Yellow-headed Blackbird

 Saturday, April 3rd

Made my third visit over to Palm Beach County looking for a Yellow-headed Blackbird. Good timing today. Several seen at the Sem-Chi Rice Mile Plant. The Brown-headed Cowbirds appears to have pulled out already, but still lots of Red-winged Blackbirds to host the visiting yellow-heads.

The nearby Storm Water  Treatment Areas were still very birdy. Lots of American white Pelicans, American Coots, Common Gallinules, plus Fulvous Whistling Ducks, Blue-winged Teals, Mottled Ducks a single Ring-necked Duck. Seems a White-faced Ibis has been reported here, but I didn't find any out of the many Glossy Ibis. 

Other interesting birds included a Sora, Gray-headed Swamphens, Black-necked Stilts, Caspian Terns, Gull-billed Terns and a Peregrine Falcon. 

Common Myna
Seen at the shopping center in Belle Glade
April 2021

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Sunday January 13th

Boat-tailed Grackles were active at this watering spot

Had to make three attempts to locate the Yellow-headed Blackbird.  Its a western bird and not very commonly seem in Florida and to have a brightly colored male hanging out thirty miles from home, I had to see it.

Last week Eary Warren with wife Jennifer and Dave & Tammy McQuade had discovered the yellow-headed blackbird in the parking lot of the Win Dixie store at corner of US 17 and Bermont Road in Charlotte County.  Eary, Jennifer, Dave and Tammy have been racking up a long list birds, as the awesome birders that they are, to start the new year and it is no surprise that Eary was going to spot this guy.

Great Egret

Arrived to day about 2:30 pm and note that the parking lot lacked any grackles.  The yellow-head has been hanging with a local flock of boat-tailed grackles.  drove behind the stores to the retention pond, where wood storks, white ibis, laughing gulls, Ring-billed Gulls and the 

The Yellow-headed Blackbird was initially very hard to find. 

As it was well concealed in the shrubbery

grackles were found. Ran into Monica Higgins who was already monitoring the grackles for our target bird. Made a quick recheck in the parking lot.  Still empty.  returned to the pond an was informed that the flock had been spooked by an eagle and the yellow-headed blackbird

was easily seen and photographed. Big oops on my part, as I ended up waiting for well past an hour for the target to reappear.  The grackles were still active, so the blackbird was still expected to be at hand.  Was joined in the wait by Margi Haas and several ladies from Sarasota.

Eventually the bird was seen deep in the foliage, preening and being very inconspicuous. Patience paid off and the Yellow-headed Blackbird finally came out into the open.  Got my pics.  Yeah..

Early Florida settlers called these birds Old Flintheads 

and found them not to be very appetizing for the pot

Wood Stork

Chasing a Lifer

Sunday, April 17th

Its amazing how the computer age has made the twitching after a rare or vagrant bird so much easier. At your finger tips is so much up-to-the-minute information. Today, because of eBird, rare bird reports, text messaging, cell phone communications and digital photography, we were able to successfully locate a, possible first ever to be reported in Florida, vagrant Pacific Golden-Plover.

A Peregrine Falcon at the Sem-Chi Rice Mill

For a week now, a Pacific Golden-Plover has been found, in association with Black-bellied Plovers on a sod farm in the Everglades Ag Area south of Belle Glade. The exact location has been on the Six Mile Bend Sod Farm on CR-880, adjacent to Browns Farm Road, in western Palm Beach County. Bob Pelkey and I arrived on site just after dawn and spent about a half hour in our search before finding the bird. It was quite obviously smaller and darker than its Black-belled cousins. Bob was able to get a few photos before the birds wandered farther away into the sod field. A scope is a diffident must today. By now our friends Stan Damen, Dr Jose Padilla and master birder Vince McGrath arrived to share in enjoying this unusual visitor to south Florida.

See a eBird report and photos of the Pacific Golden-Plover by Coray Callaghan

All five of us then proceeded to the nearby Sem-Chi Rice Mill to get photographs of the Yellow-headed Blackbirds being seen there. We counted around thirty of these birds, with the males displaying a striking yellow head and throat. A Peregrine Hawk was found to be keeping a close watch on activities at the mill.

Also nearby was Stormwater Treatment Area 1W. Best sighting from there included two pairs of Black-necked Stilts, a Black Skimmer and a pair of Purple Gallinules.

Bob and I also made a stop at The White's home in Alva to try to get photos of the buntings still active about the feeders. A pair of Painted Buntings were still present, as were a few American Goldfinches. About a dozen beautiful Indigo Buntings were also seen here. Plus a calling Northern Parula was foraging overhead and Bob caught sight of a hummingbird too.

This was a very pleasant and rewarding trip today.

Day List (45)

Pacific Golden-Plover , Pied-billed Grebe, Anhinga, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Tricolored Heron, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Black Vulture, Swallow-tailed Kite, Bald Eagle, Purple Gallinule, Common Gallinule, Black-necked Stilt, Black-bellied Plover, Killdeer, Ruddy Turnstone, Laughing Gull, Forster's Tern, Black Skimmer, Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, White-winged Dove, Mourning Dove, Common Nighthawk, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Crested Caracara, Peregrine Falcon, White-eyed Vireo, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Tree Swallow, Barn Swallow, Fish Crow, Common Yellowthroat, Northern Parula, Red-winged Blackbird, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Eastern Meadowlark, Boat-tailed Grackle, Common Grackle, Painted Bunting, Indigo Bunting, American Goldfinch, House Sparrow

Yellow-headed Blackbird - Long-tailed Duck - Lincoln's Sparrow - Purple Sandpiper

Wednesday, February 29th



A poor photo of the Yellow-headed Blackbird



Leap Day was spent on a very good birding day trip.  Joined up with Master Birder, Vince McGrath and headed up to Myaka River State park south of Sarasota. Started with a Peregrine Falcon along the highway close to the park.  Within Myaka River State Park we quickly had Cedar Waxwings, American Robins, Tufted Titmice, Yellow-rumped Warblers and Northern Parulas. At the boardwalk we ran into John Whitehead and several other birders who already had our target bird in thier scopes. It was a female Yellow-headed Blackbird in the company of a large flock of female Red-winged Blackbirds.

Other species found at the boardwalk included  a very 'classic' Mallard, a Redhead, Lesser Scaups, Blue-winged Teals, Long-billed Dowitchers, Least Sandpipers, Caspian Terns, Forster's Terns, Black-necked Stilts, Roseate Spoonbills, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, Sandhill Cranes, Wild Turkeys, American Pipits, American Coots and Common Gallinules.

Horned Grebe in Tampa Bay

From here Vince and I heded toward Courtney Campbell Causeway in Tampa Bay, but first we checked out the Founders Club ponds on Fruitville Road. Dipped on the common goldeneye, but did get Ring-necked duck, Lesser Scaup and Hooded Merganser.  At Courtney Campbell Causeway we easily found the the reported female Long-tailed Duck, because of the directions found on Birdbrains.  we also added Ring-billed and Laughing Gulls,Red-breasted Merganser, Common Loon, Horned Grebe, Brown Pelican, Ruddy Turnstone, Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher and Willet.

Ruddy Turnstone

From here went added a stop at the closeby Possum Branch Preserve. We did not see the green-tailed Towhee but did get one each of the Lincoln, Song, Savannah and Swamp Sparrows.  Heading back to Ft Myers Vince directed us toward Venice Inlet to look for a Purple Sandpiper. The place was very crowded and we did not expect to locate the bird, but Vince managed to locate it sleeping on the rocks on the north jetty.  Got to say that Vince McGrath is an exceptional birder and is now available as a professional Birding Guide in SW Florida.

We did see a bit over one hundred species including Bald Eagles, American Kestrels, Rock Pigeons, Eurasian Collared-Doves, Downy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Eastern Phoebe, Greater Black-backed Gulls, Spotted Sandpiper, Muscovy Duck, Yellow-Crowned Night-heron, American White Pelicans, Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs, Sandwich Terns, Northern Flicker, Osprey, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Herring Gulls ....