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Posted by Paul-the-other on 02:57:57 11/30/05
I visited Wakodahatchee three hours before the frontal passage this Tuesday. The hooded merganzer is still present and readily viewable from the southern walkway just short of the first rest paviliion. The bird is rapidly becoming accustomed to people and this presents a unique opportunity for viewers (as in TAS) and photographers both professional and amatuer. The bird is generally resting in the company of blue wined teal but feeds in a solitary fashion venturing out into open water south of the pavillion. The rest place is in between the boardwalk and the the land embankment to the south. As soon as I get my photograph stationed at my server I will post a reference.
Also, just prior to the front (about 45 minutes before the rain) small birds came down in droves. Prairie, pine and a few palm warblers together with redstarts, blue-gray natcatchers, and black & white warblers. It was very active, the best I have seen there for some time. Solitary sanpipers were present and many killdeer "dropped in." Yellowlegs (large and small) moved around a large group of snipe. Spotted sandpipers numbered about 25.
And of course, the usual cast of characters in terms of egrets, herons, gallinules, coots, moorhens, and red-winged blackbirds.
The staff at Wakodahatchee is replanting and soon the vegetation will begin to eclipse the "line of sight" for photographers. In the meantime, I recommend this location for a short boardwalk ramble. It is rewarding to watch the shorebirds,waders, and peepers working the mudflats, and the ducks, anhingas and cormorants---and one lonely merganzer--work the deeper water.
As Paul B would observe, I'm sure, "Life is good, in between the hurricanes!"
Post-script for the downey woodpecker nest club. The nest is gone with the wind. In fact, the whole tree is gone! More's the pity.
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