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Posted by Rick Schofield on 11:57:46 12/19/13
OK... I'm over my Scrooginess of last week.
We had 12 birders, some good birds, and magnificent weather for Wednesday's walk. Old friends joined new friends to enjoy the day. And there was only one incident that came close to fisticuffs.
As I have mentioned in previous posts, the impoundments (with the exception of C-6 -- the one adjacent to the Marsh Trail parking lot) are pretty much devoid of avian activity. Maybe a Great Egret here and a Tricolored there. C-6, though, does attract quite a few ducks (only Blue- and Green- winged Teals this time) but the grasses and reeds are so numerous that you only get occasional glimpses of them. We could see a dozen or so until a trash truck spooked the whole bunch and around 75 ducks emerged from within the greenery and circled around twice before disappearing back down again.
The point of this diversion is to say that we spend most of our walk searching out little and midsize birds (or butterflies on a bad day). And this day we did pretty well (unlike last week!).
Warblers included the three P's -- Palm, Pine, Prairie -- as well as Yellow-Rumped, Black-and-white, and Common Yellowthroat.
Vireos included White-eyed and Blue-headed.
Little guys included Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Carolina and House Wren.
It was behind the Visitors' Center that the fight almost broke out. We could hear a Red-shouldered Hawk screaming close by but when he flew over he had morphed into a light morph Short-Tailed. There was much discussion about which it was. We brought up images on our cameras and referred to our field guides. Then we split into two camps and girded our loins. Thankfully calm prevailed and nothing of consequence occurred.
As you can see from my enclosed photo, it turned out to be the Short-tailed (light morph). At least the bird that I photographed was. Maybe another in the group got a photo of a Red-shouldered. :)
This was the last walk of 2013 as there will be no walk next Wednesday, Christmas day. We will, however, be walking New Year's day for those sober enough to get up early after reveling all night.
Happy Holidays to all and, until next year,
Rick
Loxahatchee NWR--Marsh Trail, Palm Beach, US-FL
Dec 18, 2013 7:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.75 mile(s)
Comments: Weekly Wednesday morning birdwalk, Marsh Trail, Loxahatchee NWR, Boynton Beach, Florida. 12 birders. Rick Schofield, leader.
52 species
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Wood Stork 1
Anhinga
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Red-shouldered Hawk
Short-tailed Hawk 1 (Light morph)
Purple Gallinule
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Limpkin
Killdeer (heard)
White-winged Dove 1
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Pileated Woodpecker
Nanday Parakeet 6
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue Jay
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
House Wren
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Black-and-white Warbler 2
Common Yellowthroat
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)
Prairie Warbler 1
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S16011858
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
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