Green Cay / Wakodahatchee wetlands (1 Viewer)

[Zackiedawg]

Here was the American bittern on Saturday:
http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/image/133653020/original

And I'm pretty sure this is a prairie warbler, captured over at Green Cay:
http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/image/133653018/original

Here was greenie with her eggs...definitely 4 of them in there:
http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/image/133653023/original

And look who's back at Wakodahatchee:
http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/image/133653026/original

http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/image/133653025/original

That's my buddy, the basilisk "Jesus Christ" lizard from Central and South America. Started seeing them regularly last spring and summer, then gone for fall & winter...looks like some of them made it past the cold again.

 

[merryslug]

I didn't see the American Bittern, "just" the Least. I'll probably go back this weekend to look for them both again. And that darn Va Rail.

 

[Zackiedawg]

I'll most likely be there again Saturday myself, usual times - I'm not running well to the end of the day anymore with the heat going up - I like to wrap around 4-5 at the latest, so I can get back home and jump in the pool for a cool-down. I've been running 12-4ish for both parks.

 

[merryslug]

So 3ish might be a good time to run into you at Wako?

 

[Zackiedawg]

Should be - somewhere around 2:00-3:00 is about right. It takes me maybe 2 hours to make the Green Cay loops, including slow walking, stopping to shoot, etc...unless I end up spotting some amazing life bird. So that usually means somewhere around 2:30ish, I move over to Wako. Takes about 1 - 1 1/2 hours to loop Wako, again depending on whether I see anything worth stopping longer for.

I go really slowly at both parks - so as long as I'm there I'm usually pretty easy to catch or find - I can't stand rushing through because it's the slow walk that catches the tiny movements in the corner of your eye and finds the birds.

I may also be playing around next week with a new lens on my second camera body - if I end up getting it - I might decide to challenge myself to shooting manual focus only on my NEX camera that usually serves as backup...I might pick up a couple 35 year old lenses in the next day or two for cheap and test them out. I don't know if I could stand being without my DSLR and big bird lens though - I just know I'd spot the rarest bird in Florida on that one day I didn't bring the big gear.

 

[bulos]

Green Cay yesterday

I was watching a green heron in the back of Green Cay yesterday and I turned away to look at some sora rails when all of a sudden the heron was right next to me all his feather bristled and he is screaming like a banshee. This hawk (imm Red shouldered?) had landed in the marsh only 25 feet from me and the heron and a bunch of other birds were going nuts! Very cool.

 

[Nac1999]

That looks fun!

 

[Zackiedawg]

I've been seeing that hawk alot along the back of Green Cay...he's been making the rounds, flying low, landing in the reeds, and sitting on low branches. Always gets the moorhens upset, especially now as they've got babies.

 

[merryslug]

Wow fantastic shot Paul!

 

[bulos]

Thanks Sluggo

 

[Cervus]

Hi, everyone! I've been lurking on this site for a bit and am pleased to find a forum for local birders.

I was at Wako this morning and saw the pair of Least Bitterns; they weren't shy at all about showing themselves. At one point the male flew up on the boardwalk a few feet from me and posed so I could get a nice look; this was a lifer for me. (Of all the days not to have my camera!) After the small crowd admiring them had dispersed, the pair flew over to the island near the gazebo and startled what appeared to be a third LB out of the lower vegetation.

Another highlight was the spoonbill near the entrance. It was somewhat hidden; most people walked past without even bothering to notice it.

Didn't catch the VA Rail or American Bittern, though someone mentioned the Am. Bittern had been there this morning.

 

[merryslug]

Welcome Cervus!

I haven't seen the Spoonbill in a while - nice to know it's still there. About what time were you there (ie when were the LB's out and active)?

 

[Cervus]

I was there roughly between 9 and 10 AM.

 

[Zackiedawg]

Indeed - welcome Cervus. If you're there on weekends too, keep an eye out for me - I'm pretty much always there unless I'm out of town.

Funny thing about the spoonbills - for 3 winters, I was thrilled when I got to see 2 or 3 of them, thinking it was such a rare treat for Green Cay & Wako. I had never gone in the summers because it was too hot. Last year, I broke the rules and went pretty much all summer long. Guess what? Green Cay had spoonbills by the DOZENS. I've got photos of 20 of them standing around. They were everywhere. In flight shots, feeding shots, sleeping shots. Wako too - at least a few every weekend. When winter came again and I started seeing some of the 'regular' birders again - the ones who DIDN'T come out during the summer - the first thing they started pining for was to see the roseates again. I could only chuckle.

 

[Cervus]

Oh, that's amazing to hear. I've lived in Florida my whole life, and until the other day at Wako I'd only ever seen Spoonbills in the Glades or at Merritt Island. I don't normally bird in the summer because of the heat and general lack of species, but I'll definitely check out Green Cay and Wako this summer.

 

[Sydsmythe]

Heard a loud "OMG" from one of the folks I was walking with at Wako late yesterday. She spotted the Basilisk lizard.
We saw 2 purple g's and several LBHs too.
LGH protected that nest with her life from 3 grackles.
Who is the architect of those beautifully woven nests on the rushes in the back ?

Also saw the resident of the brown painted nest box that's on that patch of land if you go to the back and then left at GC. A black bird with a light bill. No one knew what she was.

I don't think it was a myna as she was greasy black and I don't recall any eyepatch. The beak wasn't really yellow, but who knows!!!

 

[csanchez7]

Sydsmythe,

It sounds like a European Starling.

Carlos

 

[Sydsmythe]

Thanks Carlos. That looks like it.

Too bad we only saw the head and upper chest in the shade. They must be beautiful in the sunlight.

 

[Zackiedawg]

Those starlings are quite irridescent in sunlight - very pretty. I did see a few poking their heads out of nest boxes at Green Cay, but no Wako.

BTW, the woven nests in the rushes are probably the red-winged blackbird nests - I saw quite a few at Wako yesterday, and they tend to put their nests high in the reeds or low trees, often quite close to the boardwalk.

 

[Zackiedawg]

Saturday, I was at the beach most of the day, but decided to take a walk-through at Green Cay around 3:30pm. It's getting a bit quiet out at the two parks, as the nesting GBHs are pretty well done nesting and lots of winterers are gone. But our summer birds are coming in force, so that should be good - the stilts, snipes, terns, and sandpipers should be around much thicker over the next month or two.

I did spot an American bittern at Green Cay this time - surprising as I usually see them over at Wako. He was a younger, smaller one - but fairly obvious with that big long neck and stripes. He was sitting in his own small grass island, fairly close to the walk - I only had my little camera with a 135mm lens on it, and was still able to get some shots of him.

Otherwise, the normal coot & moorhen & duck selections were thick, still quite a few limpkins around, still quite a few sora around, grackles in force, about a dozen black-bellied whistlers were there, tricolors & green herons, anhinga & cormorants, and two small royal terns fishing the main lake, that kept landing on the rail near the open gazebo to the north.