Road Trip - Whooping Cranes

Tuesday January 16th

Today I'm wrapping up my Birding Road Trip with a couple of stops. Sebastian Inlet State Park and back to Backbone Road near Lake Wales.

Glaucous Gull

Sebastian Inlet had been hosting a Glaucous Gull, another rare visitor to Florida. And as I was pulling into a parking spot at Sebastian the Gull could be seen just a few feet away. Way easy..

And the Northern Gannets I missed yesterday were seen today just off the beach.  Other birds spotted here included Great Black-backed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Laughing Gulls, Forster's Terns, Black Skimmers, Brown and American White Pelicans, Red-breasted Mergansers, Snowy Herons, White Ibis and Ruddy Turnstones.

Great Black-backed Gull

Herring Gull

Snowy Heron

Black Skimmer

Red-breasted Merganser

Ring-billed Gull

Lastly, another attempt to see the pair of Whooping Cranes in the cattle pastures along Backbone Road near Lake Wales. This time they were out in the open but rather far off. Disappointing for photography, but good to get to see them. Future observations of these birds are going to be iffy as the program to re-introduce the species as a viable, non-migratory population in Florida has been discontinued.

Bird List for the Road Trip - (147)

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Snow Goose, Ross's Goose, Canada Goose, Muscovy Duck, Wood Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, American Wigeon, Mallard, Mottled Duck, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Canvasback, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Greater Scaup, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Hooded Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Common Loon, Pied-billed Grebe, Horned Grebe, Wood Stork, Northern Gannet, Double-crested Cormorant, Anhinga, American White Pelican, Brown Pelican, American Bittern, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Reddish Egret, Cattle Egret, Green Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, White-faced Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Snail Kite, Northern Harrier, Cooper's Hawk, Bald Eagle, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Sora, Purple Gallinule, Common Gallinule, American Coot, Limpkin, Sandhill Crane, Whooping Crane, American Oystercatcher, Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, Ruddy Turnstone, Ruff, Stilt Sandpiper, Sanderling, Dunlin, Least Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, Wilson's Snipe, Greater Yellowlegs, Willet, Lesser Yellowlegs, Pomarine/Parasitic Jaeger, Laughing Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Glaucous Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Forster's Tern, Royal Tern, Sandwich Tern, Black Skimmer, Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Common Ground-Dove, Mourning Dove, Barred Owl, Belted Kingfisher, Red-headed Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker, American Kestrel, Merlin, Eastern Phoebe, Vermilion Flycatcher, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Loggerhead Shrike, White-eyed Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo, Blue Jay,  American Crow, Fish Crow, Tree Swallow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Brown-headed Nuthatch, House Wren, Winter Wren, Sedge Wren, Carolina Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrush, American Robin, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Sprague's Pipit, Cedar Waxwing, Black-and-white Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Palm Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Chipping Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, Northern Cardinal, Eastern Meadowlark, Red-winged Blackbird, Rusty Blackbird, Common Grackle, Boat-tailed Grackle and House Sparrow.

Only Lifer seen was the Sprague's Pipit