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Posted by Marcello Gomes on 00:28:07 12/07/13
A few days ago I went to check out Green Cay for about an hour and had the opportunity of coming really close to 5 Purple Swamphens ( 2 adults and 3 juveniles- they are about the same size of an adult already!). Watched them feasting on some wetland Bullrush. They were feasting on the tender part of the stem and discarding the rest. These birds can be very skittish but the ones at Green Cay are quite tamed in comparison.
What else...
3 Hooded Mergansers in flight - bad lighting though.
1 Merlin on a snag
2 Red-shouldered Hawks
1 Spoonbill
1 Pied-billed Grebe that was preening and showing off different feather textures in its tiny body.
3 Black-crowned Night-Herons (2 adults and 1 immature)
3 Yellow-crowned Night-Herons ( 1 adult and 2 immatures)
Did not see the Northern Harrier as others have mentioned before ( have seen it numerous times in the recent years).
At the Boynton Intracoastal area I had:
3 Red-breasted Mergansers (female & immatures) swimming close by. One had a chance to open its bill wide revealing its serrated bill. In flight, they seem to look longer and bulkier. I know extended neck, lighting, and body posture makes a difference).
Had 4 Lesser Black-backed Gull ( 2 immature and 2 adults)
Several Ring-billed Gull
Several Royal Terns
10 Sanderlings
6 Ruddy Turnstones
10 Sandpiper Plovers
4 Mottled Ducks in flight
Tons of Laughing Gulls (all sorts of stage except breeding of course)
A few Brown Pelicans (Adult and Immature plunging up close for some fish)
Briefly at the beach... I observed a bird way out in a distance and its flight pattern was different from what I have seen before ( I got a shot but as I zoom in you can't see its features well). I'll try my best to describe. Looked about the size of a Razorbill. It looked like it was struggling with weight a bit as it was flying. Mostly white as far as I could see. Flying really low over the water, steady wingbeats but not real fast (estimation of about 25mph) and flying solo and straight southbound. It was quite far and I could only see it with binoculars. When I grabbed the camera I could barely see anything that's how far it was. I know it was not a Tern nor a Gull and certainly NOT a Northern Gannet. What could have been? The best birder in the world could crack such a case:)
Right after that... I returned to the Intracoastal area where I spotted the Common Eider that has thus far wintering around here (floating and preening itself solo) - it was already near dusk so I took some shots for certification purposes. Since I had seen it before at the Lake Worth Pier I readily recognized it plus other recent reports confirmed that. It was right by the construction area in the middle of the intracoastal area.
This concludes the report & record for today.
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