Posted by Luis Gonzalez on April 08, 2019 at 16:36:39
Over 10 birders joined me today on this carpool trip through Government Road on our away to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, the name of the game for the day was roadside birding, but a total of 66 species were seen all around, not a single group of people saw the same number of birds with some people getting to listen to Chuck-will's-Widow and a female Northern Harrier before the trip even started, two others were able to see a Snail Kite, while others were able to see a pair of Western Kingbirds, and me and the other people in my car were able to see for split seconds views of Purple Martins on the wire and Mottled Ducks with Wood Storks on roadside ponds. Outside of those individual highlights, other noteworthy birds were 11 Crested Caracaras seen scattered all around the road, some of which were nice enough to pose for pictures, a flock of Black-necked Stilts were seen flying over a small rockery, 3 separate Wild Turkeys that loved to play head for the grove whenever our cars stopped by, multiple Limpkins and Sandhill Cranes in the roadsides, and dozens of Northern Cardinals, Eastern Meadowlarks and Red-winged Blackbirds making a nice countryside morning chorus. The final stop given on Government Road was on a small pond that was covered with pickerel weeds that also housed a Great Blue Heron, both Great and Snowy Egret, and a trio of beautiful Roseate Spoonbills. After a minor driving mistake on my part, we arrived at Corkscrew Swamp which decided to play the opposite tune to Government Road, here it was mostly dead overall except for some very vocal breeding birds that were almost all checked for as heard only. Highlights however included 3 male Buntings, 1 Painted and 2 Indigo in full breeding plumage at the feeders, a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks showing off their nest building abilities, some nice flyover raptors in the form of 3 Swallow-tailed Kites and a juvenile Bald Eagle (only seen by a few), a small mixed flock of warblers with Northern Parula, Black-and-white, Yellow-rumped and Worm-eating Warblers, and finally very few wading birds with the highlight being 2 Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, one adult and one juvenile. Overall, it was a good birding day, with lots of variety, even if Corkscrew left a little more to be desired. Thank you for everyone who joined me and I hope all of you had a great day as I did. The full species count is as follows: Mottled Duck 3 Wild Turkey 3 Eurasian Collared-Dove 3 Common Ground-Dove 11 Mourning Dove 21 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1 Chuck-will's-Widow 2 Common Gallinule 1 Limpkin 8 Sandhill Crane 15 Black-necked Stilt 14 Greater Yellowlegs 1 Wood Stork 9 Anhinga 14 Double-crested Cormorant 9 Great Blue Heron 4 Great Egret 2 Snowy Egret 2 Little Blue Heron 3 Tricolored Heron 1 Green Heron 1 Cattle Egret 16 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 2 White Ibis 1 Glossy Ibis 2 Roseate Spoonbill 3 Black Vulture 25 Turkey Vulture 3 Osprey 2 Snail Kite 1 Swallow-tailed Kite 3 Bald Eagle 1 Northern Harrier 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 14 Barred Owl 1 Belted Kingfisher 4 Red-bellied Woodpecker 15 Pileated Woodpecker 3 Crested Caracara 11 American Kestrel 1 Great Crested Flycatcher 17 Western Kingbird 2 White-eyed Vireo 22 Blue Jay 2 American Crow 11 Fish Crow 5 Purple Martin 3 Tufted Titmouse 3 Carolina Wren 10 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 7 Gray Catbird 32 Northern Mockingbird 2 European Starling 2 Savannah Sparrow 1 Eastern Meadowlark 19 Red-winged Blackbird 21 Common Grackle 15 Boat-tailed Grackle 19 Common Yellowthroat 2 Worm-eating Warbler 1 Black-and-white Warbler 2 Northern Parula 4 Yellow-rumped Warbler 1 Northern Cardinal 39 Indigo Bunting 2 Painted Bunting 1