Posted by Brian Rapoza on November 23, 2019 at 20:15:13
Eighteen birders joined me for today's tour of A1 Flow Equalization Basin in the Everglades Agricultural Area of Palm Beach County. Participants learned how this 15,000-acre shallow reservoir is used to capture and temporarily store peak stormwater flows, holding water up to 4 feet deep, and how that water is directed to two nearby Stormwater Treatment Areas (STAs) to improve the ability of the treatment wetlands to remove nutrients such as phosphorus from the water before it is sent to the Everglades. A1-FEB also benefits wildlife, in particular, birds. During our tour, we tallied the following 62 species: Black-bellied Whistling-Duck Blue-winged Teal Gadwall Mottled Duck Ring-necked Duck Pied-billed Grebe Mourning Dove Common Ground-Dove Sora Common Gallinule Purple Gallinule American Coot Gray-headed Swamphen Limpkin Killdeer Least Sandpiper Long-billed Dowitcher Wilson's Snipe Spotted Sandpiper Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Caspian Tern Wood Stork Anhinga Double-crested Cormorant American Bittern (at least seven!) Least Bittern (heard) Great Blue Heron Great Egret Snowy Egret Little Blue Heron Tricolored Heron Cattle Egret Green Hern White Ibis Glossy Ibis Roseate Spoonbill Black Vulture Turkey Vulture Osprey Snail Kite Northern Harrier Red-shouldered Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Belted Kingfisher American Kestrel Merlin Eastern Phoebe Tree Swallow Blue-gray Gnatcatcher House Wren (heard) Marsh Wren Northern Mockingbird Savannah Sparrow Swamp Sparrow (heard) Eastern Meadowlark Red-winged Blackbird Boat-tailed Grackle Common Yellowthroat Palm Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Indigo Bunting