Ponce Inlet Pelagic

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Yesterday about forty people adventured offshore for one of the best pelagic trips that I have seen off of Florida.  We started off with scattered Cory’s Shearwaters, Pomarine and a few Parasitic Jaegers and Common Terns before we ran into our first flock of Cory’s.   This flock consisted of about 20 Cory’s Shearwaters, 3 Manx Shearwaters, and 6 Audubon’s.  Manx Shearwater was bird 358 for my year list.  After this flock the birding went pretty quiet except for a few Bridled Terns and more Cory’s Shearwaters.  I was constantly throwing a dog food and pogy oil mixture off the back of the boat.  At one point the boat slowed down and everyone ran to the front to see a tropicbird.  We called the bird a White-tailed in the field when the barring on the back looked light and black around the eye looked small.  When we examined pictures after the trip, the bird showed features that suggested a Red-billed Tropicbird.  Since I needed both tropicbirds for the year, this bird was 359 at the time and by far the bird of the day.  I thought this had made my weekend until we began working a Common Tern flock.  While we had about 50 terns up in the air two jaegers came in, one of them being a Long-tailed, which circled the boat for a good 20 minutes.  Here is a list compiled by the leaders and some photos by Bob Wallace:

Cory’s Shearwater   75
Audubon’s Shearwater  6
Manx Shearwater   4
Red Phalarope  1
Pomarine Jaeger  25
Parasitic Jaeger  3
Long-tailed Jaeger 1 and possibly a second bird
Tropicbird  –  We called this bird a juvenile White-tailed Tropicbird at the time. But we are reviewing some excellent photographs and the bird looks more like a juvenile Red-billed Tropicbird in the photos  — more on that as we complete the review.
Bridled Tern  40+
Northern Gannet  30
Common Tern 200+
Royal Tern
Sandwich Tern
Laughing Gull 2, even out at 45 miles
Herring Gull 2
Palm Warbler  1 —   that kept landing on the boat.

Cory’s Shearwater



Long-tailed Jaeger (with Common Terns and Pomarine Jaeger)

Cory’s and Manx Shearwater


Red-billed Tropicbird


Compare this picture of our Red-billed Tropicbird to the bird photographed off Miami in 2006  http://tropicalaudubon.org/tasboard/messages/11237.html

Thanks again to Michael Brothers for organizing this amazing trip and Bob Wallace for taking these great pictures.

Everglades and Keys

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On Friday Snake Bight Trail had Swainson’s Thrush, Black-and-white Warbler, Northern Parula, Blue Grosbeak, along with a lot of Northern Waterthrushes and mosquitoes.  At the end of the trail a small group of Willets, Least and Western Sandpipers, and Short-billed Dowitchers wandered around the flats below the boardwalk.  To see over the mangroves at the end I stood up on the railing and was rewarded with four pink dots what were larger than the Great Egret they were standing next to.  By balancing the scope on the railing I was able to confirm that the birds were Greater Flamingos. 
 
The night birding in Flamingo was rather entertaining with many Chuck-will’s-widows, both Barred and Barn Owls, Black-bellied Plover, Bobolink, a few warblers, and a good thrush movement including about 50 Veeries, 10 Swainson’s, and 2 Gray-cheeked. 
 
In the daylight hours, the T loop of the campground held 10 Baltimore and 3 Orchard Orioles, Eastern and Gray Kingbirds, and Yellow, Yellow-throated, and Cape May Warblers.  Eco Pond had American Avocet, Black-necked Stilt, Solitary Sandpiper, American White Pelican, Prairie Warbler, and Blue-winged Teal.  A good fruiting tree near the visitor center attracted Cape May, Yellow-throated and Palm Warbler, Black-whiskered Vireo, Baltimore and Orchard Oriole, Eastern Kingbird, Blue Grosbeak, and Indigo Bunting.  I did not hang around too long since the bugs were really bothersome and I was really looking forward to birding the keys. 
 
A quick stop by Lucky Hammock had my first Trail’s (probably Alder) Flycatcher, Parula, Prothonotary Warbler, and Yellow-breasted Chat of the day.  I spent some time looking for a scolding bird that sounded like a non-White-eyed Vireo.  Hoping that it would be my first Bell’s of the year I sat around and never got looks at the thing other than movement in the bushes.  Hopefully I will get that bird on my year list at some point. 
 
North Key Largo had a lot of Ovenbirds and Chuck-will’s-widows but not much else.  The same was true about the Green Turtle, but I also found Black-throated Blue Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, and Palm Warbler.  A really good fruiting tree on Boot Key had Magnolia, Cape May, Redstart, and Black-throated Blue Warbler.  The Marathon Airport had no shorebirds.

Want List

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The year list is at 360, and here are the birds that I need.  Any help is appreciated.

Pacific Loon

Red-necked Grebe

Western Grebe *

Manx Shearwater *

Red-footed Booby

Greater Flamingo

Greater White-fronted Goose

Snow Goose

Ross’s Goose *

Tundra Swan

Eurasian Wigeon

American Black Duck

Harlequin Duck

Common Merganser *

Masked Duck *

Golden Eagle

Yellow Rail

Long-billed Curlew

Hudsonian Godwit

Baird’s Sandpiper

Ruff

Long-tailed Jaeger

Little Gull *

Black-headed Gull *

Thayer’s Gull *

Iceland Gull *

Sabine’s Gull

Key West Quail-Dove

Black-billed Cuckoo

Groove-billed Ani

Buff-bellied Hummingbird

Allen’s Hummingbird *

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

Willow Flycatcher

Ash-throated Flycatcher

La Sagra’s Flycatcher

Tropical Kingbird *

Bell’s Vireo

Warbling Vireo

Philadelphia Vireo

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Gray-cheeked Thrush

Sprague’s Pipit

Golden-winged Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Black-throated Gray Warbler

Mourning Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler

Bananaquit

Scarlet Tanager

Lark Sparrow

Lapland Longspur

Black-headed Grosbeak

Purple Finch

Palm Beach Shorebirding

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After a long afternoon yesterday (Year Bird 332), early this morning Bob Paxson, Ken LaBorde, Ralph Bird, and myself ventured into the fields of western Palm Beach County.  Our first road was just east of Gladesview on 880, but I do not recall seeing any good fields along the road.
 
Our next stop was Gladesview Road.  15 Upland Sandpipers (Year Bird 333) were seen in two of the fields on the right side of the road.  Only one Black-bellied Plover was briefly seen in the same area.  A good field almost at the end of the road, on the right side before the road bends to the left, had many Yellowlegs, Semipalmated, Least, Stilt, and Pectoral Sandpipers along with smaller numbers of Long-billed Dowitcher, Semipalmated Plover, and Solitary and Western Sandpipers. 
 
Further west on 880, there were a few fields on the south side of the road that could easily be scoped from pulloffs/roads.  One of the fields, with powerlines in the middle and a road running along the west and south sides, had a few dowitchers and a lot of pecs.  Another sod field which had an orange gate was scoped and only pecs and yellowlegs were found despite some really good looking habitat. 
 
While scanning one of these fields we got a call from the A Harp and Tropical Audubon about Wilson’s Phalaropes at the Marathon field.  We drove over to the field just south of the Marathon gas station on 880 to find a group of cars lined up to look at a similar diversity of shorebirds with three Wilson’s Phalaropes, American Avocet, Black Tern, more Western Sandpipers, and maybe some other things I forgot to mention in the mix.  To get a different view of the field we drove around behind the school to the baseball field at the west end of the pond.  While I was messing around with my scope on the bleachers to get a good view of the field, Ken spotted a Curlew Sandpiper.  Ralph was able to see the bird, but before Bob or I arrived it had flown.  The bird was followed for its brief time in flight, but I missed it.  For the next thirty minutes or so our group as well as Tropical Audubon searched the vegetation for the bird, even climbing on top of the cars, but never came up with it again. 
 
The Belle Glade Marina had many Gray and Eastern Kingbirds as well as a few Shiny Cowbirds.  We could not find Anis anywhere.   Brown’s Farm Road was fairly slow, other than the swallow roost which had a good number of Bank, and smaller numbers of Barn, Tree, and Rough-wing.  Purple Martin was seen somewhere today. 

Curlew Sandpiper

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David Simpson called a little after 1 PM today, and we were on the road about an hour later.  I called up Phil Chaon to get some advice on purchasing donuts, and he told me to wait to buy a post-CUSA donut.  A little before 5, Dave and I arrived at the little marsh to see the Curlew Sandpiper in with a few Stilt Sandpipers and Short-billed Dowitchers.  About an hour later the bird flew away.  Year bird 332.  Notes will be typed up later since I am getting up in about five hours to go out shorebirding.

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