Posted by Brian Rapoza on March 03, 2019 at 00:42:07
Ten birders joined me for today's birding trip to Jonathan Dickinson State Park and Dupuis Management Area in Martin County. At Jonathan Dickinson, we found our first target bird, Florida Scrub Jay, in scrub habitat right around the entrance station. More were seen during a walk through scrub habitat near Pine Grove Campground. A Gopher Tortoise was also encountered near the campground. Another target bird, Bachman's Sparrow, was singing in pine flatwoods adjacent to the Kitching Creek Trail, but we had to work to find them skulking in the saw palmetto understory. Also seen in the Kitching Creek area were Wood Duck, Sandhill Crane and our first Swallow-tailed Kite of the day. We had lunch at the boardwalk at the end of the Dupuis auto road, where Limpkin, Purple Gallinule and more Swallow-tailed Kites were seen. We checked two areas in Dupuis where Red-cockaded Woodpeckers have been reintroduced, but were unable to locate any. As a consolation, we found a Red-headed Woodpecker in the reintroduction area in the Martin County section of the management area; Wood Stork and another Swallow-tailed Kite were overhead. Following are the birds tallied during the trip (JD = Jonathan Dickinson, D = Dupuis) Wood Duck (JD) Common Ground-Dove (D) Mourning Dove (JD) Purple Gallinule (D) Common Gallinule (JD, D) Limpkin (CR 708, D) Sandhill Crane (JD) Wood Stork (D) Anhinga (JD, D) Double-crested Cormorant (JD) Great Blue Heron (JD) Great Egret (JD, D) Snowy Egret (SR 710) Little Blue Heron (JD, D) Tricolored Heron (SR 710) Cattle Egret (CR 708) White Ibis (CR 708) Glossy Ibis (CR 708) Black Vulture (JD, D) Turkey Vulture (JD, D) Osprey (D) Swallow-tailed Kite (JD, D) Bald Eagle (D) Red-shouldered Hawk (JD, D) Belted Kingfisher (JD) Red-headed Woodpecker (JD, D) Red-bellied Woodpecker (JD, D) Downy Woodpecker (JD) Northern Flicker (JD) Pileated Woodpecker (D) American Kestrel (SR 76) Eastern Phoebe (D) Great Crested Flycatcher (JD) Loggerhead Shrike (JD) White-eyed Vireo (D) Blue Jay (JD) Florida Scrub-Jay (JD) Fish Crow (JD) Tree Swallow (JD) Carolina Wren (JD) Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (D) Gray Catbird (JD) Brown Thrasher (JD) Northern Mockingbird (JD) Bachman's Sparrow (JD) Eastern Towhee (JD) Red-winged Blackbird (JD) Common Grackle (JD) Boat-tailed Grackle (JD) Common Yellowthroat (JD, D) Northern Parula (D) Palm Warbler (JD, D) Pine Warbler (JD) Yellow-rumped Warbler (D) Prairie Warbler (JD) Northern Cardinal (JD)