Eight birders joined TAS Field Trip Coordinator Brian Rapoza this weekend for Tropical Audubon’s annual winter birding tour to the Tallahassee area in north Florida. The group consisted of John Boyd, Nancy Freedman and Ann Martinez, all from Miami-Dade, Glenn Miller and Ann Wiley, both from Broward, Pat Hayes and Gavin Awerbuch, both from Palm Beach and Adrin Andalib, a sharp young birder from Virginia who flew to Miami the day before the tour.
The weather forecast for the weekend called for the passage of a cold front that would produce rain all day Saturday and Sunday, followed by below-freezing temperatures on Monday. Fortunately, the rains on Saturday didn’t begin until around noon and ended overnight, so the weekend wasn’t a total wash. Monday began sunny and cold, with temperatures in Tallahassee right at freezing. By the time we returned to south Florida on Monday night, we had caught up with the cold front and had to deal with intermittent rain all the way to Miami. Fortunately, our tour ended just before an historic snowstorm hit north Florida.
Friday, January 17
Since pick-up locations were spread over three counties and morning commute traffic in south Florida is always a challenge, it took three hours to pick up all eight participants this morning. Once the group was assembled, we headed north on Florida’s Turnpike; a Crested Caracara and a few Fish Crows were among the birds spotted along the way. Our first birding stop was at Alligator Lake, near St. Cloud in Osceola County, where our target bird was Whooping Crane, one of only two currently known to be in Florida. We quickly found the Whooping Crane, along with several Sandhill Cranes, a couple of feral Mallards, an Anhinga, an American Kestrel, a Loggerhead Shrike and an Eastern Meadowlark. We also spotted a Southern Fox Squirrel in this area.
After lunch at a turnpike service plaza, our next birding stop was at Ocala Wetland Recharge Park in Marion County. Target species here included Vaux’s Swift and a female Vermilion Flycatcher. We eventually found the Vermilion Flycatcher, but the Vaux’s Swifts were no-shows. Other species seen during this stop included Mottled Duck, Hooded Merganser, Red-tailed Hawk, Red-headed Woodpecker, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Swamp Sparrow. A Barred Owl was heard in adjacent woods. We then continued north to Tallahassee, where we checked into our hotel, then had dinner at San Miguel’s, a Mexican restaurant south of our hotel.
Saturday, January 18
Today’s first birding destination was St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, south of Tallahassee in Wakulla County. During a stop at a Publix to buy sandwiches and other lunch supplies, we spotted our first Canada Geese of the tour, flying over the parking lot. We had an incredible morning in the refuge, tallying over 80 species, including a Snow Goose and a White-faced Ibis. In addition to the Snow Goose, we found thirteen other waterfowl: Wood Duck, Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, American Wigeon, Canvasback, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Greater and Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser and Ruddy Duck. Other birds tallied during our exploration of the refuge included Clapper Rail, Common Gallinule, American Coot, Killdeer, Long-billed Dowitcher, Wilson’s Snipe, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Dunlin, Least Sandpiper, Laughing and Ring-billed Gull, Forster’s and Royal Tern, Pied-billed and Horned Grebe, Common Loon, Anhinga, Double-crested Cormorant, White and Glossy Ibis, Black-crowned Night Heron, Great and Snowy Egret, Great Blue, Little Blue, Tricolored and Green Heron, Brown Pelican, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Northern Harrier, Red-shouldered Hawk, Belted Kingfisher, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Red-bellied, Downy and Pileated Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, Blue Jay, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Sedge, Marsh, Carolina and Northern House Wren, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Eastern Bluebird, American Goldfinch, Savannah, Song and Swamp Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, Red-winged Blackbird, Common and Boat-tailed Grackle, Common Yellowthroat, Orange-crowned, Palm, Pine and Yellow-rumped Warbler and Northern Cardinal.
The expected rains finally arrived during our picnic lunch break. After lunch, we left the refuge and drove west to Alligator Point, in Franklin County. The rain forced us to search for birds from the comfort of our 15-passenger van, but that didn’t stop us from finding several new species, including large flocks of American Robins. Other birds seen during our drive along Alligator Drive included Lesser Scaup, Black Scoter, Mourning Dove, American Oystercatcher, Piping Plover, Sanderling, Dunlin, Bonaparte’s, Ring-billed and American Herring Gull, Royal Tern, Brown Pelican, American Kestrel, Eastern Bluebird and Brown-headed Cowbird.
Next, we visited Bald Point State Park, where we attempted to search for birds on foot. Before the rains became too heavy to continue, we found Bufflehead, Willet, Sanderling, Bonaparte’s and Ring-billed Gull, Forster’s Tern, Horned Grebe, Common Loon, Snowy Egret, Brown Pelican, Belted Kingfisher and Eastern Towhee. In addition, a few Bottlenosed Dolphins were seen frolicking in Ochlockonee Bay. Our final birding stop of the day was back in Wakulla County, at Bottoms Road, near Panacea in another section of St. Marks NWR. Our target at this location was a wintering Short-eared Owl that hunts over the saltmarshes along the road after sunset. As darkness set in, a few in the group managed to get distant views of the owl. A Bald Eagle was also seen there, and Clapper Rail and Marsh Wren were heard. We then had dinner at Posey’s, a seafood restaurant in Panacea.
Sunday, January 19
We began Day 3 of our tour at Movies 8 Ponds & Slough, located just a few minutes from our hotel. This “birding hotspot” turned out to be a retention pond and canal behind a shopping center, but we still managed to find 24 species in less than 30 minutes, including Canada Goose, Bonaparte’s and Ring-billed Gull, Wood Stork, Anhinga, Snowy and Great Egret, Great Blue Heron, Belted Kingfisher, Northern Flicker, Eastern Phoebe, Tree Swallow, Carolina Wren, Song Sparrow and Orange-crowned Warbler.
Next came what was arguably our most anticipated stop of the tour: a visit to backyard feeders at a home on Lake Killarney in the northeastern part of Tallahassee that has been hosting a Scott’s Oriole since New Year’s Day. This desert-dwelling oriole, native to the southwestern U.S. and Mexico, is one of two currently in Florida, but had been recorded in the state on only one previous occasion (in 2020). The homeowner was just leaving when we arrived, so he directed me to the spot where we could view the feeders and the lake. While we waited for the oriole to appear, we saw and heard lots of other birds, including Canada Goose, Mourning Dove, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Red-bellied, Downy and Pileated Woodpecker, American Crow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, Cedar Waxwing, American Goldfinch, Chipping Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Orange-crowned and Yellow-rumped Warbler and Northern Cardinal. After about an hour of waiting, the oriole finally made an appearance in the trees above the feeders. We were hoping that it would come down to the feeders where we could obtain better looks, but after a minute or so, it disappeared and never returned during the remaining time of our visit. As we were leaving the neighborhood, we spotted several Eastern Bluebirds at a park adjacent to the lake.
Our final stop of the morning was at Tall Timbers Research Station, located north of Tallahassee near the Georgia border. Though the research station gate was closed, we were able to enter on foot. Among the many targets during this stop were Red-cockaded Woodpecker and White-breasted Nuthatch. While we had no trouble finding the nuthatch and saw or heard six different woodpeckers there, the Red-cockaded was not one of them. We may have heard one, but we never saw any. Other birds encountered during our visit included Common Ground Dove, White Ibis, Eastern Phoebe, Tufted Titmouse, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Carolina and Northern House Wren, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, White-throated Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, House Finch, Common Yellowthroat and Black-and White, Palm and Pine Warbler.
After a break for lunch, we visited a few birding hotspots on the west side of Lake Jackson. At Lake Jackson Mounds Archeological State Park, our targets were Golden-crowned Kinglet, Brown Creeper and Winter Wren. The kinglet was seen by everyone, but the Brown Creeper was only seen by one participant. We were unable to find the wren. On our way to adjacent Crowder Landing, we found another White-breasted Nuthatch at a backyard feeder. From the landing, we could see thousands of American Coots on Lake Jackson. Farther north at Jackson View Landing, we were unable to find a recently reported Purple Gallinule. At Okeeheepkee Prairie Park, we found our only Muscovy Duck and Cooper’s Hawk of the trip. We finished the day at Lake Elberta, near the campus of Florida State University, where we spotted a pair of Purple Martins that had likely just arrived from their wintering grounds in South America. We also found a small flock of White-throated Sparrows at the lake.
Monday, January 20
Since Adrin Andalib arranged to fly home from Tallahassee today, we made a couple of stops near the airport before dropping him off. At Lake Munson Preserve Park, we found ten Limpkins, our only ones of the trip. We also saw a couple of distant Wood Ducks there. At Lake Henrietta, we found Canada Geese, Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser and a few other birds, but nothing new. On our way back to Miami, we made one more birding stop, at a retention pond in Gainesville where we found a pair of wintering Common Goldeneye, our final new species of the tour. We ended the tour with 133 species, four more than last year’s tour. 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.
Snow Goose: Photo by Brian Rapoza