North Florida Birding Trip

Saturday February 23rd

Day One

Bob Pelkey picked me up about three in the morning as we started a three birding trip up to the Florida Panhandle. I've wanted to bird the area for a long time, but logistics had not worked-out till Bob asked if I was interested in visiting St Marks. We expected to visit St Marks, Florida Caverns State Park and Apalachicola National Forest. January and February are the months to visit to search for wintering birds. Winter wrens, golden-crowned kinglets, brown creepers, horned lark, sprague's pipits American black duck snow geese white-faced ibis and rusty blackbirds are some of the wintering species targeted. We also have to leave south Florida to see most of the wintering sparrow species.

White-crowned Sparrow at LaChua Trail
Photo by Bob Pelkey

 

Our first stop was soon after dawn was in Gainesville. We visited the LaChua Trail in Payne's Prairie and a section of the nearby Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail. A flock of American Goldfinches greeted us as we entered the G-H Trail. We had targeted the Fox Sparrow which has been seen here lately. No doubt it was the same bird that wintered here last year. It wasn't present on our visit, but we did add Chipping Sparrow, Tufted Titmouse, Blue-headed Vireo, House Wren, Carolina Chickadee, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Pileated Woodpecker.

 

We moved onto the LaChua Trail were we targeted sparrows and the reported Grove-billed Ani. In previous visits I had added Harris's Sparrow,Whooping Crane and Snow Geese. This year we a good looks at White-crowned Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Sora, American Kestrel, Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, Mottled Duck, Pied-billed Grebe, Anhinga, Sandhill Cranes, American White Pelicans, Northern Harrier, Red-shouldered Hawk, House Wren, Sedge Wren, Glossy Ibis, White Ibis, American Coots, Common Gallinule, American and Fish Crows, American Bitterns, Bald Eagle, Lesser Yellowlegs, Yellow-rumped and Palm Warblers. Many very large gators were present but we missed the ani. Even though it had been seen earlier.

 

By early afternoon we had to leave as we still had several hours of traveling to reach St Marks tonight. The weather reports for the panhandle showed a lot of rain in our way for this trip. We hoped for the best Sunday.

 

With just a couple of hours left we made a stop at Bald Point State Park at Alligator Point, just west of St Marks. The weather was brisk, the tide was high, the water was choppy and fog obscured our vision out on the bay. Targets included sea ducks, loons and grebes.  Mostly wanted to see if any red-throated loons were present.

 

Sora found along the LaChua Trail
Photo by Bob Pelkey

Our stop at Sunrise Beach access only produced Willets and the parking lot was better. Here we added Eastern Towhee, American Goldfinch, a pair of FOS Purple Martins, Tufted Titmice, Gray Catbirds, Northern Mockingbirds Pine and Yellow-rumped Warblers. But we found the fishing dock area at the end of the road more fruitful. Here we had a lone Common Loon, Horned Grebe, Red-breasted Mergansers, Bufflehead, Black Scoter and Lesser Scaup. A pair of Bonaparte's Gulls made an appearance along the  usual gulls and terns.  A pair of Clapper Rails were heard in the salt grass and a large concentration of Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitchers, Sanderlings, Western Sandpipers and Ruddy Turnstones were gathered out of the wind. No red-throated loon.

 

We ended the day's birding here

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

Whoopers at LaChua Trail

Thursday January 20th



American Bittern along the LaChua Trail

 Held a one day winter birding trip to north Florida. Would have enjoyed a more expanded trip, like I did last year. But you can't always get what you want. Elected to return to the LaChua Trail at Payne's Prairie State Preserve, south of Gainesville. Good location for wintering cranes, sparrows and ducks. Lots of big gators too. After a four hour drive from Ft Myers, arrived about nine o'clock, found the weather to be nice.  Started out cool but comfortable.

One of the features at Paynes Prairie are the free roaming bison and horses present on the preserve. Had a trio of horses at the trail head and found a bison cow and calf trying to rest, some what concealed near the trail. As for birds, it was pretty quite.  The Sandhill Cranes were spread out and my not have number more than a hundred on this day. Luckily I did get to the see the Whooping Cranes. Three of them could be seen from the observation tower at the end of the trail.  Too far out for my photography though. I believe at least four of the whoopers are year round residents and are joined by some additional wintering cranes down from Wisconsin.

Bison - cow and calf resting

One disappointment at the observation tower was that there was virtually no water.  So no ducks.  In the distance something had spooked a concentration of a couple of hundred ducks. Could see them rise and settle back down, but were too far out to see more that silhouettes. The  waterway paralleling the trail was active with a lot of Common Moorhens and a few American Coots and Pied-billed Grebes. Again lots of gators.

Red-shouldered Hawk

Raptors were dominated by Red-shouldered Hawks. An American Kesteral was active at the Big Sink. and a Northern Harrier could be seen hunting the marsh. The sparrows were disappointing only a few Savannah Sparrows, a single White-crowned Sparrow and a Song Sparrow.  Dipped on vespers, swamp and white-throated sparrows.  Heard what could have been american pipets, but were not seen. Found a few Eastern Phoebes and Palm Warblers and all the usuall waders, including a juvenile Black-crowned Nightheron.  American Bitterns are usually an ease find here.

 Had some luck with a mixed flock near the parking lot as I was leaving which included Yellow-rumped Warblers, Blue Jay, White-eyed Vireo, Fish Crow, Tufted Titmouse, Gray Catbird, Carolina Wren and a Carolina Chickadee. Lots of Northern Cardinals

Red-shouldered Hawk at Lust Road

Next was to hit a couple of spots near Zellwood, by Lake Apopka, on the way home. First stop was on Ranch Road in Astatula. Here was one of my nemisis birds.  A Say's Phoebe which has wintered in the pastures located here for several years now. Say's are a rarety to Florida.  But so many people had commented on how easy it was to locate over the years.  Well I have stopped here several times, sometimes a two or three stops in a day without spotting the bird the past two winters. I have only had a brief sighting with all these attempts. Well today, it was sitting right out in the open acting like a flycatcher.  Hopping down to snatch a bug and zip back to its seat. Several Eastern Meadowlarks were present, but did not see any of the eastern bluebirds or scrub jays that are often observed here. I would have to add the I finally located an American Robin as well. My first and only so far for the season.

Western Kingbird on Lust Road

Then it was around the lake to Zellwood to check out the birds on Lust Road.  In the past western kingbirds were an easy find here and ash-throated flycatchers have been reported here as well.  I did luck into a trio of Western Kingbirds, more Savannah Sparrows and three soaring Red-tailed Hawks. Plus a young Red-shouldered Hawk. But no other flycatchers. Getting late, so time to  head for home.

American Redstart - Paynes Prairie

Paynes Prairie

September 6th - Labor Day

   I had been interested in locating a mississippi kite this summer, in part to tally up my annual list but to also hit on a quadfecta of kites found in Florida - snail kite, swallow-tailed kite, white-tailed kite and the mississippi kite.  Had not really been able to to travel to the northern half of Florida this summer, but this Labor Day weekend offered some time to try and find the missing kite in the Paynes Prairie State Park area south of Gainesville.  This would be crap shot, as the mississippi kites are mostly gone from Florida to winter in Texas by the start of September.  But it was not impossible as ebird reports have shown. These birds had been currently reported in the Paynes Prairie area as of August 29th.

Paynes Prairie deer

  

Being a four hour drive, I left home at 4am to try and arrive at the park's opening at 8 o'clock. Was met by a constant calling of hidden White-eyed Vireos and encountered a pair of white-tailed deer. Near the campgrounds by Lake Wauberg encountered a noisy mixed flock of Carolina Chickadees, Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers, Black-and-White Warblers and Northern Cardinals. There were more but the thick foliage did hamper the search. Down by the lake I did find Pileated Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-eyed Vireo, American Redstart, Yellow-throated Warbler, Fish Crows, a Green Heron, Great Blue Heron and Blue Jay.  No Kites.

One of Paynes Prairie's wild horses

Bolan Bluff Trail

A wild citrus, probably wild orange

An American Redstart

   Left the main park environment to walk the Bolen Bluff Trail a couple of miles north off US441. This is a popular trail for birders and a good location for sighting kites, acadian flycatchers and migrating warblers. The trail was busy with birders and no one I spoke with was encouraging on finding any kites today. But many were reporting good sightings like Kentucky warblers, blue-winged warblers, yellow-billed cuckoos, acadian flycatchers, prairie warbler, yellow warbler and waterthrushes.  I dipped on all of these. I was successful with locating White-eyed Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, many Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Blue Jay, Northern Parula, Blackburnian Warblers (3 males), Pine Warbler, Black-and-White Warbler, American Redstart, Ovenbird, many Northern Cardinals and an Indigo Bunting. But again no kites.  I did find a couple of the wild horses, that along with a small herd of bison, were released to roam the park.

   I had planned on hitting the LaChua Trail next, which is located at the northern side of the park, but I was very tired from a long day.  So I headed for home instead. The past two years in January I visited the LaChua Trail and had great success with cranes and and sparrows. I '09 I was lucky to score on the pair of Whooping Cranes that do live on the prairie as they mingled with the thousands of sandhill cranes that were wintering there that winter. The whoopers are a part of the flock of birds being reintroduced as part of a permanent, non-migrating population of cranes in Florida. Was pleasantly suprised to view a flock of Snow Geese fly in to graze with the many cranes.  The snow geese were LIFERS. I later read reports on the these geese and that one was a Ross's Goose.  A review of my photos of the geese shows the Ross's Goose.  A LIFER.  Another lifer found that day was the Harris's Sparrow that was my target for the day. This sparrow was being reported on the Rare Florida postings and was only the second recorded sighting in Alachua County.

   My 2010 visitation was was much less interesting as it was lacking the thousands of cranes. Best birds of that day were probably the long-billed dowitchers, a flock of turkeys and a pair of American bitterns.
   I will return again this next summer in search of the kites.

Tundra Swans
Payne’s Prairie to New Smyrna Dunes
January 22nd - Day #4

Payne’s Prairie -
 On day four of my birding vacation I arrived about 8:00am at the LaChua Trail in Payne’s Prairie Preserve, south of Gainesville, Florida. Had earlier started my day with a Carolina Wren and a flock of American White Pelicans flying over the hotel parking in town, which I took as a good omen for the trip.

We had lived in Gainesville back in the 80s when I was the cafeteria manager at the nearby Nationwide Insurance regional offices. At that time I was too busy with work and tending to my growing family for birding. In fact I was just starting up my interest in family history research which did eat up my spare time. So now I am back to check out a great birding site.

Back in January 2009 was, in fact, my first visit to the LaChua Trail, which is very impressive. Had been attracted here by Florida Rare Bird Alerts to a Harris’s Sparrow, very rare in Florida, and of the presence of a pair of Whooping Cranes. On that visit I did score on the Harris’s Sparrow and on the Whooping Cranes. Both lifers.

The whoopers were among several thousand Sandhill Cranes wintering on the prairie. They were adorned with tags and telemetry, as they were a part of the flock of birds that wildlife management are trying to reestablish to Florida. This status negates their qualifying as ABA countable at this time, but I had to see them in the wild and they are now on my lists. Technically, I need to look for them in Texas on their wintering grounds or at the Platte River during migration. But I don’t live over there, I live here.

A surprise last year was the arrival of a flock of Snow Geese. Very unusual in Florida. I witnessed their arrival and was able to get a photograph as they grazed among the cranes. Several days later I noticed remarks on the Birdbrains message board about these same geese and that in fact one of them was a rarer Ross’s Goose. A review of my photos showed that I had a photo of the bird. Cool! Two new lifers. Plus I was able to see one of the resident bison, that lives on the prairie along with a herd of wild horses.

My 2009 list - Snow Goose, Ross's Goose

This year was different. The thousands of cranes, including the whoopers were not on-hand this day. Did find about thirty Sandhill Cranes. Also counted well over a hundred large, some very large, alligators warming themselves in the sun along the trail on this chilly morning. Got five sparrows including Field, Chipping, Vesper, Savannah and White-Crowned Sparrows. Found four ducks including Mottled Ducks, Wood Ducks, Northern Shovelers and Blue-winged Teal. Other interesting sightings included Stilted Sandpipers, Merlin (supposed to be very unusual here), Northern Harrier, Eastern Towhee and an American Bittern. Plus a fly-over of Long-Billed Dowitchers.

My 2010 list - Wood Duck, Mottled Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Wild Turkey, American White Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, American Bittern, Great Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Cattle Egret, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Wood Stork, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Northern Harrier, Red-shouldered Hawk, Merlin, Common Moorhen, American Coot, Sandhill Crane, Killdeer, Greater Yellowlegs, Stilt Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, Eastern Phoebe, Blue Jay, American Crow, Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Wren, House Wren, Northern Mockingbird, Palm Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Eastern Towhee, Chipping Sparrow, Field Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird , Northern Shoveler, Pied-billed Grebe, American Bittern, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Little Blue Heron, Cattle Egret, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier, Red-shouldered Hawk, Merlin, Common Moorhen, American Coot, Sandhill Crane, Whooping Crane, Killdeer, Stilt Sandpiper, Eastern Phoebe, Loggerhead Shrike, Blue Jay, House Wren, Northern Mockingbird, Palm Warbler, Chipping Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Harris's Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Boat-tailed Grackle

My list - Tundra Swan, Pied-billed Grebe, Merlin, Loggerhead Shrike, Eastern Meadowlark Bartram Farm, St John’s CountyNext was about an hours drive east toward St Augustine for a pair of juvenile Tundra Swans wintering on the Bartram Farm development along CR13A in St John’s County. This is an extremely southern location for this species and the initial observation reported that original flock was of twenty birds. For some reason these two elected to stay put, which is fine with me as I had been considering a trip to South Carolina to look for wintering swans. Should make the trip someday. Following the Florida Rare Bird Alert directions I drove right up the swans. They were standing on the shore of the lake right next to the roadway. Pretty cool!! Another lifer.

My list - Northern Gannet, Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Willet, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Laughing Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Black Skimmer, Parasitic Jaeger
Gamble Rodgers recreation Area
Next, onto the Atlantic Ocean. Arrived at Flagler Beach about 2:00pm and was amazed by the hundreds of Northern Gannets feeding off the beach. Checked in at the Gamble Rodgers park to look for the reported common eider that had been enjoying this stretch of beach. It was a no-show during my visit, but there was still a good show to watch. The Northern Gannets continued feeding and I had a lifer appear when a dark-morphed Parasitic Jaeger flew in, harassing a gull. With it getting late, I passed on the Florida scrub jays and marsh wrens to be found in the habitat on the western side of A1A at Gamble Rodgers park 

New Smyrna Beach
My last stop for the day was at New Smyrna Beach at the Ponce Inlet in Volusia County. Arrived about 4:00pm, so I hurried along the boardwalk toward the rock jetty for my target. Ponce Inlet is about the most southerly location to reliably locate wintering Purple Sandpipers. I did find a pair of these birds here last year and in a recent email request about them with local Ponce Inlet birding expert, Michael Brothers, a reported recent survey found a pair on the Smyrna Jetty. They prefer rocky shorelines, or rocky jetties and are often in the company of ruddy turnstones.

I attempted to walk along the boulders making up the jetty, but my shoes were too slick for the slippery rock. About had a serious spill, much for the entertainment for the locals. I did get my tick on the Purple Sandpiper, but it was too far out for my camera. So I’ve include a shot from last year. As I was heading out the Northern Gannets arrived at the inlet and were actively feeding. Cool!!.

My list - Northern Gannet, Brown Pelican, Snowy Egret, Willet, Ruddy Turnstone, Purple Sandpiper, Laughing Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Black Skimmer, Eastern Phoebe, Yellow-rumped Warbler
 

Whooping Crane with crowd of Sandhill Cranes from January 23, 2009


A Ross's and Snow Geese grazing with the cranes at Paynes Prairie January 23, 2009



Alligator sunning along side LaChua Trail - 2010

Flock of Turkeys along LaChua Trail in the early morning - 2010

Purple Sandpiper on the jetty at New Smyrna Beach in 2009

Pair of juvenile Tundra Swans at bartram farm in St John's County - 2010

A trio of Ruddy Turnstones on the Jetty at New Smyrna Beach - 2010

Count for the day was 59