Coot Bay (Everglades National Park) CBC Results

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