Twenty-five birders joined TAS field trip leader John Boyd yesterday for an all-day caravan trip through Everglades National Park. We met at Coe Visitor Center but our first birding stop was at the Lucky Hammock area just outside the park. Highlights here included a very cooperative Tropical Kingbird and a very distant White-tailed Kite. As many as three Brown-crested Flycatchers were heard during this stop. An eBird checklist for this stop is here.
Re-entering the park, we stopped first at Royal Palm Visitor Center, where we explored the Anhinga and Gumbo Limbo Trails. Among the highlights here were two Purple Gallinules, a Wood Stork, a dark morph Short-tailed Hawk and a Pileated Woodpecker. An eBird checklist for this stop is here.
Next stop was on nearby Research Road and included a quick spin through the Nike missile base. Birds tallied along the road included Ring-necked Duck, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker and Pine Warbler. An eBird checklist for this stop is here.
We stopped at Long Pine Key picnic area for lunch, then continued on to Mahogany Hammock. Undoubtedly the highlight of this stop was a Barred Owl perched at eye level just a few yards away from the boardwalk! We also encountered a warbler flock that included Northern Parula and Black-and white, Prairie, Black-throated Blue and Black-throated Green Warblers. A Brown Thrasher was seen in the parking area. An eBird checklist for this stop is here.
After quick stops at Paurotis and Mrazak Ponds, we made our final stop of the day at Flamingo. The tide was high and no sandbars were exposed off the visitor center (still under construction), so we headed to the amphitheater area near the campground. The shoreline here was teeming with shorebirds, including an American Avocet, Black-bellied, Wilson’s and Semipalmated Plovers, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Dunlin, Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers, Short-billed Dowitcher, Willet and Lesser Yellowlegs. Other birds seen here included Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, a Bald Eagle, Black Skimmers and a Yellow Warbler. A large flock of American White Pelicans could be seen offshore. An eBird checklist for this last stop is here.
Thanks to Bill Boeringer for his Barred Owl photo.