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Posted by Nancy Freedman on 13:52:57 01/04/14
Eight birders joined me on a comfortable, but cloudy day. A Monk Parakeet greeted me on the drive in. Inside Wakodahatchee, we saw a Green Heron, 3 Purple Gallinules and a Black-crowned Night Heron. The gentleman in the wheelchair who always had the macaw had a sad story to tell. About a month ago, his macaw flew into the water. He didn't see her but he did hear her screaming as presumably an alligator got her. She has yet to be replaced. Birders doing a CBC told us there were 100 Hooded Mergansers they got to count on private property not too far away. We had the usual Great Blues, Little Blues, Tri-Coloreds, Common Gallinules, Coots,Pied-billed Grebes, Glossy Ibis, a few Blue-winged Teals, Red-winged Blackbirds, both Grackles, Great Egret. Anhingas and Cormorants were nesting, including a Neotropical Cormorant. There were Black-bellied Whistling Ducks flying around; a few Mourning Doves, one White-Winged Dove, a Royal Tern, a Phoebe, 2 Purple Swamp Hens and a hard to see Roseate Spoonbill. An American Bittern was well seen. The only warblers were Myrtles, Palms and Common Yellow-throats. On the way to Green Cay, a Kestrel was perched on a wire. At Green Cay we had a mixed bunch of white birds all together, Cattle Egrets, Great Egret, White Ibis and a Snowy Egret. There were a couple of Starlings, TV's, Ospreys,a huge Red Shouldered Hawk, Wood Storks, Gnatcatchers. We didn't see any Limpkin but heard them calling. At the usual killing spot in the back, a Northern Harrier had a crowd watched her eating, but we couldn't see what it was. There were 2 Mottled Ducks and 5 Purple Swamp Hens. We saw a banded water snake sitting in the flag right above a Green Heron and then another, smaller banded water snake not too far away. We had a Baltimore Oriole, a Cardinal, a Blue Jay and a Mockingbird all sitting in one tree, very colorful. A total of 4 Sora were all out in the open. A flock of Cedar Waxwings flew over as we were leaving Green Cay. There was also a female Painted Bunting in the feeder on the way out. Some of us decided to go to Boynton Beach Inlet to look for the Common Eider. No luck. But Brian saw 2 Black Scoters, Jim and I saw Northern Gannets and a Magnificent Frigate Bird. There were Laughing Gulls and Ring-billed Gulls as well as Brown Pelicans, Ruddy Turnstones and a Black-bellied Plover. We ate lunch, looked again and called it a day as it started to sprinkle. Lots of year birds!
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