The 74th annual Coot Bay (Everglades National Park) Christmas Bird Count took place on Saturday, December 30. On count day, 22 volunteers counted 61,748 birds of 119 species, plus two additional taxa. The totals were 31,880 more birds and two more species than in 2022. Higher than normal numbers of shorebirds feeding on tidal mudflats in Florida Bay accounted for most of the additional birds recorded this year. New high counts were set this year for Semipalmated Plover and Short-billed Dowitcher. Pete Frezza, who along with Juan Valadez, covers Florida Bay by motorized boat for this count, suggests that higher than normal water levels in Cape Sable marshes this winter made these areas less attractive to shorebirds, so most of these birds were using the bay’s tidal mudflats instead. Calm winds on count day allowed Pete and Juan to spend more time counting all of these shorebirds, which also likely contributed to the higher-than-normal totals.
New high counts were also set this year for American Flamingo, Double-crested Cormorant and Northern Waterthrush. All 58 flamingos were found by the Florida Bay team at Micmac Lagoon, in the Lake Ingraham area of the bay. None were seen at Snake Bight on count day, though several were reported there the day before the count and a couple of days after the count. The flamingos currently in Florida Bay have been present since Hurricane Idalia passed through Florida in late August. To learn more about the flamingo “invasion” of 2023, click here.
New low counts were set this year for three species: Turkey Vulture, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Palm Warbler. In addition, only two duck species were reported this year, compared to eleven in 2022. Large numbers of ducks were reported at Coot Bay and Whitewater Bay in the days prior to the count, but unfortunately, the team that volunteered to cover that area had mechanical issues with their boat and were unable to participate in the count.
We added one new species to the count this year: Brown Booby. The bird was found among American White Pelicans at Sandy Key by the Florida Bay team. The only other unusual species recorded on count day was American Pipit, found by the Flamingo team near the campground amphitheater. This species has only been recorded on two previous counts; the last time was in 1965!
Thanks to the following teams for their assistance during the count (team leader listed first):
Bear Lake Road and Trail– Rachel DiPietro, Lianne D'Arcy, Gabriela Espinoza, Noah Frade and Jessica Whiddon
Coastal Prairie Trail – Liz Golden, Andrea Diamond and Robert Warren
Flamingo – Bob Pace, Alice Pace, Erik Johnson, Erica Rivera, Jeanette Rawls and David Schaffter,
Florida Bay (Snake Bight to Lake Ingraham) – Pete Frezza, Juan Valadez and Sarah Curry
Main Park Road - Brian Rapoza and Luis Gonzalez
Snake Bight Trail –Amy Roda, Sue Alspach and Walter Wallenstein
Following are the totals for each species (additional taxa in italics, last year’s total in parenthesis):
Lesser Scaup - 67 (57)
Red-breasted Merganser - 24 (0)
American Flamingo - 58 (1)
Wood Stork - 168 (47)
Magnificent Frigatebird - 8 (3)
Double-crested Cormorant - 5700 (3300)
Anhinga - 10 (6)
American White Pelican - 3500 (950)
Brown Pelican - 960 (1300)
Great Blue Heron (Blue form) - 102 (350)
Great Blue Heron (White form) - 293 (415)
Great Blue Heron (Wurdemann's) - 2 (2)
Great Egret – 880 (700)
Snowy Egret – 1000 (630)
Little Blue Heron – 400 (800)
Tricolored Heron – 160 (330)
Reddish Egret – 18 (16)
Cattle Egret – 140 (4)
Green Heron – 15 (3)
Black-crowned Night-Heron – 6 (3)
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron – 23 (18)
White Ibis – 2100 (1100)
Glossy Ibis – 3 (6)
Roseate Spoonbill – 157 (125)
Black Vulture – 54 (53)
Turkey Vulture – 48 (150)
Osprey – 78 (107)
Northern Harrier - 1 (0)
Cooper’s Hawk - 1 (0)
Bald Eagle – 15 (9)
Red-shouldered Hawk – 44 (33)
Short-tailed Hawk – 1 (2)
Clapper Rail – 7 (1)
Sora – 2 (0)
Common Gallinule – 1 (0)
American Coot – 2 (51)
Black-necked Stilt – 9 (16)
American Avocet – 61 (26)
Black-bellied Plover – 500 (156)
Wilson's Plover – 5 (3)
Semipalmated Plover – 1460 (12)
Killdeer – 27 (19)
Spotted Sandpiper – 24 (19)
Greater Yellowlegs – 58 (16)
Willet – 2170 (420)
Ruddy Turnstone – 100 (5)
Red Knot – 34 (0)
Sanderling – 325 (440)
Dunlin – 5070 (570)
Least Sandpiper – 13770 (6600)
Western Sandpiper – 8730 (1900)
Short-billed Dowitcher – 5470 (540)
Bonaparte's Gull – 11 (6)
Laughing Gull – 1350 (2700)
Ring-billed Gull – 210 (54)
Herring Gull – 8 (1)
Lesser Black-backed Gull – 43 (13)
Caspian Tern – 70 (75)
Forster's Tern – 32 (530)
Royal Tern – 780 (1620)
Sandwich Tern – 28 (120)
Black Skimmer – 2850 (421)
White-crowned Pigeon – 2 (6)
Common Ground-Dove – 10 (7)
Mourning Dove – 2 (1)
Mangrove Cuckoo 1 (0)
Barn Owl – 1 (0)
Eastern Screech-Owl – 1 (0)
Barred Owl – 11 (11)
Eastern Whip-poor-will – 2 (0)
Ruby-throated Hummingbird – 1 (1)
Belted Kingfisher – 32 (22)
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 45 (77)
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 4 (2)
Downy Woodpecker – 4 (5)
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) – 3 (10)
Pileated Woodpecker – 8 (12)
American Kestrel – 4 (7)
Merlin – 2 (3)
Peregrine Falcon 1 (0)
Eastern Phoebe – 8 (11)
Great Crested Flycatcher – 10 (30)
White-eyed Vireo – 14 (60)
Blue-headed Vireo – 1 (4)
American Crow – 94 (150)
Tree Swallow – 815 (1200)
Barn Swallow – 2 (5)
House Wren – 13 (7)
Carolina Wren – 2 (13)
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher – 52 (63)
Gray Catbird – 102 (140)
Brown Thrasher – 1 (2)
Northern Mockingbird – 21 (25)
European Starling – 26 (37)
American Pipit – 1 (0)
Ovenbird – 10 (8)
Northern Waterthrush – 69 (46)
Black-and-white Warbler – 11 (13)
Orange-crowned Warbler – 2 (0)
Common Yellowthroat – 208 (125)
American Redstart – 14 (10)
Northern Parula – 5 (14)
Yellow Warbler – 17 (9)
Black-throated Blue Warbler – 1 (1)
Palm Warbler – 18 (90)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) – 75 (225)
Yellow-throated Warbler – 6 (8)
Prairie Warbler – 21 (27)
Black-throated Green Warbler – 1 (0)
Savannah Sparrow – 5 (5)
Northern Cardinal – 45 (81)
Indigo Bunting – 3 (0)
Painted Bunting – 5 (3)
Red-winged Blackbird - 60 (215)
Common Grackle – 76 (90)
Brown-headed Cowbird – 3 (1)
American Pipit: Photo by Luis Gonzalez