Chasing Birds - North Florida Day One

 Sunday January 24th

Recently made my annual trip to North Florida and the Panhandle. Spent four days checking out birding Hot Spots including The Celery Fields, Fort De Soto Park, Sweetwater Wetlands, Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail, St Marks NWR, Lake Jackson Mounds State Par, Crowder Landing, Torreya State Park and Paynes Prairie State Park. Usually like to include Florida Caverns State Park, but most of the property remains off limits from damage from Hurricane Michael over two years ago

Emu -
lives at the Big Cat Habitat & Gulf Coast Sanctuary adjacent to the Celery Fields

Day 1 - Saturday

Purple Martins taking up residence at the martin house at The Celery Fields

First stop was a short visit at The Celery Fields in Sarasota County. Some of the birds observed included the recently arrived Purple Martins, plus Blue-winged Teal, Long-billed Dowitchers, Least Sandpipers, Nanday Parakeets, Least Sandpipers, Northern Harriers, Bald eagles, Lesser Yellowlegs, Roseate Spoonbills and Brown-headed Cowbirds. Dipped on any rails, bitterns, purple gallinules etc.

Red-breasted Merganser seen at the fishing pier at Fort De Soto Park

From Sarasota traveled to Tampa Bay. At the rest stop stop at he north end of the Skyline bridge was able to add a couple of hundred Black Skimmers, plus my FOY sighting of a Common Loon.  Several Red-breasted Mergansers and Great Egrets were present.

Forster's Tern at Fort De Soto Park

Next was a stop at Fort De Soto Park, which sits in Tampa Bay. Was here to observe sea ducks, shore birds and such. Just before reaching the park, checked the Terra Verdi Ponds which were loaded with hundreds of Lesser Scaup and Redhead ducks. Began birding at the North Beach at Fort De Soto. Some of the birds here included Wilson's Plover, Black-bellied Plover, Sanderlings, Semipalmated Plovers, Short-billed Dowitchers, Dunlins, Ruddy Turnstones, Ring-billed Gulls and various wading birds.

Whimbrel seen at the Fishing Pier

Left this spot to check the two fishing piers for any scoters, loons or horned grebes. ended up with four Common Loons, but no scoters or grebes. Did have well over a hundred Laughing Gulls, plus Ring-billed Gulls, Herring Gull, Royal, Sandwich and Forster's Terns. Had nice looks at a pair of Whimbrels. Also had more Red-breasted Mergansers, American White & Brown Pelicans, Cormorants, Osprey and Palm Warblers.

Black-bellied Plover at the Fishing Pier

Wrapped up the in Gainesville. First checked out any activity along the Gainesville-Hawthorn Trail. This now paved, but former railroad line was wayyy to popular on this Saturday afternoon, for any serious birding. The traffic on the path was terrible, with skate boarders, cyclists, runners and people using transport I hadn't seen before. In the past I had seen chipping sparrows, cedar waxwings, ruby-crowned kinglets, Carolina chickadees and more. But not today.

Armadillo rooting for dinner
 at Sweetwater Wetland

Last stop was the Sweetwater Wetlands. Arrived here close to closing and that was fine.  Cause the Rusty Blackbirds come into roost just at sunset. Before getting to the rusty blackbird stack-out spot, spent time looking for any other interesting birds. Some of these included Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Buffleheads, Sora, and a Merlin bomb a flock of roosting cowbirds.

The Park Ranger set me up on the spot to wait for the rustys to arrive and as I was waiting I noticed a group of birds  scanning and scoping the marsh nearby and suspected that they were also waiting on the rustys to arrive. Turns out they were friends of mine from home. Dave and Tammy McQuade had met up with Eary and Jennifer Warren and their two kids in Gainesville to look for the Rusty Blackbirds and a Calliope Hummingbird.  The Warrens had driven up from Cape Coral and the McQuades' were wrapping up a very successful cross-country birding trip. 

Bufflehead at Sweetwater Wetlands

Got to see the Rusty Blackbirds, about 60 of them. So I was now done for the day, with another long day tomorrow.

Pied-billed Grebe at Sweetwater Wetlands

Silhouette of a Rusty Blackbird.  Best I could get in the fading light

Lake Apopka

Friday January 17th

Heading home today from the Panhandle. Did make a side trip to Lake Apopka to check out the North Shore Wildlife Drive. Had visited last month and had some good sightings like the Ash-throated flycatcher.

Ring-necked duck and American Coot

But today, a great many people have also arrived to enjoy the day, the birds and photography.  Its much more crowded  on the drive than last month. The first the first mile or so was very busy.

At one point I stopped and asked some ladies what they were doing with a Muscovy Duck. Muscovy ducks are not commonly seen here and the ladies were concerned that the bird was a lost pet.  Especially as was kept approaching. No doubt it was used to being feed. They were trying to capture the it because they believed that it wasn't going to survive in the wild. My advise was to leave it alone.  It'll be alright.  Don't know what became of the situation after I left.

Fulvous Whistling Duck

American Coot

Lots of ducks today, but like at St Marks, the counts seemed lower. Fulvous Whistling Ducks, Blue-winged Teal, Ring-necked Ducks, Lesser Scaup and a Northern Shoveler.  Lots of American Coots, Pied-billed Coots, Anhingas, Common Gallinules, Cormorants, White & Glossy Ibis and the expected waders.  Ospreys, Northern Harriers, Red-shouldered Hawks and a Peregrine Falcon too.

Made a short visit. Still had three hours of driving to get home and the crowds were annoying.

Blue-winged Teal

Best Look I had of this Northern Shoveler

Pied-billed Grebe

Ring-necked Duck

Common Gallinule

gator

St Marks National Wildlife Refue

Wednesday January 15th

There is a Flamingo, to be seen at St Marks National Wildlife Refuge. This single bird must not mind being the sole representative for its species in North Florida.  Its been here off and on for over a year now.  Usually flamingos are found further south and not that often even in south Florida.

Pied-billed Grebe

I had arrived this morning about 7 am. Its still dark and very foggy and I'm not the first on site. As dawn breaks a small crowd has gathered at the East River Pool over look waiting for the fog to clear. Unfortunately it would clear up till around 10 o'clock.  We had some nice birding the location as we waited. The beautiful male Vermilion Flycatcher was active in the area.  We also had King and Virginia Rails, Wilson's Snipes, Greater Yellowlegs, Savannah and Song Sparrows, Orange-crowned and Yellow-rumped Warblers.

Its a bit foggy for the Vermilion Flycatcher

Barred Owl

Relocated to the Lighthouse around 9 am.  The fog seemed to be getting thicker. Checked out the ponds and lakes. Had a single Glossy Ibis, which had to be checked for red eyes.  Which it didn't have. The waterfowl appeared to be diminishing in variety and counts. Still we have birds. American Widgeons, Gadwalls, Hooded Mergansers, Red-breasted Mergansers, Lesser Scaup, canvasbacks, Redhead, Buffleheads, Common Goldeneye, Pied-billed Grebes, Anhingas Common Loon.  Brown pelicans, Cormorants, Ruddy Turnstones, Willets, Ring-billed Gulls, Forster's Terns too.

Got the word that that the Flamingo could now be spotted after the fog had lifted.  Quickly returned to East River Pool.  It was pretty far off. Too far away for my camera but that red plumage really sticks out.

Song Sparrow

Next up was a search for a henslows sparrow at the helapad location. I joined with Charlie Bostwick and his wife for a sparrow walk. We had Marsh and Sedge Wrens and a Lincoln's Sparrow. I didn't get the henslow, but Charlie heard it. The pine forest here also yielded Eastern Towhee, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Pine Warbler, Great Horned Owl and-bellied Woodpeckers 

Didn't see everthing on my list. But not a bad day

Fiddler Crab

Green Anole

Queen Butterfly feeding on Tropical Milkweed

Basking Gator

Atamasco Lily

Glossy Ibis

Road Trip

Sunday December 15th

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Its been awhile since I've been able to go on a birding road trip.  But this weekend I headed up to Lake Apopka and Gainesville looking for wintering Sparrows and Waterfowl.

Fulvous Whistling Ducks

Ash-throated flycatcher 

 Arrived on Friday morning at the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive to look for interesting waterfowl and other birds. First task  was to seek out the Ash-throated Flycatcher that has been hanging out close to the entrance gate. Almost got a great pic as the bird fly across the road to pose in a nearby tree. 

There were thousands of American Coots seen here and maybe another thousand Common Gallinules. The most interesting bird of the day was a male Painted Bunting seen near the Pump House. A Merlin was also cruising the Pump House area.

A Male Painted Bunting

A Peregrine Falcon and  Kestrel would be seen later along the drive.

Anhingas, Pied-billed Grebes and Double-crested Cormorants were also very numerous. As for the waterfowl, we had hundreds of Ring-necked Ducks, plus Fulvous and Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, American Wigeons, Blue-winged Teal and Northern Shovelers.  Additional sightings included Swamp Sparrows, all of the expected Wading Birds, Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Yellowthroats, a couple of calling Soras, Palm Warblers, House Wrens, Belted Kingfishers, a juvenile Purple Gallinule and Eastern Phoebes. 

Bur Marigolds were in Bloom

Pied-billed Grebe

Great Blue Herons were numerous

Merlin at the Pump House Area

From Lake Apopka, traveled up to Gainesville with plans to check-out The La Chua Trail and Sweetwater Wetlands located on the northern edge of Paynes Prairie, tomorrow. But today as day was waning went over to an area called Magnolia Parke with the idea to see if any Rusty Blackbirds were coming in to roost. Didn't identify any rustys, among the Red-winged Blackbirds but had a few Yellow-rumped Warblers, Yellow Bellied Sapsucker, Carolina Chickadee and black-and-White Warbler.

Swamp Sparrows dining on Spanish Needle seeds

Snowy Egret

Day two was spent visiting venues in Gainesville.
 First stop was a stretch of the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail - North, walking from SE 4th Street to the Sweetwater Spur and back. Only spotted a single Chipping Sparrow, that was identifiable. Other sightings included Eastern Towhees, Northern Flickers, Downy Woodpeckers, Eastern Phoebes, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Carolina Chickadees, Gnatcatchers, Blue-headed Vireo and Black-and-White Warbler

American Bittern

Next up was the Sweetwater Wetlands Preserve. Haven't visited here in almost two years and there was quite a different experience today. Back then the water level was lower with plenty of exposed muddy shores to attract Long-billed Dowitchers, various Sandpipers, Wilson's Snipes and a rare to Florida, female Ruff. Lots of waterfowl too.

Today the American Coots, Common Gallinules, Anhingas and Double-crested Cormorants are very abundant, But not a lot of other waterfowl - Blue-winged Teal, Mottled Ducks, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and a lone American White Pelican. Heard a Sora and photographed a Purple Gallinule, but dipped on any snipes or other rails

Purple Gallinule

Common Gallinules

Snail Kites have also moved into this venue since my last visit. Which is a good sign that this once threatened species is expanding their range.

 I also  joined a stack-out for another rare in Florida bird, LeContes Sparrow. As I waited on the bird, an American Bittern made an appearance as did a trio of Savannah Sparrows and a Song Sparrow. 

Turns out that the last sighting of the LeContes was made yesterday, before a strong storm, with tornados passed through the area last night. 

Snail Kite at the Sink Boardwalk

It didn't take long to cover the LaChua Trail at Paynes Prairie State Park as much of the area was flooded. The park volunteers I talked with said that the water levels were actually falling, and that the Spanish Horses and the Bison herd had been moved to another area of the park because of the high water.

At the Sink Boardwalk, several Snail Kites were active and very tolerant of the human visitors as were the huge alligators. Other sightings included a White-crowned Sparrow, more American Coots and Common Gallinules, Limpkins, Sandhill Cranes, Anhingas and Double-crested Cormorants

Bluejacket