Posted by John Boyd on March 05, 2017 at 14:58:07
For me, the birding part of the trip started when I stopped for gas in Florida City. Two Common Mynas were on the pavement right in front of my car. I also stopped at Robert is Here for Purple Martin. The group gathered at the Coe Visitor's Center. It did not seem very birdy, so we skipped the walk around the parking lot and headed to Lucky Hammock shortly after 7:30. We parked at the entrance to Aerojet Road and walked past the gate down toward Lucky Hammock. A male Northern Harrier was quickly found. Then we noticed two White-tailed Deer at the NW corner of Lucky Hammock. I had never seen deer near Lucky Hammock before. As we walked down toward them, they started browsing toward the road, completely unconcerned about us. On our way, a Northern Flicker popped up from the ground. We also found Palm Warbler and Eastern Phoebe (I believe it was our only Phoebe of the day). A Pileated Woodpecker flew onto one of the power poles south of Lucky Hammock as we walked along the road beside the hammock. We circled the hammock, finding a lot of Myrtle (Yellow-rumped) Warblers flying back and forth. There may have been as many as 100. There was also a Northern Parula and some Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. Brian spotted a Red-tailed Hawk near the pines to the west and we scanned through the vultures (mostly Turkey) hoping for other hawks. After rounding the hammock, we noticed that the deer were resting about 2/3 of the way to the main road. Again, they seem to not be bothered by our presence when we walked by on the way back to the cars. Then it was off to Anhinga Trail. We barely had to get out of the cars at Anhinga Trail before we spotted a dark morph Short-tailed Hawk. It was soon joined by others, and we ended up with two each dark and light morph Short-tails. There were still some baby Anhingas about, but were not many waders at Anhinga Trail. We did find a couple of Purple Gallinules and one or two Black-crowned Night-Herons. There were 18 gators at the viewing area at end of the straight part of the trail. A Belted Kingfisher flew by as we walked back toward the visitor's center. A walk along part of the Gumbo Limbo trail gave us views of two White-eyed Vireos (we'd heard some earlier here and at Lucky Hammock). A Gray Catbird briefly called here. They were rather scarce today, although we did see a few later, mainly flying across the road. After checking the pond, we returned to our cars on the grassy Old Ingraham Highway. We drove out Research Road, stopping by Gate 2. We walked on the road a bit and heard a Pine Warbler or two. We also walked a bit on the trail, but there was little activity. We then drove out Research Road. We saw some Eastern Meadowlarks along the N/S part of the road. We parked by the entrance to the old missile base. Since birding was slow, we took some time to look around. Jeanette took pictures of some us by one of the Nike-Hercules missiles. I had never been this far in, and we circled around the base on the road. I walked up to look at the door to the bunker nearest the gate when a bird popped up and flew around the edge of the berm. Brian and I were the only ones to see it. We were unable to relocate it. I believe it was a Dickcissel, but did not see it well enough to be absolutely sure. After reviewing other possibilities in the field guide after getting home, I decided to add it to the list. By then it was about 11:30, and we slowly drove back along Research Road, and on to Long Pine Key for lunch. The only bird added during lunch was Eastern Towhee. As usual, several people headed back home after lunch. The rest of us headed deeper into the park. Our next stop was Mahogany Hammock. We spotted a Catbird or two from the boardwalk over the marsh, then headed into the hammock. I was looking for ground birds, and didn't even notice the Barred Owl that I walked right under. Fortunately, other members of the group did notice! It stayed there while we admired it. There was plenty of time for people to go back to their cars for cameras. It was still sitting there calmly when we walked away. A Swallow-tailed Kite appeared overhead as we rounded the hammock. Then we started getting some bird activity. In the end the group had found White-eyed and Blue-headed Vireos, Worm-eating, Black-and-white, Black-throated Green (2), Magnolia, and Black-throated Blue Warblers, Northern Parula, and American Redstart. Our next stop was Paurotis Pond. We saw Wood Storks before we were even out of the cars. Right after I got out of the car I saw a Glossy Ibis, but I don't think anyone else saw it. Roseate Spoonbills occasionally flew over the trees where the storks were nesting. A few other water birds were present, but their numbers were quite limited. While scanning near the island I saw a couple of warblers fly into it. The shape and yellow undertails (not just coverts) identified them as Yellow Warblers. I don't know if they were the northern or Cuban race. Shortly before we left, 3 Swallow-tailed Kites appeared overhead. One of the made a couple of close passes over the parking lot. We briefly stopped at Nine Mile Pond, but didn't see anything interesting. White-crowned Pigeons have been hanging out there, but perhaps it was the wrong time of day. We continued on to West Lake. We saw hundreds of American Coots, but no ducks from the dock area. Then we walked the boardwalk. We found Downy Woodpecker, Blue-headed Vireo, Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart, and a couple of Cardinals. Eventually we heard a Prairie Warbler singing. There were many more coots on the main lake (a thousand or more), but no ducks. Just as we were about to head back into the mangroves, a Caspian Tern flew by. There wasn't much activity at Mrazek Pond, but we did add a single Blue-winged Teal to our list. Then we continued on to Flamingo where we scanned the bar and flats from a spot near the Buttonwood Cafe. White Pelicans and Double-crested Cormorants were immediately evident. A couple of Brown Pelicans were also about. We saw an adult Bald Eagle being harassed by a couple of Ospreys near the island. Four Great White Herons were present (no Wurdemann's) as were various other waders. A big flock of Black Skimmers appeared a disappeared a couple of times before finally settling down. A number of Willets came in with them, along with 2 Marbled Godwits. A Forster's Tern was flying over the Skimmers on one of their appearances. A Spotted Sandpiper was occasionally visible in the usual spot. Laughing Gulls were present. A Ring-billed Gull put in a brief appearance near the White Pelicans. Scanning again a few minutes later, it had been replaced by a Lesser Black-backed Gull, which also quickly left. We then went to the Amphitheater area. We found another Spotted Sandpiper and two more Great White Herons, but nothing new. We viewed the Bald Eagle nest, but did not see any eagles near it. Then it was time for our last stop, Eco Pond. We did not walk around the pond, but did find about 35 Black-necked Stilts. On the way back north, we noticed more Swallow-tailed Kites. We ended the day with 80 species (81 taxa). Here's the list. Blue-winged Teal Mourning Dove Eurasian Collared-Dove Rock Pigeon Pied-billed Grebe American Coot Purple Gallinule Wood Stork Anhinga Double-crested Cormorant White Ibis Glossy Ibis Roseate Spoonbill American White Pelican Brown Pelican Black-crowned Night-Heron Little Blue Heron Tricolored Heron Snowy Egret American (Great) Egret Great Blue Heron Great White Heron Black-necked Stilt Marbled Godwit Spotted Sandpiper Western Willet Black Skimmer Caspian Tern Forster's Tern Laughing Gull Ring-billed Gull Lesser Black-backed Gull Black Vulture Turkey Vulture Osprey Swallow-tailed Kite Northern Harrier Bald Eagle Red-shouldered Hawk Short-tailed Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Barred Owl Belted Kingfisher Pileated Woodpecker Northern Flicker Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker American Kestrel Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Blue-headed Vireo White-eyed Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Tree Swallow Purple Martin Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Northern House-Wren (heard) Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird European Starling Common Myna House Sparrow Eastern Towhee Eastern Meadowlark Common Grackle Boat-tailed Grackle Worm-eating Warbler Black-and-white Warbler American Redstart Northern Parula Magnolia Warbler Yellow Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Palm Warbler Pine Warbler Myrtle (Yellow-rumped) Warbler Prairie Warbler (heard) Black-throated Green Warbler Northern Cardinal Dickcissel (likely)