Nancy Freedman, Ann Martinez, Yadira Pedraza and Jim Sigsbee joined TAS Field Trip Coordinator Brian Rapoza this weekend for Tropical Audubon’s four-day North Florida birding tour, our first such tour since 2019. This tour typically targets wintering waterfowl, sparrows and other birds that are rarely if ever seen in south Florida. This year, we had an additional target: Couch’s Kingbird, a bird normally found from south Texas to northern Central America and only seen in Florida on one previous occasion, in 1991. The current bird has been present in Tallahassee since early November and is the first Couch’s Kingbird in Florida to be photo and audio documented.
Friday, January 12
After the four participants were picked up at their homes, the group headed north, stopping first at Ocean Ridge Hammock Park in Boynton Beach, where Carl Edwards, one of Palm Beach County’s top birders was waiting for us. A variety of rare-for-south Florida sea ducks, including Common and King Eider, Black and Surf Scoter and Long-tailed Duck have been wintering just offshore, but on our visit, we saw only Black and Surf Scoters (we learned later that the King Eider had been rescued and taken to a local wildlife rehabilitator). While we scoped the scoter flock, a few Sanderlings were seen along the beach and a couple of Northern Gannets were spotted farther offshore.
We then followed Carl to Boynton Beach Inlet Park, where we hoped to see the Harlequin Duck that has been present there for the last several weeks. The bird has been most often seen at low tide, when organisms the bird feeds on are exposed and easier to find. Unfortunately, the tide was high when we arrived, and the bird was nowhere to be found. A Bonaparte’s Gull and a Common Tern were the best birds seen. Carl called us after we left to let us know that the Harlequin Duck had appeared, but by that time, it was too late to go back.
After lunch in the Kissimmee area, we paid a visit to Northwest Recreation Complex in the Lake Apopka area west of Orlando. Our target here was Eared Grebe; three individuals have been present on a lake in this park all winter. We found two of the three grebes, as well as Lesser Scaup, Hooded Merganser, Ruddy Duck and Sandhill Crane. Our last birding stop was at Depot Park in Gainesville, where we quickly found the two Common Goldeneye that have been wintering on the park’s lake. Also seen there were a pair of Greater Scaup, several Bufflehead and more Hooded Merganers. We then headed to our hotel in Tallahassee, our home for the next three nights.
Saturday, January 13
After a quick stop at a Publix for picnic lunch supplies, the group headed to St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge in Wakulla County, where we spent the morning birding along the main refuge road from the visitor center to the St. Marks lighthouse. Along the way, we added several species to our growing waterfowl list, including Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck and Red-breasted Merganser. Other highlights among the 64 species tallied were a Vermilion Flycatcher at Headquarters Pond and a Nelson’s Sparrow in the lighthouse area, as well as Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Horned Grebe, Forster’s Tern, Black-crowned Night Heron, Glossy Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Northern Harrier, Bald Eagle, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Carolina Chickadee, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Marsh Wren, Brown Thrasher, Swamp Sparrow, Eastern Towhee and Orange-crowned Warbler. We also saw a few mammals along the way, including white-tailed deer, river otter and bobcat!
After our picnic lunch at the refuge’s Picnic Pond, we drove west to the Panacea area, where we spent the rest of the day. Our first stop was at Alligator Point, across the Ochlockonee River from Panacea in Franklin County. During a short walk on an accessible area of the beach, we found two Red Knots among a flock of Willets. Other birds seen in this area included Black Scoter, Common Ground-Dove, Semipalmated and Piping Plover, Bonaparte’s Gull, Common Loon (flying directly over our heads), Bald Eagle, Eastern Bluebird, House Finch and Chipping Sparrow. A huge flock of Lesser Scaup was spotted offshore as we were leaving this area.
Our next stop was at Bald Point State Park, where in about 30 minutes of birding, we found more Bufflehead and Horned Grebes, plus Black-bellied Plover, Greater Yellowlegs, Forster’s and Royal Terns, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Eastern Towhee and Pine Warbler. Our final birding stop of the day was at Bottoms Road, in the Panacea unit of St Marks National Wildlife Refuge, where we joined several other birders hoping to see a Short-eared Owl that has recently been seen hunting over the surrounding saltmarshes at dusk. We waited over an hour, but the owl never appeared. While we waited, we spotted a Clapper Rail and heard many, many more. We also saw flocks of Great Egrets heading to their roosts, a Northern Harrier and a Sedge Wren before calling it a night. Dinner was at Posey’s, a seafood restaurant in Panacea that has long been a dining tradition on this tour.
Sunday, January 13
Our first stop this morning was at Tall Timbers Research Station, north of Tallahassee and just south of the border with Georgia. Two of our target species here were Red-cockaded Woodpecker and White-breasted Nuthatch and as we descended downslope on the research station’s Henry M. Stevenson Memorial Trail, we found both rather quickly. We paid a quick visit to the bird blind at Gannet Pond, but the feeders were empty, so we decided to walk around the pond instead. Other birds encountered during our exporation of this area included Wilson’s Snipe, Anhinga, Great Blue Heron, Cooper’s and Red-tailed Hawk, Red-bellied, Downy and Pileated Woodpeckers, Eastern Phoebe, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, House and Carolina Wrens, Gray Catbird, American Goldfinch, Chipping, White-throated, Savannah, Song and Swamp Sparrows, Eastern Towhee and Pine Warbler. Upon returning to our van, we spotted a couple of Eastern Bluebirds that had perched on Purple Martin gourds near the entrance to the trail.
After leaving Tall Timbers, we made a quick stop at Lake Iamonia Landing but saw only Tree Swallows and a few other common birds. Returning to Tallahassee, we stopped for lunch, then drove to Lake Jackson Mounds Archeological State Park, on the west side of the area’s largest lake. We searched for a recently reported Winter Wren along the park’s nature trail but found only Carolina Wren. Other birds seen or heard along the trail included Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Red-bellied and Downy Woodpecker, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Brown Thrasher, American Goldfinch, Orange-crowned Warbler and Northern Cardinal. We then drove down to Crowder Road Landing, where we found three Canvasbacks among the hundreds of American Coots on Lake Jackson. Pied-billed Grebe and Ring-billed Gulls were also present in large numbers there; Northern Harrier and Bald Eagle could be seen soaring over the opposite side of the lake.
Our next stop was at Lake Elberta, near the Florida State University campus. This was the spot where the Couch’s Kingbird was first discovered in November. The bird spent two months at this location before moving on to Mill Street Ponds, just south of the lake. Birds seen while at Lake Elberta included Canada Goose, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Killdeer, Wilson’s Snipe, Least Sandpiper, Ring-billed Gull, Forster’s Tern, Wood Stork, Double-crested Cormorant, Snowy Egret, White Ibis, Turkey Vulture and Red-tailed Hawk. We also saw a pair of river otters in the lake.
We then drove down to Mill Street Ponds, where we waited for the Couch’s Kingbird to arrive at its nighttime roost. Birds seen while waiting included Canada Goose, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser, Limpkin, Wood Stork, Anhinga, Bald Eagle, Eastern Phoebe, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird and American Robin. Other birders began to arrive, including Juli deGrummond, the woman who originally discovered the kingbird at Lake Elberta. Juli has been monitoring the behavioral patterns of this bird ever since, so she confidently predicted when the bird would arrive and on what tree it would likely perch before retiring to its roost. Sure enough, the kingbird appeared on that tree just when she said it would! After enjoying great views of the bird and taking a few photos to document the sighting, we called it a night and went to dinner at San Miguel’s, a Mexican restaurant south of our hotel.
Monday, January 15
After an early breakfast at the hotel, we packed up the van and began the long drive back to Miami. Our only birding stop along the way was at Sweetwater Wetlands Park in Gainesville. We hiked out to the wetland cell at the far end of the park, hoping to see a Le Conte’s Sparrow that has been recently reported in this area. We ended up walking right past the spot where it was last reported, so we turned around and headed back to where we thought the spot was. Once there, we found Mark Cudney, a birder who lives in the area, already searching for the sparrow. Mark’s time-tested strategy for finding the sparrow was to put on rubber boots and walk back and forth through the wet grass, hoping to flush it. None of us had boots, so we could only watch Mark as he tried to flush the bird. He never did while we were there.
We did encounter a few new trip birds while at the park, including Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, King Rail, Sora, Purple Gallinule, American Bittern and Green Heron. Ann Martinez also got some nice photos of White-throated Sparrows, which we only heard at Tall Timbers yesterday. Other birds seen during our hike included Blue-winged Teal, Lesser Scaup, Sandhill Crane, Wood Stork, Glossy Ibis, Northern Harrier, Red-shouldered Hawk, Belted Kingfisher, Tufted Titmouse, Tree Swallow, Carolina Wren and Savannah and Swamp Sparrows.
By tour’s end, the group had tallied 129 different birds. An eBird trip report with checklists for each of the locations visited can be viewed here. Some of the birds seen along the road or at meal or fuel breaks may not be listed there.
Couch’s Kingbird: Photo by Brian Rapoza