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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

South Florida Birding (1 Viewer)

There is a decent chance you did see a yellow-throated warbler, Merry. I do believe I've heard the first songs of my resident Y-TW in my front yard - he usually appears in mid-August through October or so, going to war with my car mirrors every day...I haven't laid eyes on him yet, but I swear I heard him the past couple of days, and am keeping my eyes peeled for him. This weekend, I'll wash my car, and that will surely draw him out to poop on it if he's in town.
 
There's a little colony of Gray Kingbirds just north of CityPlace (questionable meighborhood, at least 2 abandoned buildings). So sweet! So one of them finally sits in the right spot and starts singing his heart out. I start to video. Some guy asks me what I'm photographing. Then he says he's an avid birder. Then he says, "Can I ask you a question? I'm not going to buy any drugs with the money but do you have 35 cents?"
So there goes that video. I wanted so badly to record that adorable call.
 
BTW - just to follow up my earlier post - I've confirmed definitively that my yellow-throated warbler is back in town. I finally laid eyes on him to confirm it was him I was hearing, yesterday while in my pool - I didn't have my camera handy since I was swimming, but he sat right up on my lightpost and chirped away.
 
Tried Viera Wetlands yesterday - all the usual waders. The only stand-outs were Black-bellied Whistling Ducks (some comically sitting on the top of tall dead palm trees out in the water), a Least Bittern (completely back-lit by the sun so un-photographable), and 3 deer. Didn't see any songbirds, but then there aren't a lot of perching trees for them out there.

They had the drive blocked off to all but foot traffic - not sure why. There was a sign posted about it being alligator nesting season, and that the gators were particularly testy right now. I don't know why that would translate into putting us out there on foot where we couldn't outrun them....???
 
Interesting that they'd close off the road. Unless maybe a gator put its nest too close to the road?

I was at Green Cay and Wako yesterday. Wako was fairly quiet - but two red-shouldered hawks I think might have a nest there - but I honestly have no idea what their nesting season is. I just happened to notice that the hawks were springing out from the same area of trees and chasing literally EVERY bird that came within 50 feet of them - anhingas, egrets, ducks, anything. They seemed to be very angry or protective, which makes me wonder if they might be nesting. I scoured the area, and noticed a huge (2 feet across at least) leafy branchy nest up in one of the trees - but the hawks weren't sitting in it and it was too high to see into. Anyone know hawk nesting times and behavior?

At Green Cay, roseates are still there, and spotted 3 least bitterns all along the same stretch at the back of the boardwalk. Also, I've been seeing lots of blue-grey gnatcatchers in the chickee hut canopy area...6-8 at least.
 
There are tons of shore birds out on the sod farms right now - there's a particular flooded field they love on Hwy 880 SE of Belle Glade if anyone is interested.

There were reports there this weekend of (among the others), at least one Red-necked Phalarope.
 
I made my first trip to Belle Glade yesterday not really knowing what to expect. I Came down 27 from Davie and took 80 to 880 and I think I saw the flooded field you speak of on my right? There were a couple hundred shore birds of a few different species. I also explored all the recommended side roads off of 880 but sar very little in the way of sandpipers. When I lived in NJ I'd visit Delaware Bay and Brigantine NWR in the fall and the shore birds were there by the tens of thousands. Does Belle Glade ever reach this level of concentrations?



merryslug said:
There are tons of shore birds out on the sod farms right now - there's a particular flooded field they love on Hwy 880 SE of Belle Glade if anyone is interested.

There were reports there this weekend of (among the others), at least one Red-necked Phalarope.
Click to expand...
 
Someone else may know the answer to that - this is really my first year looking at shorebirds with any kind of effort. I do get the general impression that the "usual" fields are not as productive as in years past - either too flooded or not flooded enough maybe? That one field seems to have the best numbers and diversity.
 
Reports of a Canada Warbler (among other warblers) at GC's NE chickee hut. I'm going to (hopefully) wake up and try there tomorrow.
 
I think I saw some kind of dowitcher or red knot on my route today. I wish I had paid more attention to the specific markings of the bird. I remember it being kinda stout and having a long beak and rufous streaked chest.
I was talking to a customer and it was perched on a fence about 3 feet away from us. It didn't move and just watched us. I'll tell Sharon (the customer!) what I think it was so she can check it out and verify.
But what a beak! I wouldn't want to get jabbed by that. Ouch.
 
Okay, it had to have been a red knot. The short billed dowitcher doesn't even come here. It was not a snipe either.

Paul, the Delaware Bay is a major staging ground for red knot migration. They flock there by the thousands with up to 90% of the American subspecies being there at one time. They go there to eat horseshoe crabs.

They migrate almost 20,00 miles a year between their breeding grounds in the tundra and South America. Some do winter in Florida.

Groups around the Delaware Bay, Virginia and New Jersey have been lobbying to have the bird placed onnthe endangered list due to the depletion of their food sources along the migration route. That includes the horseshoe crab.
 
Sydsmythe,

Short-billed Dowitcher is a much more common in Southeast Florida than Red Knot, and the bill of Red Knot is not particularly big for a shorebird. I have never seen Red Knot from an inland location here other than at Cutler Wetlands (which is about one mile from the coast). Short-billed Dowitchers, in migration, can be found throughout the state.

That said, your description of a shorebird on a fence post is quite interesting -- the only shorebirds I have seen do that are Upland Sandpiper and Willet.

Carlos
 
Thank you Carlos!
The site I checked didn't show the SBD as being here at all, so I guess that was an error.
This bird had a very reddish-streaked chest. The top half of his beak also looked damaged a bit, like the tip was bent.

I'll look at photos of the upland sandpiper and the willet. The photos for red knot are the closest I've seen to matching the bird I saw.

The bird was about a mile inland but there was a large pond a few houses away.

And I really need to study shorebirds! I knew the bird was shaped like a sandpiper of some sort. That's all I had to start with ;(

Okay, checked the other 2. Wrong color. My bird's beak was black. And it was kind of chubby looking, which could be due to the way he was perched, which could also account for the short neck.
 
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Okay...checked out some SBD pix and that must be it! There were several shots of the bird bending the tip of its beak up , which resembles what I saw.

Now i can make a report to the folks in that neighborhood.

Thanks again! ;)
 
I saw a lovely white dove or pigeon in downtown WPB tonight. It was a lot bigger than the other doves and pigeons...at first I thought it was an Ibis.Ii got a photo. Poor sweet thing, I hope it is of the kind that can survive in the wild.
 
Bahia Honda Key this morning - a walk led by legendary birder Kenn Kaufman (squee!) and his wife as part of the Florida Keys Birding Festival.

Highlights:

Peregrine Falcon - flying with some difficulty from a rather large food item it was carrying
Prairie Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-throated Blue
Sanderlings
Semipalmated Plovers
Ruddy Turnstones
* Piping Plover
* Blue Grosbeak (female)
Laughing Gulls
American Redstarts
Magnificent Frigatebird - close fly-by from an immature and an adult female
Willet
Black-crowned Night Heron - both an adult and an immature who was quite close up

* = Lifers for me!!

Butterflies:
A billion Gulf Fritillaries, including one mating pair
some Cassius Blues

AND: a great view of a Black-tipped Reef Shark who swam up near the rocks (we were up on the old bridge looking down)

Pretty sure I'm forgetting something, just can't think of it right now. It was great to meet the Kaufmans, and I'd forgotten both how close the Keys are and how beautiful they are!
 
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Saw a swallow tailed kite heading south. It was accompanied for a time by the osprey
that hangs out in that area.

It almost looked like a "see you next summer" meeting. Oh how I read stuff into these things.
 
Went to Dupuis the last two mornings looking for Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. I found where they are nesting, but no RCW when I was there (me=not happy).

Still it's very birdy there along the autotour drive. I saw tons of Red-bellied Woodpeckers, two Downy/Hairys (haven't looked close enough at the pics yet), a Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-throated Warbler, Yellow-throated Vireos, Pine Warblers, Turkeys, and several hawks (Red-shouldered? Accipiters? who knows, not a good enough look). Also heard Eastern Phoebes.

As I drove along with my windows down you could hear birds pretty much all along the drive. I got out several times to bird, and I got the impression that I could've stopped anywhere and seen something.
 
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