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Posted by Paul Bithorn on 22:09:09 09/02/13
The Tropical Audubon Society field trip on Saturday, August 31, 2013, to the sod farms in Palm Beach County, offered sixteen birders from Miami-Dade, Broward, Collier, Palm Beach and Pinellas Counties, a mixture of lifebirds, yearbirds and beerbirds. The weather was Hotter than Hades with temperatures creeping into the low 90 s. When a slack wind fell upon us, the temperatures felt more like 100 degrees, while birding from lime-rock roads cutting through sod farms, cane fields and rice fields. Flooded fields were at a premium. The heat shimmer made it difficult to identify birds at times, but we still managed to see 69 species.
Our first stop, the Holeyland/Rotenberger W.M.A., produced some excellent birds. With our reconnaissance team of Kevin Sarsfield and Joe Barros forging ahead of us to report the birdability of traditional stops, we were able to bypass areas lacking in birds. We found a nice mixed flock of warblers, including American Redstart, Prairie and Yellow Warblers, along with Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers, herons and egrets and Bank Swallows at the Harold A. Campbell Public Use Area and STA 3/4. Red-shouldered Hawks, Barn Swallows, Common Ground-Doves and Eastern Kingbirds were also seen in the W.M.A.
We headed north on US 27 and crossed over the L-18 Canal heading north on the levee, which had Kildeer, Solitary Sandpiper and Eastern Meadowlarks on the gravel road, before reaching the King Ranch Sod Farms, which had slim pickings, other than Kildeer, Lesser Yellowlegs, Least Sandpipers, Eurasian Collared Doves, Boat-tailed Grackles and Common Yellowthroat. We turned west crossing US 27 onto CR 827 to the cypress dome on the Miami Canal and picked up four Barn Owls, American Redstart, Prairie Warbler, Yellow Warblers with their neon-yellow glow, and a pair of Yellow-throated Warblers, along with Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers, Belted Kingfisher and Red-shouldered Hawk.
After our return on CR 827 we once again crossed US 27, heading east on CR 827 and turning east into Belle Glade, where we enjoyed a hardy lunch. Kevin and Joe reported a rain-soaked field near Duda Farms that had Black-necked Stilts,Semipalmated, Western and Least Sandpipers. We soon headed to Brown s Farm Road, where much to our disappointment, the parched, black-muck fields of dreams had not been flooded, dashing our hopes for a shorebird rarity,so we headed to the 6 Mile Bend s Sod Farms on SR 880,where we picked up our only Black-bellied Plover for the day. We headed east on SR 880 to Gladeview Road where a recently flooded field at the turnoff had Glossy Ibis, Roseate Spoonbills, Wood Storks, juvenile Short-billed Dowitchers, Stilt Sandpiper, Laughing Gulls and Least, Black and Gull-billed Terns. We continued south 4.2 miles on Gladeview Rd. to a flooded field and added an Osprey, Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Black-crowned Night Heron and Caspian Tern. We got a call from Carl Edwards that he and Steve Siegel had Cave Swallows and Upland Sandpipers on a sod farm near Pahokee, so we headed that way via Sam Center and Gator Roads and were rewarded with both species, along with Pectoral Sandpipers and an early Wilson s Snipe.
We then headed back home satisfied that despite the weather conditions and lack of flooded fields, we enjoyed a great day of birding, as well as forging new-found friendships. I wanted to thank Brian Rapoza for his intimate knowledge of the Everglades Agricultural Areas (he should write a book), Kevin and Joe for their excellent advance scouting, John Boyd for sharing his encyclopedic knowledge of shorebird field identification, Carl Edwards and Steve Siegel for the hot tip and David Schaffter for documenting the early record of the Wilson s formerly known as Common (thanks Bill) Snipe.
A total of 69 species, including 16 shorebird species, were seen on the fieldtrip. Life is good .as we hoisted Brooklyn Brown Ales and Nitro Left Hand Milk Stouts as our celebratory libations. And Happy Labor Day to the American worker, whose hard work and dedication makes us the greatest country in the world!
I believe strongly in the idea of a team as a family.
Tony Dungy
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