|
CURRENT EVENT NEWS |
|
|
Crystal River Field Trip
Saturday, April 21,2007
Participants: 7
Species: 44
Families represented: 28
We visited two
sites of the Great Florida
Birding Trail in the Crystal River Cluster. Our first stop was Ft.
Island Gulf Beach. I have always found this very small beach to
have a diverse complement of birds as it did on Saturday. There
were flocks of Black Skimmers and Laughing Gulls on the beach. Royal
Terns and Ring-billed Gulls were in the mix. Sanderlings,
Semipalmated Plovers and Western Sandpipers were actively feeding.
On the water there were Brown Pelicans, Forster's Terns, a few
Red-breasted Mergansers and an unexpected Common Loon. By the way,
this is a great spot to see flocks of White Pelicans during the winter.
Across the road,
in the salt marsh, Clapper Rails answered our clucks and claps.
Along the boardwalk Tree Swallows, Catbirds, and Ruby-crowned kinglets
were still around. We didn't get a good enough look to identify
some migrant thrushes. Brisk winds probably kept us from seeing
more passerines along the hammock boardwalk.
Our second stop
was the Redfish Hole trail which starts in a hardwood hammock and leads
into the salt marsh. Here we saw Red-shouldered Hawk, Summer
Tanager, Eastern Kingbird, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Greater Yellowlegs,
Little Blue an Tri-colored Herons, Great and Snowy Egrets and our
surprise bird of the day--a Black-necked stilt. The last bird on
this list is the Monk Parakeet. I parked under their
"apartment house" when we stopped for lunch.
It was my pleasure
to welcome three new birders on their first field trip. There is a
lot of satisfaction in helping people to enjoy birding. The next field
trip will be in September. Everyone is welcome. Please join
us.
Aggie Condon
Anyone who has a suggestion for a field
trip or would like to help plan or help leading our field trips can
e-mail me at aggy_condon@yahoo.com
I welcome your input.
|
|
|
BROOKER CREEK PRESERVE
January 13, 2007
Participants: 17
Species: 38
Brooker Creek Guides: Jim
McGinity--Birder/Educator
Don Stillwaugh--Biologist/Researcher
This month
we combined our field trip and program for an exhilarating morning at
Brooker Creek Preserve. Many consider this 8,000 + acre property
the jewel of Pinellas
County's environmental lands. If you avoid Brooker Creek
because of wet feet, this condition has been resolved by the
construction of a bridge.
Bird
sightings began as we drove in where we were greeted by a Barred owl,
Red-shouldered hawk and Osceola
turkeys. On the two hour walk over boardwalks and paths, we
identified 35 more species. We saw typical wet land residents such
as Anhinga, Yellow-crowned night heron, and egret species. Of
course the winter visitors, American robins, seemed to be everywhere.
Among the numerous Yellow -rumped warblers there was the occasional
Pine, Palm, and Black & White and also Ruby -crowned kinglets.
Although Jim's knowledge of the trail enhanced our chances of seeing
sparrows, wrens and towhees, they elected to remain hidden.
Since most
birders become students of behavior, I want to relate that I had never
before seen a Red-winged blackbird eating seeds out of a pine cone!
The photo op of the day came at the end when a Hermit thrush posed for 3
minutes on the edge of the boardwalk!
By 11
o'clock the auditorium filled up for the two part program. Ken
Tracey presented "The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker and Brooker Creek
Preserve." Using the history of Ivory-billed sightings in the
Tarpon Springs area, Ken cleverly and effectively connected the presumed
"extinct" bird to the past, present and future of Brooker
Creek. And why haven't we been seeing more of them? Is it
because our pre-conceived notion that they no longer exist keeps us from
looking at every Pileated woodpecker with binoculars? I don't. Do
you? I will now. Finally, Ken presented interpretive
evidence that supports the premise that these birds are possibly
nocturnal. He discussed the black and white feather pattern and
how this identifies the bird in darkness. Pictures illustrated
these interesting and thought provoking observations.
Jim
McGinity showed slides of birds found in the preserve. Some were
in hand photos taken during banding operations. Our "test" at
the end was to identify birds in out of focus shots. This was an
amusing way to bring the program to an end.
We hope to
meet at Brooker Creek again next year.
Agnes Condon
Field
Trip Coordinator
|
|
Bald Eagle
Marbled Godwit
|
ANCLOTE RIVER and GULF
PARKS, PARTICIPANTS: 9 SPECIES: 58
Morning fog did not
keep nine enthusiastic birders from a visit to our coastal parks.
Our best sightings at the Anclote River were spotted and least
sandpipers, Willet, and Semi-palmated Plover. The park was very
busy and noisy so I would suggest a week day for more productive
birding. On the way to the Gulf park we had a great view of a
perched Bald Eagle. The nest is in full view but if the female was
sitting, she couldn't be seen.
The fishing pier at
the Gulf was our most productive stop. Sightings of note included
Common Loon, Black-bellied Plover,American Oystercatcher, Short-billed Dowitcher,
and Marbled Godwit.
Does anyone want to
see 20 species of birds representing 16 families all in one spot?
Stop at the bridge over the canal on Gulf Trace across from the main
parking lot at Holiday Recreation Center. Perhaps no rarities here
but there is wonderful diversity; Anhinga to warbler. Great
for beginners.
Please join us for
Christmas Bird Count scouting on
December 9th. Aggie Condon, Field Trip Chairman |
|
CROSS BAR RANCH / WELLFIELD
OCT. 21, 2007
PARTICIPANTS: 19
SPECIES 32 OBSERVED AND 5
MORE IDENTIFIED BY SOUND
The lure of
scrub jays and burrowing owls brought birders and photographers from as
far as S. Carolina. We weren't disappointed. Many good
pictures of both species were taken. We also saw Eastern
meadowlark, turkey, sharp-shinned hawk, American kestrel, barn swallow,
Loggerhead shrike and Indigo bunting. Also a surprise when a
yellow-billed cuckoo was identified in a photo of sandhill cranes!
Besides the birds, we had sightings of white-tailed deer, gopher
tortoise and the endangered Sherman"s fox squirrel. An
excellent day.
Aggie Condon |
 |
|
Cross Bar Ranch/Wellfield Trip per Kevin Sargent Cross Bar Ranch and Wellfield is a
12,000 acre site and operated by Tampa Bay Water. It is a major provider
of water for the entire Tampa Bay region, and fortunately, the relatively
small and unobtrusive pumping stations allow for much of the land to be
maintained as a wildlife refuge. In addition, a cattle ranch and slash
pine forestry operates on a portion of the land. Though the facility is
not open to the general public, Tampa Bay Water provides bus tours of the
unique habitat at Cross Bar for local middle students and other groups
that request access. Perhaps the most precious species that makes its home
at Cross Bar is the Florida Scrub Jay. There are only about 10,000 of
these beautiful birds remaining in Florida and several clans reside in the
rare scrub habitat at Cross Bar. Needless to say, I was excited that the
Ken Tracey and the folks at the West Pasco Audubon Society has arranged a
trip to Cross Bar--so much so that I made the trip from South Carolina on
my fall break in hopes of finally seeing a Scrub Jay. This gallery tells
the story of our visit to Cross Bar. |
|
