On Saturday, January 5, an astounding 61 birders joined TAS Field Trip Coordinator Brian Rapoza for the first birding trip of 2025, a full-day exploration of Everglades National Park. The trip began at the Coe Visitor Center, where our first two woodpeckers (Pileated and Downy) and first six warblers (Ovenbird, Black-and-white, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Palm and Yellow-throated) were seen. After our long caravan of cars slowly made its way through the entrance station, we made our first stop at the Royal Palm Visitor Center area.
On the Anhinga Trail, we saw at least ten Purple Gallinules, along with Anhinga, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue, Tricolored and Green Herons, Great Egret, Black and Turkey Vultures, Osprey, a light morph Short-tailed Hawk, Eastern Phoebe, American Crow and Boat-tailed Grackle. Just as some of the group was exiting the boardwalk, we encountered a very accommodating American Bittern! At the big borrow pit on the Gumbo Limbo Trail, some in the group discovered a Louisiana Waterthrush, which was eventually seen by just about everyone. At some point, a Northern Waterthrush joined the Louisiana, providing a nice comparison of these two species. Other birds seen in this area included Great Crested Flycatcher, Gray Catbird, Northern Parula and Yellow-rumped Warbler.
Our next stop was at Gate 13 in the Hidden Lake area off of Research Road, where we scanned for ducks and other water birds in a wetland created as part of the Hole-in-the-Donut area restoration. Among the 100 or so Lesser Scaup we saw were a Canvasback, a few Blue-winged Teal, three Northern Pintails and a couple of Ruddy Ducks. Many other birds were present, including American Coot, Killdeer, Long-billed Dowitcher, Greater Yellowlegs, Pied-billed Grebe, Wood Stork, White Ibis, Little Blue Heron, Red-shouldered Hawk, Belted Kingfisher and Tree Swallow. The group then headed to the research centers at the west end of Research Road, hoping to find the Vermilion Flycatcher that has been present there since November. It was very windy at this stop and bird activity was low, so we decided to move on to Long Pine Key.
After lunch in the picnic area at Long Pine Key, we explored the surrounding pine rockland habitat, where we added Brown-headed Nuthatch, Eastern Towhee and Pine Warbler to our growing trip list. We weren’t able to find any Barred Owls along the road to Pa-hay-okee Lookout Tower; the only new birds added there were American Kestrel and Red-winged Blackbird. We then drove all the way to Flamingo, hoping that the mid-afternoon low tide would attract birds to the exposed mudflats offshore from the Guy Bradley Visitor Center. A small flock of American White Pelicans was seen soaring over the road near West Lake as we drove south.
When we arrived at the visitor center, we discovered that the tide was so low that the bay bottom was almost completely exposed and only a scattering of birds was present. In spite of this, we still added several birds to our trip list, including Black-bellied Plover, Spotted Sandpiper, Willet, Laughing and Lesser-black-backed Gulls, Forster’s Tern, Roseate Spoonbill, Yellow-crowned and Black-crowned Night Herons, Reddish and Snowy Egrets, Great White Heron and Brown Pelican. We then headed back north, stopping first at West Lake, where among a large flock of Lesser Scaup and Ruddy Ducks, we found five Redheads, a Greater Scaup and a Bufflehead! We also spotted an adult Bald Eagle and a couple of Northern Rough-winged Swallows soaring over the lake.
Our final stop of the day was at Mahogany Hammock, where we added Red-bellied Woodpecker, Brown Thrasher, Common Grackle, American Redstart, Magnolia Warbler, and Black-throated Green Warbler. We ended the day with 76 species, all birds seen and places visited are summarized in this eBird trip report.
American Bittern: Photo by Brian Rapoza