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Posted by Rick Schofield on 10:49:34 11/21/13
Fifteen members of the Boynton Beach Camera Club joined seven birders for our weekly Wednesday morning walk at Loxahatchee. There was some miscommunication as to where they were to rendezvous and when they found the rest of their group, they split off on their own.
Meanwhile, there were woodpeckers by the bucketful near the Visitors' Center -- Red-bellied, Yellow-bellied, and Pileated but no Downy. The ficus trees in that area were full of berries and the woodies knew it. In addition to the woodpeckers, we got two Vireos -- White-eyed and Blue-headed, and a smattering of Warblers.
The butterfly triangle area yielded up plenty of butterflies but nary a bird.
The C-6 impoundment has such high water levels and so many reeds that there is no shorebird activity there at all and whatever ducks are there are hard to spot. We were able to catch the single Lesser Scaup that has been hanging around the Blue-winged Teals for a few weeks now. At the C-6 Pavilion, we got great views of a very handsome Prairie Warbler.
On our way back out to Lee Road we got the best birds of the day -- first a light-morph Short-tailed Hawk and then a minute or two later a dark-morph. Both were circling high overhead and were not associated with kettling Vultures which is usually the case at Loxahatchee.
Walking the stand of Cypresses approaching the boat launch yielded only a few birds -- American Kestrel and Red-shouldered Hawk among them -- but more butterflies.
There wasn't much activity along the Marsh Trail so we decided to call it a day.
Even though we had two great birds we felt that the variety was lacking so when we placed our bets on species count, some voted in the mid 30's. As happened last week, we actually did pretty well with a season tying high of 48.
For those wondering, we will have a walk next week -- the day before Thanksgiving. So, unless you're stuck in the kitchen or the airport or the Interstate, please feel free to join us.
Until next Wednesday,
Rick
Loxahatchee NWR--Marsh Trail, Palm Beach, US-FL
Nov 20, 2013 7:30 AM - 11:00 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.5 mile(s)
Comments: Weekly Wednesday morning birdwalk, Marsh Trail, Loxahatchee NWR, Boynton Beach, Florida. 7 birders + 15 camera club members (for a portion of the walk). Rick Schofield, leader.
48 species
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Lesser Scaup 1 (continuing)
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Red-shouldered Hawk
Short-tailed Hawk 2 (within minutes of each other; 1 light morph, 1 dark morph; circling high overhead but not associated with any vulture kettle as is common at Loxahatchee; photos of dark morph -- couldn't get my camera to focus on light morph)
Purple Gallinule
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Limpkin
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Pileated Woodpecker
American Kestrel
Eastern Phoebe
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue Jay
Fish Crow
Tree Swallow
House Wren
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Black-and-white Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)
Yellow-throated Warbler
Prairie Warbler 1
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15719020
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
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