The 73rd annual Coot Bay (Everglades National Park) Christmas Bird Count took place on Saturday, December 31. On count day, 27 volunteers counted 29,868 birds of 117 species, plus two additional taxa. One additional species was added during count week. The totals were 4,364 more birds and four more species than in 2021.
Among the eleven duck species tallied on count day were several species not often seen this far south, including Canvasback, Redhead, Greater Scaup (all seen on Coot Bay) and Bufflehead (seen at Eco Pond). An American Flamingo at Snake Bight was seen by the Florida Bay team and was also photographed by Jason Hedges; this the first time since 2008 that this species has been encountered during the count. Thirteen Carolina Wren were tallied this year, a new high count for this resident species and two more than the previous high count, way back in 1964.
Thanks to the following volunteers for their assistance during the count:
Bear Lake Road – Bill Boeringer
Coastal Prairie Trail – Miriam Avello, Michelle Davis, Leigh Buckner, Leslie Denise, Ashton Kupferberg, Nassim Mahomar, Vera Mar and Natalie Sassine
Coot Bay and Whitewater Bay – Jason Hedges and Marianne Maduro
Flamingo – Bob Pace, Alice Pace, Jeanette Rawls, David Schaffter, Yadira Pedraza and Deborah Magid
Florida Bay (Snake Bight to Lake Ingraham) – Pete Frezza, Juan Valadez and David Brooks
Main Park Road, Bear Lake Trail - Brian Rapoza and Luis Gonzalez
Snake Bight and Rowdy Bend Trails –Amy Roda, Sue Alspach, Rachel DiPietro, Jared Schiller and Walter Wallenstein
Following are the totals for each species (additional taxa in italics):
Gadwall - 1
American Wigeon - 59
Blue-winged Teal - 10
Northern Shoveler - 9
Canvasback - 3
Redhead - 12
Ring-necked Duck - 3
Greater Scaup - 2
Lesser Scaup - 57
Bufflehead - 3
Ruddy Duck - 6
Common Loon - 1
Pied-billed Grebe - 11
American Flamingo - 1
Wood Stork - 47
Magnificent Frigatebird - 3
Double-crested Cormorant - 3300
Anhinga - 6
American White Pelican - 950
Brown Pelican - 1300
Great Blue Heron (Blue form) - 350
Great Blue Heron (White form) - 415
Great Blue Heron (Wurdemann's) - 2
Great Egret - 700
Snowy Egret - 630
Little Blue Heron - 800
Tricolored Heron - 330
Reddish Egret - 16
Cattle Egret - 4
Green Heron - 3
Black-crowned Night-Heron - 3
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron - 18
White Ibis - 1100
Glossy Ibis - 6
Roseate Spoonbill - 125
Black Vulture - 53
Turkey Vulture - 150
Osprey - 107
Bald Eagle - 9
Red-shouldered Hawk - 33
Short-tailed Hawk - 2
Clapper Rail - 1
American Coot - 51
Black-necked Stilt - 16
American Avocet - 26
Black-bellied Plover - 156
Wilson's Plover - 3
Semipalmated Plover - 12
Killdeer - 19
Spotted Sandpiper - 19
Greater Yellowlegs - 16
Willet - 420
Ruddy Turnstone - 5
Sanderling - 440
Dunlin - 570
Least Sandpiper - 6600
Semipalmated Sandpiper - 7
Western Sandpiper - 1900
Short-billed Dowitcher - 540
Bonaparte's Gull - 6
Laughing Gull - 2700
Ring-billed Gull - 54
Herring Gull - 1
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 13
Caspian Tern - 75
Common Tern - 2
Forster's Tern - 530
Royal Tern - 1620
Sandwich Tern - 120
Black Skimmer - 421
White-crowned Pigeon - 6
Eurasian Collared-Dove - 1
Common Ground-Dove - 7
Mourning Dove - 1
Barred Owl - 11
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 1
Belted Kingfisher - 22
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 77
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 2
Downy Woodpecker - 5
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) - 10
Pileated Woodpecker - 12
American Kestrel - 7
Merlin - 3
Eastern Phoebe - 11
Great Crested Flycatcher - 30
White-eyed Vireo - 60
Blue-headed Vireo - 4
Blue Jay - 1
American Crow - 150
Tree Swallow - 1200
Barn Swallow - 5
House Wren - 7
Sedge Wren - 1
Carolina Wren - 13
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 63
Gray Catbird - 140
Brown Thrasher - 2
Northern Mockingbird - 25
European Starling - 37
Ovenbird - 8
Northern Waterthrush - 46
Black-and-white Warbler - 13
Common Yellowthroat - 125
American Redstart - 10
Cape May Warbler - 1
Northern Parula - 14
Yellow Warbler - 9
Black-throated Blue Warbler - 1
Palm Warbler - 90
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - 225
Yellow-throated Warbler - 8
Prairie Warbler - 27
Saltmarsh Sparrow – count week
Savannah Sparrow - 5
Northern Cardinal - 81
Painted Bunting - 3
Red-winged Blackbird 215
Common Grackle - 90
Brown-headed Cowbird - 1
Roseate Spoonbill: Photo by Luis Gonzalez