Merritt Island NWR & Tampa Bay

Monday February 25th


North Florida Trip - Day 3

Northern Shoveler seen on Blackpoint Drive
Photo by Bob Pelkey

Bob Pelkey and I arrived at Merritt Island NWR about 8:15 and headed directly to the Blackpoint Drive. Here we were immediately greeted by a busy crowd of waders including Roseate Spoonbills and Wood Storks feeding behind the pay station. (MINWR is no longer a free venue). The first few stops were active with Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs, more waders including Reddish Egrets. Noted a few Hooded Mergansers as well.

 

As Bob concentrated on his birding photography, I took the time to walk the road toward stop #3, which is were a cinnamon teal has been wintering. I dipped on the cinnamon teal but was able to observe a Sora, plus diving Forster's Terns, Northern Shovelers, Lesser Scaups, at least one Greater Scaup, Reddish Egret, a few Blue-winged Teal and American Coots.

Lesser Scaup in Flight along the Blackpoint Drive
Photo by Bob Pelkey

 

The stops were peeps and shore birds were expected only offered  more yellowlegs. Did have a hand full of gulls and terns though. Caspian, Forster's and Royal Terns plus Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls and a lone Black Skimmer

 

Stop #7 is the place for waterfowl. Most of the ducks were in the distance and the lighting was terrible. Mostly had Lesser Scaups and Coots. American Wigeons could be spotted as well. However it was very impossible to try to discern any eurasian wigeons in the poor light.

A refuge employee put us onto the Peacock Pocket Road, so we headed there next. Here we finally a large concentration of American Avocets, plus Long-billed Dowitchers, Black-bellied Plovers, lots of Coots, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shovelers, Lesser Scaups, a few Green-winged Teal and a lone Northern Pintail. We again dipped on another cinnamon teal often seen here.

Northern Pintail, Lesser Scaup and Blue-winged Teal along the Peacock Pocket Road
Photo by Bob Pelkey

 

I talked Bob into making a run along Bio Lab Road as he was anxious to move on to the Tamps Bay Sunshine Skyline Bridge to search for the Black-legged Kittiwake wintering at the fishing pier. So after a pit stop at the refuge headquarters, were a beautiful male Painted Bunting entertained the visitors at the feeders, we headed over to Bio Lab Road.

Bio Lab was kind of dissapppointing. We did find several shore birds including Spotted Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plover, Short-billed Dowitchers, Dunlins, Willets, soaring American White Pelicans and swimming Red-breasted Mergansers. On another fresh-water pond we added more Hooded Mergansers.

From here we made the drive across the state back to the Gulf of Mexico to seek the Kittewake. Our stop was at the South Fishing Pier of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. We arrived with about an hour of sun light left for the day and actually thought we had missed our target. So as we were heading back to the car the Black-legged Kittewake was finally spotted. It spent most of the time we were there resting on the closed off section of the old bridge. So Bob got his shots.  When my daughter and I visited here earlier in February, Common Loons were everywhere and I I had a very unsatisfying look at what could have been a razorbill. So no razorbill today, but I managed to spot a group of five loons swimming toward the new bridge. Other birds using the fishing pier included Browm Pelicans, Snowy and Great Egrets, Ruddy Turnstones, lots of Rock Pigeons, Royal, Sandwich and Foster's Terns, Herring, Ring-billed and Laughing Gulls.

As the sun set we headed back to Ft Myers to end our three day road trip. It was a very good trip. Bob landed a lot of Lifers and took a few thousand pics. We did dip in virtually ever speciality I had targeted, but that just makes it necessary to plan a return to the panhandle next year.



Trip List (126) -

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Mottled Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Canvasback, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Greater Scaup, Lesser Scaup, Black Scoter, Bufflehead,  Hooded Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Common Loon, Pied-billed Grebe, Horned Grebe, Wood Stork, 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, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Northern Harrier, Cooper's Hawk, Bald Eagle, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Clapper Rail, Virginia Rail, Sora, Common Gallinule, American Coot, Sandhill Crane, Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, American Avocet, Spotted Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, Willet, Lesser Yellowlegs, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Western Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher, Long-billed  Dowitcher, Black-legged Kittiwake, Bonaparte's Gull, Laughing Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Caspian Tern, Forster's Tern, Royal Tern, Sandwich Tern, Black Skimmer, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Common Ground-Dove, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, American Kestrel, Eastern Phoebe, Loggerhead Shrike, White-eyed Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo, Blue Jay, American Crow, Fish Crow, Purple Martin, Tree Swallow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Brown-headed Nuthatch, House Wren, Sedge Wren, Carolina Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Common Yellowthroat, Palm Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Eastern Towhee, Chipping Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Painted Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Boat-tailed Grackle and American Goldfinch

A Weekend of Twitching.

Saturday February 9th

Come each winter we get a handfull of a few interesting birds that stop here instead of their normal wintering grounds. We have a lone Says Phoebe that has wintered in the same pasture in Astutle, in central Florida for the past six seasons. We'll get a scattering of Vermilion Flycatchers, Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and Western Kingbirds around the state. A few Swanson's Hawks too. A pair of Caisson's Kingbirds, a Tropical Kingbird and a lone Gray Kingbird are wintering at STA5, south of Clewiston. And near Homestead we have we have a Lesser Nighthawks, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Ash-throated Flycatcher, a few Least Flycatchers, Tropical Kingbird, Western Kingbirds and Vermilion Kingbirds. On Friday I headed out on to Lucky Hammock to search for them.

But on Thursday my daughter and I did twitch after a pair of Black-legged Kittiwakes in Tampa Bay.  These are very rare in our state and being so close to ft Myers we had to take shot at finding them ourselves. I started the day with birding at Six-Mile Cypress Preserve with the idea of locating a Red-crowned Kinglet or a Black-throated Green Warbler. I did locate the warbler and lots of Palm Warblers and Yellow-rumped Warblers, a couple of nice Pileated Woodpeckers, a Blue-headed Vireo and the other usual suspects.

After my daughter had wrapped up her work at the Humane Society we headed up to The Skyline Bridge at Tampa Bay, were the Kittiwakes have seen found at the north end of the South Fishing Pier. Upon our arrival a couple of photographs put us onto one of the Black-legged Kittiwakes, LIFER!!. Common Loons were numerous as well as Laughing Gulls, Ruddy Turnstones, Brown Pelicans, plus Ring-billed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Cormorants, Snowy Egrets and Rock Pigeons. 

Afterwards we crossed the bridge and checked the ponds at Terra Verdi were we added Redheads (not as many as I had expected), Northern Shovelers, a few Lesser Scaups,  Ring-necked Ducks, American Coots, Common Gallinule and a female Canvasback, a female Ruddy Duck and a lone Red-breasted Merganser.

On our way home we stopped at the Celery Fields just before dark. Here we added an American Bittern, a pair of Black-crowned Nigh-herons, Blue-wing Teal, Common Gallinule, tons of Starlings. Had hoped for a sora or king rail, but we did see the Barn Owl as it left its roost at dusk. 

Vermilion Flycatcher - photo by Bob Pelkey

Friday morning I was on the road by four in the morning with the idea of arriving at the Everglades National Park before sunrise with idea of finding Lesser Nighthawks and Eastern Whip-poor-wills.  Did arrive too late but did have some good birds at Lucky Hammock and The Annex. Here I did find lots of Gray Catbirds and Palm Warblers.  But I also added an Ash-throated Flycatcher, a vocal Brown-crested Flycatcher, a Least Flycatcher, a Brown Thrasher, Great Crested Flycatcher, Savannah Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow, Northern harrier, Northern Parula, House  Wrens, Eastern Meadowlarks, Common Yellowthroats,  and a White-eyed Vireo. 

 Before I moved on from The Annex I met a couple of fellas heading into the brush in search of Burmese Pythons as a part of the current Python Roundup sponsored by National Park Service. They were quite colorful and offered interesting stories on their captures including photos. They claim to have already caught several including a huge 12 foot female, which is destined to be used as a Judas snake.

At nearby C-111 canal, I added a beautiful male Vermilion Flycatcher, a pair of Western Kingbirds, a Tropical Kingbird and a Cave Swallow hanging with a flock of Tree Swallows. The Brown-headed Cowbirds were scanned carefully, trying to locate any Shiny Cowbirds roosting with them. No Shiny Cowbirds and other target species missed here included Short-tailed Hawk, White-tailed Kite, Swanson's Hawk 

Egyptian Geese

From here I checked out the Castellow Hammock park in Redlands were I got a pair of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds  a Rufus Hummingbird, White-winged Doves, Eurasian Collared Doves, and a female Painted Buntting

The Kendall Baptist Hospital campus is a popular spot to look for some of the more exotic species. Today I could only find a few Mitre Parakeets. Often find much large numbers and other parrot species as well. Was pretty quite today. I did see a family group of three Egyptian Geese that have taken up residence at the lake. Did spend some time investigating the neighborhood across from the hospital looking for Red-whiskered Bulbuls. After striking out here I decided it was time to head for home.

It was a good trip. Hope to return soon.

Mitre Parakeets