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Posted by Vince Lucas on 20:26:57 02/12/06
All:
Note to self: Don't ever go on a birding caravan trip where most of
the others on the caravan trip are photographers. Such was the case
when five of us trekked from the Naples area to STA-1E &W north of
Loxahatchee NWR in Palm Beach County on Saturday. There were
approximately 9-10 other cars in the caravan that drove the dikes of
this STA under the leadership of a SFWMD designee from the Pine Jog
Environmental Education Center in West Palm Beach. Our car was the
last of the cars. After about an hour of stopping every 1/8th mile to
wait for the photographers to take shots of basking alligators or the
same mixed flock of "white" birds (egrets, herons, ibis, etc.) that
would flush from along the same canal and then fly ahead another
1/8th mile whenever the caravaners approached, our carload of birders
had enough. We turned around and set out on our own. I'm glad we did.
We saw some nice birds out there in the impoundments at STA-1E & W
once we got positioned so that we weren't looking in the direct
sunlight from the rising sun in the east. Our best birds at STA-1E&W
were:
Stilt Sandpiper -- (4)
American Avocet -- (2)
Semipalmated Plover - (6)
Black-bellied Plover -- >20
Long-billed Dowitcher -- >100
Wilson's Snipe -- >10
Black Skimmer -- >500
Caspian Tern -- >10
Forster's Tern -- >15
Roseate Spoonbill -- >30
American White Pelican -- >50
American Wigeon -- >30
Northern Shoveler -- >100
Green-winged Teal -- >20
Bald Eagle (2)
Plus the usual Blue-winged Teal, Mottled Duck, Lesser Scaup, Northern
Harrier, Red-shouldered Hawk (one that had just taken a shorebird of
some kind), Lesser & Greater Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper, Northern
Rough-winged & Tree Swallows, Savannah Sparrows and a few Common
Yellowthroats to name a few. Unlike it's counterpart, STA-5 in Hendry
County, there were no whistling ducks of either species seen at
STA-1E &W nor Purple Swamp Hens, etc.
After finishing at STA1-E & W, our group next went to the
Wakodahatchee Wetlands on Jog Road. There our best birds were:
Sora -- (1)
Purple Gallinule -- (3)
Glossy Ibis -- >50
Green-winged Teal (4)
Forster's Tern -- (4)
Northern Rough-winged Swallow -- >20
Purple Martin -- (1)
Wilson's Snipe -- >6
Eastern Phoebe (1)
Plus really cool-looking Anhinga & Great Blue Heron babies being feed
by their respective adults.
Afterward, we made a stop at Green Cay Wetlands on Hagen Ranch Road.
There we had:
Limpkin -- (1)
Purple Gallinule -- (1)
Glossy Ibis -- >50
Yellow-throated Warbler -- (1)
Northern Rough-winged Swallow -- >50
Purple Martin -- (1)
Our last stop of the day was to the Okeeheelee Nature Center on
Forest Hill Boulevard. At the feeders and surrounding area, we saw:
Painted Bunting -- (4 females)
Indigo Bunting -- (2)
Brown Thrasher -- (1 tailless individual)
Ruby-throated Hummingbird -- (1)
Sandhill Crane -- (2)
Gray Catbird -- (1)
If I omitted anything, I'm sure the others will chime in.
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