands but they were spooked off by some vultures before he could get a photo.
We all began looking for the bird. Soon Larry spotted the Black-headed gull and
I began taking photos. Larry pulled out his gear and I'm sure got some great
photos as well.
Toe, calls Larry and I to look at another gull, a Franklin's. The Franklin's
gull was much less cooperative about giving good looks. It was behind a Laughing
gull and every time the Laughing gull moved so did the Franklin's. I got some
photos, but not full shots of the bird. I am hoping that Larry was able to do
so, but I don't think he had any better luck by the sound of things.
All I know is I had a great day birding and it was worth every bit of the
effort
5 Life Birds today:
Barn Owl
Clapper Rail
Northern Rough-wing Swallow
Black-headed Gull
Franklin's Gull
A few photos from today:
.
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