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Posted by Paul Bithorn on 10:46:48 08/31/14
The Tropical Audubon Society field trip on Saturday, August 30, 2014, to the sod farms in Palm Beach County, offered thirty birders from Miami-Dade, Broward, Collier and Palm Beach Counties, as well as Canada, a mixture of lifebirds, yearbirds and beerbirds. Typical for this time of year, the weather reached temperatures in the mid-90 s with the heat index reaching 106 degrees, but a nice breeze kept us comfortable, while birding from lime-rock roads cutting through sod farms, cane fields and rice fields. Flooded fields were again at a premium and the heat shimmer made it difficult to identify birds at times, but we still managed to see 71 species, including sixteen shorebird species.
Our first stop, the Holeyland/Rotenberger W.M.A., produced some excellent birds. With our advance scouts, Kevin Sarsfield and Bill Boeringer, forging ahead of us to report the birdability of traditional stops, we were able to bypass areas lacking in birds. We found Mottled Duck, Red-shouldered Hawk, Osprey, Purple Swamphen, Spotted Sandpiper, Common Ground Dove, a pair of Yellow-Billed Cuckoos, Prairie Warbler and Common Yellowthroat, along with an assortment of herons and egrets, Barn Swallows and Purple Martins, at the Harold A. Campbell Public Use Area and STA 3/4.
We headed north on US 27 and crossed over the L-18 Canal heading north on the levee, which had Eastern Meadowlarks on the gravel road, before reaching the King Ranch Sod Farms, which had rather slim pickings, other than Kildeer, Eurasian Collared Doves, Bank Swallow and Boat-tailed Grackles. We looped around a rice field and the action quickly picked up, as we found Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Glossy and White Ibis, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Pectoral Sandpiper, Black-necked Stilts, Common Snipe, Lesser Yellowlegs, Least Sandpipers and Black Tern.
We turned west, crossing US 27 onto CR 827 to a small pond and picked up Least Bittern, Black-crowned Heron, Green Heron, and at least three Yellow Warblers with their neon-yellow glow, and Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher. Serendipitously, some of our keen-eyed birders found an Upland Sandpiper in the sod fields across from where we were parked!
After our return on CR 827 we once again crossed US 27, heading east on CR 827 and turning east into Belle Glade, where we enjoyed a hardy lunch. Kevin reported that there were no flooded fields on Brown s Farm Road, so we soon headed to SR 880 and found Pectoral Sandpipers and Kildeer on a sod farm, on our way to Gladeview Road, where we picked up Fulvous Whistling Ducks, Wood Storks, Roseate Spoonbills, Gull-billed and Black Terns, Spotted and Solitary Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plover and a nice variety of shorebirds.
We finished up on Sem Chi Rice Rd. and added Long-billed and Short-billed Dowitchers, Stilt Sandpipers and had close up views of many shorebirds, an excellent opportunity to study the differences between the peeps and their unique feeding habits and a rare for this particular TAS trip Sandhill Crane walked on the gravel road nearby!
A local birder shared, that we could return to Browns Farm Road by winding around on the dirt roads to the southwest, where you come out at the Shawano concrete pump station, without having to double back to SR 880. Many thanks, if you if you read this post.
We then headed back home having enjoyed a great day of birding, as well as forging new-found friendships. I wanted to thank my co-leader, Brian Rapoza, for his intimate knowledge of the Everglades Agricultural Areas (he did write the book), Kevin and Bill for their excellent advance scouting, John Boyd for sharing his encyclopedic knowledge of shorebird field identification.
The highlight of the day for me was the Father and son birders that post on the TAS Birdboard, under the Eloso Coddence byline. The seven-year old son has a clear and present passion for birding and it was a joy to see him celebrate his lifebirds. I even heard him compared to our own child prodigy, Alex Harper, another young man with a keen passion for natural history, whose love for it ultimately led to his chosen career path.
Life is good .as we hoisted cold, refreshing, ice-cold Yuenglings, as our celebratory libations. Chelsea beat Everton 6-3 in their English Premier League Football match and Happy Labor Day to the American worker, whose hard work and dedication makes us the greatest country in the world!
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