Merritt Island NWR

Wednesday, February 3rd

Day 3

Lifeguard Station at Ponce Inlet

Day three, on this birding vacation, was supposed to be spent at Florida Caverns State Park near Marianna, plus searching the barren cotton and peanut fields for horned larks and such. But thunderstorms are expected, so we're skipping this day's scheduled venues and heading over to the Atlantic Coast a day early.

A young Great Black-back Gull at Ponce

So we left Tallahassee for the long drive toward Ormond Beach for some sea watching. At a location at Gamble Roger State Park we checked the skies for sea birds and Bob did point out that the winds weren't good for us.  

Was able to spot a few Northern Gannets and Brown Pelicans off shore. I've been lucky in the past  to witness hundreds of gannets as well passing jaegers and sea ducks at this location.  On the beach were a few gulls and terns including Herring, Ring-billed and Laughing Gulls, plus Royal, Sandwich and Forster's Terns and Black Skimmers. 

After this short stop at the beach, we moved onto Ponce Point Lighthouse Park. Most winters this location is one of two or three venues in Florida to find Purple Sandpipers. Today the the winds a blowing hard and the surf is crashing. The are actually people trying to surf. 

Purple Sandpiper

Ruddy Turnstone

Ponce Lighthouse

We were able to easily locate and photograph the Purple Sandpiper, as well as a few other shore birds and gulls. Resident Gopher Tortoises also gave us a show.

This Tortoise was very aggressive with another tortoise and did attach it

Finally, we moved onto Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to see if any waterfowl could be seen. But just as we saw with the Canada Geese in Tallahassee and the ponds at St Marks, the waters were bare of ducks. We estimated a count of 5000 American Coots along the Black Point Wildlife Drive and the along the Peacock Pocket Road. As for ducks we only counted twenty-four Blue-winged Teal, three Shovelers, five Lesser Scaups and a pair of Mottled Ducks. A review of e-Bird records shows that the waterfowl usually remain well into March and later. However its apparent  that they have left early to return North. No doubt due to the high water levels  here and a very mild winter. 

Great Blue Heron

Horned Grebe

Wood Stork

Other bird like observed included lots of the expected waders including over twenty Rosette Spoonbills and Reddish Egrets, But not many shorebirds - Dunlin, Sanderlings, Least Sandpipers and Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs. Didn't see any American Avocets.  Other birds included Common Gallinule, Caspian, Royal and Forster's Terns, Ringed-billed Gulls, Pied-billed and Horned Grebes, a Wild Turkey, Ospreys, Northern Harrier and Bald Eagle

Our exit from Merritt Island ended the birding vacation. We ended up cutting two full days out of trip, mostly due to the weather. Just the same we had about 125 species and three Lifers for me. All Good.

Trip Count ( 125) 

Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Wood Duck, Mottled duck, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Red-breasted Merganser, Wild Turkey, Common Loon, Pied-billed Grebe, Horned Grebe, Wood Stork, Northern Gannet, Double-crested Cormorant, Anhinga, American White Pelican, Brown Pelican, Sandhill Crane, American Bittern, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Reddish Egret, Cattle Egret, Black-crowned Night-heron, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Northern Harrier, Bald eagle, Red-shouldered Hawk, Clapper Rail, Sora, Purple Gallinule, Common Gallinule, American Coot, Limpkin, Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, Greater Yellowlegs, Willet, Lesser Willet, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Dunlin, Purple Sandpiper, Least sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, Wilson's Snipe, Laughing Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Caspian Tern, Forster's Tern, Sandwich Tern, Black Skimmer, Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Common Ground-Dove, Mourning Dove, Great Horned Owl, Vaux's Swift, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Rufous Hummingbird. Calliope Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, American Kestrel,  Eastern Phoebe, Vermilion Flycatcher, Loggerhead Shrike, White-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, American crow, Fish Crow, Tree Swallow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, House Wren, Sedge Wren, Marsh Wren, Carolina Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Eastern Bluebird, Hermit Thrush, American Robin, Northern Mockingbird, Eurasian Starling, American Pipit, Cedar Waxwing, Orange-crowned Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Palm Warbler, Pine Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Chipping Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern Meadowlark, Boat-tailed Grackle, Common Grackle, Baltimore Oriole, House Finch, Pine Siskin, American Goldfinch and House Sparrow

Black Scoters

Monday, January 18, 2015

Today I spent the morning birding on Ft Myers Beach. I was hoping to locate some Black Scoters as well as a reported Surf Scoter being seen along the beach.

First stop was at Bowditch Point Park, located at the north end of the island. Not much was happening here, but a few gulls and cormorants. Did see a Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Ring-billed Gull

This Gopher Tortoise resides near the parking lot at Bowditch Point Park

Next was a very productive stop at Carlos Point at the south end of the island. Yesterday's violent storm had washed the beach with a large quantity of sea life including sea urchins, sea stars, horseshoe crabs,jellyfish, sponges, sand dollars and a lot of shells.  All of this was a banquet for the shorebirds, including Willets, American Oystercatchers, Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderlings, Black-bellied Plovers, Snowy Plovers and more. Also found a Great Black-backed Gull and a small number of Ringed-billed and Laughing Gulls, plus some Royal Terns.  A flock of Black Skimmers passed by of shore and inshore I did see a trio of Black Scoters. I didn't spot the surf scoter and also dipped on common loon, horned grebe, and frigatebirds.

Great Black-backed Gull

American Oystercatcher

This Oystercatcher is sporting three leg bands while dining on sea urchin
This bird, designated as DG(XX), was banded as a chick in June, 2010 in Cape Hatteras, N. C.
 Each year it has been wintering at Little Estero Lagoon, Ft Myers Beach, but returns each spring to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
 In 2015 it successfully fledged a chick, with oystercatcher DG(AL) at Cape Lookout National Seashore. Data provided by the American Oystercatcher Band Database 

Snowy Plover with lunch

Ruddy Turnstone

Snowy Egret

Male Black Scoter

Sea Urchin and Welk

Sea Stars

Sponge

A Fighting Conch shell

Link - Shell Indentification

Fox Sparrow - Day 2 of Central Florida Trip

Thursday February 16th

Today was a productive day with two lifers and other good birds. Had spent the evening in Gainesville so I could get an early start on the LaChua Trail in Payne's Prairie. But first I stopped at the location  along the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail for the much heralded Fox Sparrow. I didn't locate the sparrow, but did find Carolina Chickadee, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Tufted Titmouse, Gray Catbird, Eastern Bluebird, Chipping Sparrow and Cardinals. But I chanced to met Andy Kratter, who has been monitoring the sparrow and keeping the feeder supplied.  He shared that the sparrow had not been seen in a couple days and detailed locations along Newnan's Lake to look for good birds I was interested in.

A very poor photo of the Fox Sparrow

Shortly I was on the nearby LaChua Trail and was very disappointed. This location has been severely effected by a very dry winter. Much of the water had dried up, so no bitterns or ducks. Also much of the dried brush had been removed, no doubt due to fire danger. So no sparrows. 

On my first visit here in January of 2009 was lucky with several sparrow species including a rare-to- Florida Harris' Sparrow, Whooping Cranes, thousands of Sandhill Cranes, and Snow Geese. The green areas near the boardwalk did have a flock of Savannah Sparrows, Downy Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Northern Harrier, White-eyed Vireo and Eastern Phoebe. Lots of huge gaters were still present around the big hole. About 130 Sandhill Cranes had been seen in-flight.  

Did have a conversation with some fellas who were searching for the bisons.  They had been entrusted to remove for relocation, a few of the bachelor males who were causing some concerns. But they were not seen in this area at the time.

Before leaving the area I returned to the Fox Sparrow spot and this time was successful with the sparrow plus about a dozen Chipping Sparrows.

Black Skimmers and Gulls near Flagler Beach

Next stop was a couple of spots along Newnan's Lake. Had several Bald Eagles, American White Pelicans, Forsters Terns, Ring-billed Gulls, a Bonaparte's Gull, Long-billed Dowitchers, Greater Yellowlegs, Belted Kingfishers, Swamp Sparrows, Palm Warbler and Yellow-rumped Warbler.  Ran into a local birder searching for the male wilson's warbler wintering here. He confirmed that rusty blackbirds can be located in the Magnolia Parke neighborhood in Gainesville. But I did not have enough time today.

From Gainesville I drove to the east coast to scope for shore birds and Gulls. At Rodger Gamble State park near Flagler Beach I was able to watch a large number of Northern Gannets as they dove into the Atlantic for a meal. Made several stops along Highway 1A1 to check on any interesting birds. Did see the expected Ring-billed Gulls, Laughing Gulls, Black Skimmers, Brown Pelicans, Royal Terns, Sanderlings, Ruddy Turnstones and Willets.

Second-Cycle Glaucous Gull



Greater Black-backed Gull



Herring Gull

 Reached Frank Reardon park in Daytona Beach close to dusk,  were I spent some time checking through the thousands of gulls resting here.  Did suceed in locating Greater and Lesser Black-backed Gulls among all the Herring, Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls. Also located a very large, basically white gull with pink legs and bill.  Luckily I ran into Michael Brothers, who was birding the beach as well.  Mr Brother is director of the Marine Science Center in Ponce Inlet and was  the sponcer of the pelagic trip I was on back in September. He confirmed that  my large gull was a second-cycle Glaucous Gull - LIFER and gave me some tips on better identifing the differnt cycles of the herring and black-backed gulls. We also spotted a Parasitic Jaeger flying in off the ocean. and across the beach.

A good day!!

Mammal of the Day - a Fox Squirrel at Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail