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Posted by Rick Schofield on 09:57:09 11/14/13
The anticipated gale-force winds and rain didn't materialize until after we finished up our walk on Wednesday with six true birder souls who came despite the forecast. So _we_ came but where were the birds?
We started out looking for the Great Horned Owl that had been seen about 10 days before but not since. The area where they nested last year has been under maintenance so we're not sure if they do decide to hang around whether they'll move somewhere else on the property.
Around the Visitors' Center we found our FOS Green Heron, Carolina and House Wrens, Common Yellowthroat, and a smattering of warblers. Beth had an earlier flyover of two Sandhill Cranes.
Back at the C-6 impoundment we had our FOS Purple Gallinule, a couple dozen Blue-winged Teal, the expected waders (sans Snowy), quite a few tree-perched Anhingas, a perched American Kestrel and an Osprey flyover.
The best warblers were not in the parking lot this week. They were, instead, at the pavilion overlooking C-6 (the old administration building location). Palm, Pine, and Yellow-rumped were joined by a beautiful Yellow-throated warbler as well as Common Yellowthroat and a pair of Downy Woodpeckers.
By now the winds were starting to pick up and, because the numbers were pretty low, we decided to loop around C-6 and call it a day. As we started around, a flock of 11 raucous Monk Parakeets descended on the power lines, hung around for while, then disappeared in the direction of Bedner's Farm Market.
When we got to the opposite siad of C-6 from the pavilion, we got good views of the ducks seen earlier. About a dozen or more Blue-winged Teal took off and flew to the other end of the impoundment giving great shots of the striking turquoise blue speculum. Not all of the teal had spooked, though, and we got direct views of a Lesser Scaup that we had last week. He was hanging out with the rest of the teal left behind.
Back in the Marsh Trail parking lot, where we put together the day's count, we had distant views of a Gray Ghost Northern Harrier (Sue had seen an immature/female earlier in the morning).
Each week when we put the count together, I ask everyone to "Make you Bets!" (as to total species count). Everyone was predicting a low count day with bets in the low 30's but after all was said and done, we had our season's highest count of 47. Surprise, surprise!
Until next Wednesday,
Rick
Loxahatchee NWR--Marsh Trail, Palm Beach, US-FL
Nov 13, 2013 7:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.5 mile(s)
Comments: Weekly Wednesday morning birdwalk, Marsh Trail, Loxahatchee NWR, Boynton Beach, Florida. 6 birders. Rick Schofield, leader.
48 species
Wood Duck 2 (both female; flyover)
Mottled Duck 3
Blue-winged Teal 18
Lesser Scaup 1
Anhinga 7
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey 2
Northern Harrier 2 (1 gray ghost, 1 immature/female)
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Purple Gallinule
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Limpkin
Sandhill Crane 2 (early flyover)
Killdeer 1
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker 2
Pileated Woodpecker 2
American Kestrel 1
Monk Parakeet 11
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
Tree Swallow dozens
House Wren 1
Carolina Wren 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Common Yellowthroat
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)
Yellow-throated Warbler
Northern Cardinal 2
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15661607
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
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