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Posted by Rick Schofield on 13:56:39 01/27/14
Audubon of the Everglades (ASE) sponsored a field trip to "The Harold A Campbell Public Use Area / STA-3/4" on Sunday morning. While this was not my first time as an ASE leader, it was the first time organizing a by-reservation-only trip. Boy, oh boy!
18 great birders ended up coming, 15 had cancelled, and I still had 3 wait listed.
In any case, those of you who have been to STA-3/4 in the past will be amazed at the southwestern corner of the property -- to the left just as you turn off Holey Land Rd toward the parking area. The forest of palms, cypresses and pines is gone -- replaced with a pretty boring flat plain with no shrubbery and hardly any grasses. Maybe, over time, this area will attract sparrows, Meadowlarks, etc. but it was pretty dead on Sunday.
We walked the perimeter of the southeast impoundment (2½ miles plus another ½ mile beforehand). The open water areas have pretty much been taken over by reeds leaving long, skinny waterways for the water fowl. And, following rule #3 of Jody's Rules of Birding, they were always on the opposite side of the water from where we were scoping. Without question the most prevalent birds were American Coots but we had a decent number of other water fowl including: Blue- and Green- winged Teal, Ring-necked Ducks, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, and Mottled Ducks.
Two or three large flocks of American White Pelicans flew overhead as did smaller numbers of Roseate Spoonbills. Purple Swamphens (pictured here) were everywhere but not as numerous as I expected. (They were probably obscured by all the reeds.)
A near-fist-fight was peacefully resolved over Caspian vs. Royal Tern (in favor of Caspian) which was standing in shallow water surrounded by quite a few Forster's Terns.
Complete list below.
Rick
Stormwater Treatment Area 3 / 4, Palm Beach, US-FL
Jan 26, 2014 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
3.0 mile(s)
Comments: ASE tour, 18 birders, Rick Schofield leader.
48 species
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal Most numerous duck of the day
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Pied-billed Grebe
Wood Stork
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
American White Pelican 75 Two different flyovers, one group of 60 or so.
American Bittern 3 Maybe more, several sightings of a single bird flying over the marsh
Great Blue Heron Nesting
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill 8
Turkey Vulture
Osprey 2
Northern Harrier 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 3
Purple Swamphen
Common Gallinule
American Coot Lots, most numerous bird of the day
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs 3
Caspian Tern 1
Forster's Tern
Mourning Dove Two large flocks flew over, other birds seen on the ground
Common Ground-Dove
Belted Kingfisher
American Kestrel 2
Eastern Phoebe 1
Loggerhead Shrike 1
Tree Swallow
Northern Mockingbird
Common Yellowthroat
Palm Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Savannah Sparrow 4
Swamp Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 1 Saw one male, heard singing
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark 2
Boat-tailed Grackle
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S16516848
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
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