Everglades Ag Area

 Monday, August 9th

South of Lake Okeechobee, are farms in an area referred to as the Everglades Agricultural Area. Here is were sugar cane, rice and turf is grown and this is the time of the year to come out here for some birding. 

Upland Sandpipers are probably the most coveted species to find here as they make pit stops to refresh on the sod farms as they migrate south toward Argentina. Other species we chase here include migrating shorebirds, wading birds, gulls and terns, white pelicans, nighthawks and migrating swallows. 

Came out on Saturday to take advantage of the, potential, lighter traffic on these roads and lanes. Besides checking the sod farms for plovers and sandpipers, locating the flooded ag fields is important to find many of the species we'd be chasing. 

Common Nighthawk

Did see the Cave Swallow colony along County Road 880 just north of Brown's Farm Road. The flooded fields just across the road from the swallows have actually almost dried up. So moved on to Brown's farm Road to another location few miles south. This list for this flooded field included Black-bellied whistling Ducks, Mottled Ducks, Common Nighthawks, Lots and Lots of Black-necked Stilts, Killdeers, Stilt Sandpiper, Greater & Lesser Yellowlegs, Gull-billed Terns, Barn swallows, and the expected wading birds.

American Avocet

Close by is another road, Gladeview Road, lined with sugar cane, sod farms, rice and barren fields. Spotted Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Fulvous Whistling Ducks ( they really like the rice fields), lots more Black-necked Stilts, Pectoral Sandpipers, Yellowlegs, Wood Storks, Cattle Egrets, Great Egrets, Little Blue Herons, Green Herons, Roseate Spoonbill, Yellow-crowned Night-herons, Common Yellowthroat  and Barn Swallows. Dipped on the spotting any Uplands Sandpipers that are being seen along this road.  Seems I missed on a seeing a newly reported American Golden Plover as well. 

The best spot for the day was a flooded field at the end of Gladeview Road. Species listed included more Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, lots of Doves, Blackbirds and Grackles. But also seeing almost a dozen American Avocets, Lots more Black-necked Stilts, a Wilson's Phalarope, several Stilt Sandpipers, Killdeers, Common Nighthawk, Least Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, Yellowlegs, Black Terns, Gull-billed Terns, Glossy Ibis, White Ibis and more.  Awesome seeing the phalarope, the avocets and some many stilt sandpipers.

Wilson's Phalarope, not a very common bird here

Probably will come here one more time soon to see if can catch-up on the Uppies.

Stilt Sandpiper

Gull-billed Tern

Pectoral Sandpiper

Greater Yellowlegs

Wood Stork

American Avocet

Lesser Yellowlegs

Black Tern

Oystercatcher

 Tuesday August 11th

American Oystercatcher

I had recently moved a bit further away from the beach, looking for a more affordable place to live.  So I have not visited the beach as much as I used to.  I've also been dipping on spotted on some of the birds you'd expect to locate. American Oystercatchers had been a nemeses bird for me these past couple of years. Just haven't seen them as often these days. Today was my FOS sighting for 2020, at Bunche Beach.  Too hot to stick around long. But did have a nice variety of birds available to enjoy.  Reddish Egrets, Red Knots, Semipalmated Plovers and Sandpipers etc.

Common Nighthawk

Yesterday was a return visit to the Everglades Ag Area.  Lots of American Avocets on the flooded cane fields as well as Long-billed Dowitchers.  Also had Roseate Spoonbills, Wood Storks,  Common Nighthawks, Black Terns, Gull-billed Terns, Stilted Sandpipers, Petrol Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers, Ruddy Turnstones, Black Skimmers, Fulvous Whistling Ducks, Yellowlegs, Cliff Swallows, Cave Swallows, Barn Swallows, Common Yellowthroats, a Caracara, a pair of Barn Owls and a King Rail. Lots of baby Black-necked Stilts and Common Gallinules

Stilt Sandpiper

What was missing yesterday, were Upland Sandpipers, Wilson's Phalarope or Brown-headed Cowbirds. Had hundreds of these cowbirds two weeks ago.

Lots of Common Gallinule chicks

Long-billed Dowitcher with a Stilt Sandpiper

Black-necked Stilt. Had many stilt chicks present

Common Guava growing along a canal

Crested Caracara at the Miami Canal

Wood Stork

Sleepy Orange Butterflies

Lots of Pectorals

Sunday August 13th

Pectoral Sandpiper

Lesser Yellowlegs

Don't have to to travel very far to look for migrating shorebirds.  Still need to head over to the Ag Fields again and soon, for Upland Sandpipers or even the mega rare Ruff currently being seen. But in a nearby wet field, located along Treeline Avenue and adjacent to the Terminal Access Drive, we've had a large number of foraging Pectoral Sandpipers. Stilt Sandpipers, Solitary Sandpipers, Lesser Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Plovers, Western and Least Sandpipers have also been present.

A scope can be very useful here.

Parking at this location can be a problem, as there are few spots to safely pull over. Avoid using the median as the property is adjacent to the Ft Myers International Airport it is closely monitored by the Port Authority Police. You will be ticketed.

A Lesser Yellowlegs

Semipalmated Plover

Western Sandpiper

Solitary Sandpiper

Stilt Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Browns Farm Road

Monday, August 1st

From page 212 in the ABA Bird Guide 'A Birder's Guide to Florida' by Bill Pranty, is a brief narrative concerning birding on Brown's Farm Road. This narrow road breaks off from cr-880 a few miles south of Belle Glade in what is referred to as the Everglades Agricultural Area. Come late summer and into Fall, the sugar, rice and sod fields here, can be a great place to find migrating grass peeps and shorebirds. A major attraction for these birds are the flooded cane fields. The farmers will flood these fields between crops to kill off nematodes and other root attaching pests, and the migrating shorebirds flock to these man-made wetlands.

Gull-billed Tern

Currently, near the northern terminus to Browns' Farm Road is a very large flooded field were some early shorebirds have arrived including several Wilson's Phalaropes.  These phalaropes are very uncommon in Florida and there appearance here was an inspiration for Bob Pelkey and I to visit  today. 

Wilson's Phalarope with a Semipalmated Sandpiper

Wilson's Phalaropes

We arrived about 9 AM and met Peter Hawrylyshy and Robert Lewis who had already had eyes on the phalaropes. The birds were a distance out but we could clearly see there twirling movements as the feed. Other species present included Wood Storks, a Roseate Spoonbill, Black-necked Stilts, American Avocets, Black-belled Plovers, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Ruddy Turnstone, a lone Stilt Sandpiper, Least Sandpipers, Semipalmated Sandpipers,Laughing Gulls, Gull-billed Terns, Black Terns and a Re-shouldered Hawks. This site did lack waterfowl and white pelicans and only a few wading birds. This a nearby colony of Cliff and Cave Swallows at a small cement bridge over the canal on cr-880. We also checked-out the nearby Six-bend Sod Farm for grass peeps, but its still early yet and the sod fields were quite.  The Uppies should be arriving in a couple of weeks.

Black-necked Stilt
Photo by Bob Pelkey

Stilt Sandpiper

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Earlier we did some investigating along Brown's Farm Road for any other hot spots. We were able to locate Black-bellied and Fulvous Whistling Ducks, more Black-necked Stilts, Mottled Ducks, Common Gallinule, Solitary Sandpipers, Killdeer, a lone Pectoral Sandpiper, Yellow-crowned and Black-crowned Night-herons, Common Nighthawks, Anhingas, a lone American White Pelican, Barn and Cliff Swallows, Glossy and White Ibis, various waders, White-winged, Mourning, Eurasian Collared and Ground Doves, Eastern Meadowlarks, Red-shouldered Hawk, a very high count on Green Herons and a great many Brown Cowbirds, Red-winged Blackbirds and Boat-tailed Grackles. 

Solitary Sandpiper

While on the phone with Dave McQuaid for an up-date on directions, we had a Gull-billed Tern right past the car. We managed to get a few pictures as a trio of the terns made several passes up and down the canal as they hunted.

Killdeer.
Photo by Bob Pelkey

Barn Swallow 

Black-bellied Whistling Duck

White-winged Dove

Brown-headed Cowbird

Least Sandpiper

Glossy Ibis

Shiny Cowbird

There was one more stop to make after finishing up at  Brown's Farm Road and that was to visit Belle Glade Marina on Torry Island, just a few north at Lake Okeechobee. Here, we are after a pair of Shiny Cowbirds, but we hit a snag.  Seems that the bridge providing access to Torry Island was under repair and would be closed for most of the day, except between Noon and One PM. We had almost a forty-five minute wait, but it was worth it. The male Shiny Cowbird was easily located within a few short minutes. We dipped in the orchard orioles and eastern kingbirds, but did see a Cooper's Hawk, Pileated Woodpecker, Limpkin  and a Great Egret which after reviewing its photo may possibly be a White Great Heron based on the leg color.

Is this a Great Egret or Great White Heron?

Apple Snail shell at Belle Glade Marina.
 No doubt refuse from a Limpkin's meal

Other sightings on the day included Swallow-tailed Kites, Ospreys, Crested Caracara, Red-tailed Hawk Chimney Swift and Fish Crows.  I'd have to say that a return trip is necessary after migration heats up.