Cinnamon Teal

Tuesday, March 3rd

Went looking for the drake Cinnamon Teal that has been reported hanging out in a small pond along El Conquistador Parkway up by Bradenton. He was easily found resting along the cattails in the company of several dozen Blue-winged Teal and a pair of Least Scaups.

But I first stopped at the Celery Fields in Sarasota and was well rewarded with several good birds including Limpkins, Rosetta Spoonbills, a vocalizing King Rail, a couple of Sora, Purple Gallinule, a Wood Duck and both Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal. The nearby Acremans Park added dozens of Least Scaup, Mottled Duck, more Blue-winged Teal and a pair of Ruddy Ducks. To find Black-bellied Whistling Ducks I visited a landscaping business at the corner of Tatum Road and Fruitville Road were as many as a hundred of the ducks will congregate. Another good day

 Rosette Spoonbill at the Celery Fields

  King Rail spotted in the rushes

 Savannah Sparrow

Fish Crow

Cinnamon Teal at the Celery Fields

Wednesday January 18th

Today was a hunt for a lifer. The elusive cinnamon teal at The Celery Fields in Sarasota had been seen several times.  I had visited a week or so ago and missed on it, but I heard were several folks including Stan Damen and Vince McGrath had recently seen it. Had to try again.

First stopped at Akerman's Park, hoping for some ruddy ducks.  Just lots of Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler and Lesser Scaup. Plus Great Blue Herons, Anhingas, Double-crested Cormorants, Common Gallinules, Ring-billed Gulls, Cattle Egrets and White Ibis.  Had flock of about twelve Monk Parakeets fly in.

Monk Parakeets at Ackermans Park

At The Celery Fields the Cinnamon Teal was very easy to find because a dozen birders were already on it. Met John Whitehead and his neighbor Bill along with a group lead by a very knowledgeable leader named Owen.  Sure enough we had great views of the teal.  A Lifer!!!  Other birds here included Hooded Mergansers, Blue-winged Teal, Pied-billed Grebes, a Wilson's Snipe, lots of cormorants and Anhings.  Had a chance to watch a young Bald Eagle harass an Osprey for its freshly caught fish. Can add a Belted Kingfisher, Red-winged Blackbirds, Wood Storks, Glossy Ibis, White Ibis, a Northern Harrier, Cattle Egrets, Boat-tailed Grackles and Tree Swallows. Spent some time looked for a reported purple gallinule, but missed on it.

Great Egret at Ft DeSoto

Next checked out a pond, I heard about, at a nursery at Fruitville and Tatum Roads were several Black-bellied Whistling Ducks were found.  Then onto the ponds at The Founders Club were I was joined By John and Bill.  Here we successfully located the Common Goldeneye wintering here, but did not see its bufflehead partner.  Other birds here included Hooded Mergansers, Lesser Scaup, Ring-billed Ducks, Grebes, Mottled Ducks and Blue-winged Teal.

Redheads and Lesser Scaups at Tierra Verde ponds

Moved onto Ft DeSoto in Tampa Bay to look for a lark sparrow. But first stopped at the ponds at Tierra Verde were a greater scaup had been reported. There were thousands of birds, mostly Redheads. Picked out Lesser Scaups, Northern Shoveler and floating gulls including a first year Herring Gull.

Spent some time at the fishing pier at Ft DeSoto, were several seabirds including a pair of Forster's Terns, Herring Gulls, Laughing Gulls, Cormorants, Ring-billed Gulls, Brown Pelicans, Red-breasted Mergansers and a Common Loon. Also had a small flock of Nanday Parakeets, large flocks of Brown-headed Cowbirds and European Starlings and a half dozen House Sparrows. Then moved onto the Gulf Pier to look for the lark sparrow, but lightening changed these plans.  So headed for home.

Herring Gull



Brown Pelican

Forster's Tern

Laughing Gull

Nanday Parakeets

Purple Gallinule - The Celery Fields

Thursday, October 27th

Arrived at The Celery Fields in Sarasota about 10 o'clock where I met John Whitehead.  John put me onto several birds including a juvenile Purple Gallinule. Arrived too late for the sandhill cranes and the other waders weren't too numerous. We did have at least eight Limpkins, a Great Blue Heron, a couple each of Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Little Blue Herons and Tricolored Herons. Did not have any white ibis at the time, but there were six Glossy Ibis and six more Cattle Egrets on the grassy berm with Common and Boat-tailed Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, Palm Warblers a small flock of newly arriving Savannah Sparrows.

I was interested in shore birds and had a pair of Lesser Yellowlegs fly in as did a flock of a dozen or so Dowitchers.  We also had Western and Least Sandpipers plus a trio of Killdeer and a Wilson's Snipe. Noted a Mallard x Mottled Duck hybrid fly in plus a few Blue-winged Teal and Mottled Ducks were present. John had seen a couple of black-bellied whistling ducks, but I dipped on them. Other birds seen included Wood Stork, Common Coot, Common Gallinule, a Caspian Tern, a Kestrel, a pair of Osprey, a Bald Eagle and eight Anhingas.

Next stopped at Cockroach Bay Road near Ruskin.  A Northern Harrier was patrolling the waste water mitigation ponds.  Had all the same waders as at The Celery Fields, but I could add a single Roseate Spoonbill. The shore birds were limited to a Greater Yellowlegs, two Lesser Yellowlegs and a Killdeer. Osprey are very common here and I counted six American Kestrels on the wires. The rafts of American Coots are back and had a count of over a hundred birds.  Had a dozen Blue-winged Teal which were keeping the company of a lone female Redhead. Other sightings include Common Gallinule, Tree Swallows, a Loggerhead Shrike, a House Wren and Pied-billed Grebes.

Ft DeSoto Park

Red Knots

Lastly stopped at Ft Desoto Park in Tampa Bay.  Had a few Redheads at the Terra Verde ponds along with a huge number of Double-crested Cormorants. A check for any migrants lingering in the park produced very little.  I was interested in finding the reported ash-throated flycatcher and any snow plovers.  dipped on both. Did find a couple of Red Knots and ten American Oystercatchers.  Other shorebirds included Willets, Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderlings, a Dunlin, a Piping Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Black-bellied Plover and Least Sandpipers. Other birds of the shore included Laughing Gulls, Royal Terns, Forster's Terns, Sandwich Terns, Ospreys, Magnificent Frigatebirds and Black Skimmers.  Birds of the woods included a couple of American Redstarts, a dozen Palm Warblers, a lone Pine Warbler, a pair of Eastern Phoebe, House Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Mockingbirds, Catbirds and Starlings. My purpose for this day's trip was to try to reach a goal of 160 birds for the month which I did accomplish.

Swallow-tailed Kites - Hernando County

Thursday, July 29th

Black-necked Stilt at The Celery Fields

Had an open day to spend on some birding and was considering heading over to the Everglades agricultural area around Hendry and Palm Beach Counties for barn owls, swallows and early migrant shorebirds.  But instead my daughter Katie and I headed up toward Tampa to visit with my older daughter Melissa and her husband Robbie. There was still to be be some birding involved. 

We revisited a few of my spots from my June "Big Day". Namely The Celery Fields in Sarasota, the Power Line and Rock Lake Roads near Brooksville in Hernando County.

Began with a quick check of Domestic Street in south Lee County and started with a Red-tailed Hawk, Burrowing Owl and Chimney Swift. At The Celery Fields, the sandhill cranes had already dispersed, but was able to add the first Bald Eagle I have seen in over a month, several Osprey, a dozen Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, several Black-necked Stilts with chicks, Snowy Egrets, Tricolored Egrets, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Mottled Ducks, Royal Tern, Laughing Gulls, Moorhens, American Coots, Limpkins, Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, Anhingas, a Great Blue Heron and my FOS Least Sandpiper.  Missed were wood ducks, least bitterns and any swallows.

Observation deck being constructed at The Celery Fields.  Could use such a structure at Harns Marsh



Juvenile Black-necked Stilt at The Celery Fields.



My FOS Least Sandpiper at The Celery Fields

Next stop was Power Line Road on the border with Hernando and Pasco Counties.  It was here, a few weeks ago, that mississippi kites were being seen in a small concentration.  I did get one at that time, but did not expect anything today as they were probably already on the move to migrate south.  Did get five Southeastern American Kestrels and a trio of Swallow-tailed Kites, but no mississippi kites while we were there.  There was supposed to a burrowing owl colony located nearby, but again we missed on them.  Did get Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks, Turkey Vultures, Wood Storks, Cattle Egrets, a calling Red-eyed Vireo, Eastern Meadowlarks, Eastern Bluebirds, Northern Mockingbirds, Loggerheaded Shrikes, Northern Cardinals, Mourning Doves and Rock Pigeons.

Swallow-tailed Kites

Ended the birding phase of our trip with a return to Rock Lake Road, which is located where the Withlacoochee State Trail crosses Croom Rital Road.  The Trail seems to be very popular with bikers. Here I found a nesting tree for a pair of Red-headed Woodpeckers, plus an other pair of young Red-bellied Woodpeckers and a noisy Pileated Woodpecker. Also added several Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, a calling Blue Jay, American Crow, a Male Summer Tanager, Northern Cardinals and a LIFER  - ACADIAN FLYCATCHER.  A rough count for the day was around fifty birds.

A Mississippi Kite on a June "Big Day"

Thursday, June 30th

June can be a very slow birding month in Florida.  The wintering birds are gone, the spring migration is over and the early fall migrants don't start showing up till mid-July.  Many of the serious Florida birders conducted a contest on a county basis, just to keep birding interesting during the lull. I think it was pretty close between Pinellis County and Dade County.  I did not really participate, but got a 95 count for Lee County.  My count for June which included my trip to Illinois came to 158. But on the last day of June I elected to have a Big Day.

One goal for the year was to get a tick on a Mississippi Kite. I had figured on going up to Paynes Prairie near Gainesville to look for the kite, acadian flycatchers and summer tanagers.  Needed all of these for my year list.

But reports on Birdbrains.com described a reliable roost of the kites closer to home in Hernando County near Brooksville. I elected to try the site first and if it failed, keep on going to Paynes Prairie.

A juvenile Black-necked Stilt

Sandhill Crane at The Celery Fields

My actual first stop for the day was an unscheduled visit to The Celery Fields in Sarasota.  Was passing the area about 7:30am and figured I had time to add it on and it was a good idea. The recently planted wetlands was was very active with several good birds including two dozen Sandhill Cranes, and several calling Limpkins.  Black-necked Stilts were nesting and numerous.   Black-bellied Whistling Ducks were active and I was pleased to see a Least Bittern and a Belted Kingfisher. Had all of the waders, plus Anhingas, Ospreys, Common Moorhens, a Black-crowned Night-heron, a Chimney Swift, a trio of Northern Rough-winged Swallow and a Black Skimmer.  After thirty minutes it was time to move on.

The Mississippi Kite

The kite roost was located on Power Line Road which actually is the border between Hernando and Pasco Counties.  Found a lone Mississippi Kite excatly were the reports said they could be found.  It had started raining so I did not stay too long waiting for additional kites to show up.  Also located in the area were Swallow-tailed Kites, Red-tailed Hawks, a Red-shouldered Hawk, Tufted Titmice, Cattle Egrets, White Ibis, Blue Jays, Mourning Doves, both American and Fish Crows, Eastern Bluebirds, Cardinals, Grackles, Eastern Meadowlarks and four Southeastern American Kestrels. Missed on the burrowing owls as I was not sure which pasture they were in.

Had noticed signage for access to Withlocoochee State Forest, which I decided to explorer for any likely birding sites. Quite by accident I came to Rock Lake Road were I was going to turn around. But I noticed a little yellow bird in the live oaks and took the time try and identify it.  I, at first, thought it maybe an orchard oriole, but in fact I had a family of three Summer Tanagers. Then a Red-headed Woodpecker took off from the trees and I thought I had a glimpse of an acadian flycatcher when a small olive green bird with wing bars made a brief appearance, but not really sure.  Would have been a lifer.  In the same tree I found a Yellow-throated Vireo. Also encountered Carolina Wrens, Carolina Chickadees, Eastern Bluebird, and Eastern Towhee, Tufted Titmice, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Blue Jay and a calling Bobwhite. Not bad for a rest stop.

Black Terns at Gandy Beach

A Black Tern in breeding plumage

Royal Terns at Gandy Beach

Heading back toward home, I stopped at Lettuce Lake Park in Tampa with the idea that I could locate a prothonotary warbler as they do breed there. Trouble was I got soaking wet in a heavy rain storm.  Did not get the warbler, but did add Wild Turkeys, more Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Swallow-tailed Kites, Great Crested Flycatcher, a Roseate Spoonbill, Wood Storks, more Limpkins, Barn Swallows, more Tufted Titmice and Carolina Chickadee.  Also Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers, Cardinals, Ospreys and all the waders.

A Black Tern and a Royal Tern

From Lettuce Lake I headed toward St Petersberg to check out Gandy Beach. Here I located the first American Oystercatcher I had seen in some time.  Even better was a flock of about Least Terns, about a dozen Black Terns , several Laughing Gulls and a Sandwich Tern.. Was especially keen on locating the Black Terns. We also had a few Ruddy Turnstones and Semiplamated Plovers. It wasn't too cool when a guy in a big pick-up truck drove through the resting birds. But you are permited to park there.

Least Tern at Gandy Beach

Fort DeSoto Park was nearby so I made it my last stop.  Checked the Terra Verde ponds for anything interesting.  No ducks, but had five Pied-billed Grebes and more Least Terns.  In the park had Brown Pelicans, Great Blue Heron, Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets, Tricolored Herons Yellow-crowned Night-heron, a Red Shouldered Hawk, Gray Kingbird, Marbled Godwit, Black-bellied Plover, Wilson's Plover, Willets, Ruddy Turnstones, Short-billed Dowitchers, Laughing Gulls, Royal Terns, Black Skimmers Loggerhead Shrikes, Fish Crows and Brown-headed Cowbirds. Later while crossing the Sunshine Skyway Bridge sighted a Magnificent Frigatebird.

Got home about six pm, but had to check on the Burrowing Owl family off Lee Road and Domestic Road. Here I added the Burrowing Owls, Eastern Meadowlarks, Anhinga, Mottled ducks, and American Coot. 

My day's count was 80

Long-billed Curlew - A Visit to Fort DeSoto Park

Tuesday April 19th

Fort DeSoto Park can be a spring migration magnet. Last year I had a great experience there with rose-breasted grosbeak, indigo bunting, summer tanager, scarlet tanager, blackburian warbler, chestnut-sided warbler, yellow warbler, black-throated green warbler, black-and-white warbler, American redstart, eastern pewee, eastern kingbird, and nesting great horned owls.  But so far, for this migration the weather has been against Florida birders. The winds are pushing the migrants past us.

So, when I made a return visit Tuesday, I was hopeful but did not really expect anything exceptional.  Met with Bob Pelkey at dawn, who was wrapping up a three-day visit to the park. Bob reported the same dismissal migration activity.  So, he had concentrated his photography on the shorebirds.

Laughing Gulls in amour

Nesting has already begun here with plovers and oystercatchers and noted seeing Sandwich Terns and Laughing Gulls displaying as they pair off. Also seen was a lone Herring Gull, which Bob had observed just before my arrival, pick up a large clam, fly up and dropped the clam so that it broke open. The gull quickly ate his breakfast.  I had read on Birdbrains about herring gulls performing this method at Ft DeSoto.

Herring Gull, probably a first cycle

Black-bellied Plover

Black-bellied Plover

Long-billed Curlew and Willet

Long-billed Curlew

Whimbrel

American Oystercatcher

Laughing Gulls are still at it

Pair of Willets



Bob Pelkey



Other shore birds seen included Willets, Wilson's Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderlings, Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher, Black-bellied plovers, Least Terns, Royal Terns, Reddish Egrets, Red-breasted Merganser, Brown Pelicans and American Oystercatcher.  We also were successful in locating the resident Whimbrel and Long-billed Curlew. Both visited the lagoon at the same time. Bob finds it important to photograph the birds at eye level, so into the lagoon went, camera and all. He sat there to get the best possible shot.

Before leaving we also added a pair of Nanday Parakeets. And a stop at the Tierra Verde ponds we found Ruddy Duck, Lesser and Greater Scaup and Redheads, plus a couple more Nanday parakeets, several Least Terns, Laughing Gulls and Pied-billed Grebes. A couple of the male ruddy ducks were in breeding plumage with the white cheeks and bright blue bill.  Was surprised at the greater scaups. Spent a long time analyzing the head shapes on the two similar species. Bob again went in as far as was safe into the pond for that special shot.

Even though Bob had run out of battery power on his camera he wanted to see black-necked stilts, so we stopped at the Cockroach Bay Road mitigation ponds where we had several Black-necked Stilts, Long-billed Dowitchers, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Roseate Spoonbills, Red-winged Blackbirds, Coots, Moorhens, Blue-winged Teal, Mottled Ducks, Lesser Scaup, Pied-billed Grebe, Chimney Swifts, a Red-tailed Hawk and all the expected waders.  Included several Glossy Ibis which we took a bit of time trying to see if any were white-faces ibis.

From here it was time to head for home.  But I made just one more stop, at The Celery Fields in Sarasota, because of a report of a pair of female yellow-headed blackbirds. Did not see the blackbirds but did find most all of the same birds sited earlier with the addition of Western Sandpipers and a couple of Caspian Terns.  Even without the migrants, still had a good day.  By count was 70 plus birds.  can't complain

Common Goldeneye - A Visit to the Sarasota Celery Fields and Ft DeSoto

Wednesday January 12th

The day started out cold and windy.  Not always the best conditions as the smaller birds will tend to stay low and in the brush. But I took off anyway with the plans of checking out Babcock-Webb Wildlife Management Area in Charlotte County.  I would arrive a bit late to catch the red-cockaded woodpeckers at their nest holes. But a couple of hours of birding here would usually provided good results.  However, I should of checked the hunting schedule as I found the entrance blocked to force all visitors to the check-out station. So before paying the entrance fee, I elected to not bird here while hunters are present. 

 So I moved onto my next planned stop for the day with checking out the birding sights in Sarasota along Fruitful Road.

Sandhill Cranes at the Celery Fields 

My goal here were to find ruddy ducks at Ackerman Park, black-bellied whistling ducks at the Celery Fields wetlands and the common goldeneye at the Founders Club pond. The first stop was a drive through of the parking area for the library on Fruitville Road.  Was interesting in finding any monk parakeets here, but with the cold wind they would no doubt be sheltered somewhere less exposed.  Did find a Limpkin  and a Killdeer on the pond to the east of the library.

A Crane making its own observation of the wetlands

The lake at Ackerman Park held a number of Mottled Ducks, Lesser Scaups, Ring-necked Ducks, Pied-billed Grebes and a trio of Ruddy Ducks. A large flock of blackbirds consisting of Red-winged Blackbirds, Starlings, and both grackles were present . As well as lots of Fish Crows and Ring-billed Gulls. 

Then over to the nearby Celery Fields wetlands area. The development of the the wetlands appeared to be very successful. The numbers of wetland avian species was impressive. Sandhill Cranes were very numerous and several were found to be very comfortable to be in close association with the humans visiting here. I experienced a group of five of these birds that came as close as five feet without fear. I suspect that these particular birds were being feed somewhere, which is illegal in Florida. Was tempted to spook the birds to but some fear in them for their own well being, but that would be harassment and is also illegal.

A Lesser Scaup  the Common Goldeye at The Founder's Club pond

   Their had to be a couple of dozen sandhill cranes present and about a dozen Wood Storks.  Did not see any spoonbills at the time but the wetlands held a great many egrets, herons and ibis. Was very pleased to find a couple of Limpkins, a trio of Black-necked Stilts and a lone American Avocet and few Common Moorhen. Lots of shorebirds were present including Killdeer, Least Sandpipers, Dunlins, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs and Long-billed Dowitchers. If I had a scope I probably could of identified more of the shorebirds. My first goal here was to find black-belled whistling ducks, but I did not find any, but there were a great many American Coots, Lesser Scaups, Ring-necked Ducks and Mottled Ducks.  Also could add Pied-billed Grebes, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoverlers and Hooded Mergansers. A few Brown Pelicans, American White Pelicans, Anhigna, Double-crested Cormorants, Forster's Terns, Royal Terns, Laughing Gulls and Ring-billed Gulls were Present.  Had an immature Bald Eagle, lots of Vultures, a coule of American Kestrels and an Osprey. Missed were any northern harriers which I have seen here several times before. Also the last time I was here had a cooper's hawk dive onto a killdeer, but missed.



Next was to drive about five miles east on Fruitville road to the pond at the Founder's Club country club. Here I located the female Common Goldeye that has been present this winter. This species is rare south of the Florida panhandle.  The pond also held Lesser Scaup, Coots, Ring-necked Ducks, and Mottled Ducks.  In the past I have seen hooded mergansers and buffleheads here but not today.

A Common Loon seen from the pier at Ft DeSoto Park

The weather continued to be cold and windy.  These winds were very gusty as I later crossed the Tampa Skyline Bridge to reach Ft DeSota park on Mullet Island in Tampa Bay. The tides were very low in the bay as well. The birding was not very good because of the weather. Did see lots of Ring-billed Gulls, laughing Gulls, Brown Pelicans, and American White Pelicans. Located about ten Common Loons at various locations around the park.  A few Red-breasted Mergansers too.  May have had a couple of horned grebes, but they were so far out, I could not be absolutily sure. Had some Royal Terns, Sandwich Terns, Double-crested Cormorants, a couple of Reddish Egrets, a lone Wilet, and a  couple of Black-bellied Plovers. Was lucky to find a pair of American Oystercatchers. Because of the low tide I made an stab at locating a Spotted Sandpiper among the exposed mangrove roots and quickly found one, busy hunting for lunch




A Willet trying to stay out the day's strong winds, cold winds

 

Swamp Sparrow



White Ibis



Babcock-Webb and The Celery Fields
January 19th - Day #2 of Birding Vacation

Babcock-Webb WMA - I try to time my arrival at Babcock-Webb just at dawn so as to have the best opportunity to locate the Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers as they exit their holes. Today my timing was perfect as I arrived at the colony site on Oilwell Grade and found that the pair of RCW were already poking their heads out of their holes and calling to each other. Then in a burst each exits their home to begin a new day. At the next side trail I was lucky to get a Bachman's Sparrow and several Grasshopper Sparrows. Even had a sole Brown-headed Nuthatch working the pine trees here, were a fox squirrel was also busy constructing a nest. So within a half hour I had hits on all three of Babcock's big three - RCW, bachman's sparrow and the brown-headed nuthatch

Later I came onto a nice mixed flock of Yellow-Rumped and Pine Warblers, with Downy Woodpeckers. A bit further on had a repeat hit on an RCW and and another brown-headed nuthatch.
Lastly, I came across a few sparrows, which I at first took for chipping sparrows, which I had not seen before at Babcock-Webb, but are listed on the printed bird list. However, after reviewing my photos I believe I actually found Swamp Sparrows, which are not on the bird listing.
My list - Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Little Blue Heron, Green Heron, White Ibis, Wood Stork, Northern Harrier, Sandhill Crane, Mourning Dove, Common Ground-Dove, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Loggerhead Shrike, Blue Jay, Tree Swallow, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Pine Warbler, Palm Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Eastern Towhee, Bachman's Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Eastern Meadowlark, Common Grackle, Boat-tailed Grackle



Swamp Sparrow



Fruitville Road

Next headed up to Sarasota were I rechecked the pond on Fruitville Road were a female common goldeneye and a female bufflehead were located last month. They were not to be found. But there was a male scaup that was much larger than any of the other Lesser Scaups on hand and bases on the size I have concluded it was a Greater Scaup.
My list - Ring-necked Duck, Greater Scaup, Lesser Scaup, Hooded Merganser

The Celery Fields

Stopped at the nearby Celery Fields with the idea of locating Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks. The nearby ponds were loaded with American Coots, Moorhens, Blue-winged Teal and some Mottled Ducks. A Northern Harrier was working over the area and Palm Warblers were at home at the gazebo. The Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks were located far back on the shoreline of a larger lake and were confirmed as a pair rose up and flew closer to my location.

My list - Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Mottled Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Anhinga, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Northern Harrier, American Kestrel, Common Moorhen, American Coot, Laughing Gull, Loggerhead Shrike, Palm Warbler, Red-winged Blackbird

My count for the day - 49 species