12th Floor View

My leadership pod met County Commissioner Abrams today. Likeable guy and his office has a nice view of downtown West Palm Beach. I wonder what kind of bird list I could get from this vantage point?


I also learned a little more about the new wind farm that's going into the Glades. Supposedly there are detectors that trigger the blades to stop if large bird flocks move through.  I'll be curious to hear how much bird fatality occurs.  Unfortunately, I don't think this venture will be bringing lots of jobs to the area but if the energy production is high and the mortality low, this could be a good project.  Time will tell.

Riverbend Park Volunteer Trip

We were greeted at Riverbend Park by one of the Peafowl that call the parking lot area home.  These birds are from a population that previous land owners had and have been left in their wake as Riverbend takes shape as a restored Palm Beach County park.

Seven brave volunteers loaded up in my van as I took us up north on I-95.  John Welch, naturalist, gave us a great behind-the-scenes tour.  We took a look at the Seminole battlefield, the old homestead, and had a great introduction at headquarters.  It was everything I was hoping for AND we had the luck of seeing a FOTS of Swallow-tailed Kite soar over us right before our picnic lunch.

One of my favorite parts of Riverbend is the scenery.  I love that it feels like the coastal plain of Georgia.  Those big Live Oaks draped with Spanish Moss and covered with bromeliads, like my favorite the Resurrection Fern seen below.

If you're visiting northern Palm Beach County you should load up your bikes and take a spin on the 15 miles of trails at Riverbend or rent a canoe and go down the Loxahatchee River.  Either way, you will have one natural Florida experience that you won't forget!

Hundreds of Spoonbills and Waders

This post somehow became lost in all my recent travels.  It's the second half of my birding day in late July.  To read about the first part of the day scroll down to the Swaro CL Test Drive post or click the link.

After Kim and I were done with our morning of fun we headed for the Everglades Agricultural Area near Belle Glade.  From Lake Okeechobee to the Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge and South towards Miami their are agricultural fields that mostly plant sugar cane and rice.  In August they flood many of these fields after harvesting the plants and this creates the perfect conditions for migrating shorebirds.

For our first main stop of the day we headed down Gator Blvd outside of Belle Glade and found a nice field full of waders.  I know we were on the hunt for shorebirds but this was worth stopping for, check out the photos below to get a glimpse of the action!

The fields were full of Wood Storks, Roseate Spoonbills, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Black-necked Stilts, and many small peeps.

My count was 124 for Roseate Spoonbills (a personal best) and over 250 Wood Storks.  Yes, quite literally the fields were pink and white.  I have never seen such a huge flock of waders.  Usually I reserve my shorebirding in Western Palm Beach for mid to late August but this late July experience proved worthy of the drive.

The fields were littered birds and a few shorebirds were mixed in as well such as Short-billed Dowitcher, Killdeer, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, and Semipalmated Sandpiper. 

We checked out the fields further along Gator Blvd and found some Black Terns and Least Terns flying.  In the field was a few White Pelicans and Glossy Ibis as well.  It was a nice day of birding and one I won't forget anytime soon!

We stopped near this dilapidated building on CR880 to look for swallows.  We found a Red-tailed Hawk instead.

Swaro CL Test Drive

With my new Swarovski CLs in hand I decided that an all day field test was in order.  Since it's shorebird season I figured a good place to start was in Western Palm Beach County, FL.  This area is known for shorebirds starting in August but shorebirds are easy to spot any time of day so for my first CL test drive I thought going to a new park would be the best way to start the day.

Kimmie met me at 6AM and we headed west to Dupuis Wildlife Management Area.  Along the way we saw some typical Florida landscapes like fields of cows and stands of pines.  Most people think of South Florida as a highly developed area that encroaches on the Everglades but if you're in the central part of the state above the Everglades you will find lots of agricultural land that has a very Central Florida feel. 

Once in the park we started our bird list.  For the most part the place was pretty quiet but we did have nice looks of Downy Woodpeckers and Red-shouldered Hawks.  The CLs were performing well in the early day light.  I had nice crisp views in the low light areas.  One minor annoyance for me with the binoculars were all the lense covers.  So I removed the top covers altogether.  This allowed much faster use as we were in and out of the car.

The Ocean to Land section of the Florida Trail runs right through Dupuis WMA.  The orange blazes were easy to spot as it crossed the road.

The best of the morning was an Eastern Towhee.  Now I know what you must think, a towhee is a common yard bird but in South Florida, this isn't true.  To see things like towhees and Carolina Wrens you must head out into the more quiet areas of wildlife management areas. 

One of the best parts of the park was an area of prescribed burn.  I loved the contrast of browns and greens near the road.  This practice had recently been implemented and parts of the park had that nice smoky taste in the air.  I scoped the pines but saw little more than some Common Ground-doves.

The driving road dead-ended at a small pond.  With my new CLs I had great looks at a mating frenzy of dragonflies.  The shorelines were swarming with these winged animals and it was a nice sight to find at this bird less area.  The CLs did well focusing close as the dragonfiles darted around me.

Once we left Dupuis WMA we decided to head south to the agricultural fields.  Along the way we took a small detour to Lake Okeechobee.  Now in my experience, the lake is a hard thing to see first hand.  I've driven to a few "lake" parks but mostly you see a canal that runs the border of the lake. But there is a small bridge north of Pahokee, FL that gives you an eagle eye view of the biggest lake in Florida. 

We took a drive up on the dyke and found ourselves looking at a small island.  This is the best Lake Okeechobee look I've ever had.  And thanks to my bins I was able to spot a large alligator cruising the bank.  The shot below was done by digibinning the gator through my CLs.  Not bad for long distance snapshot.  I was aided by resting my bins on the ledge of the car window.  With minimal hand shake it was a nice photo (not great, but identifiable).

With our lake views behind us we drove south through Pahokee.  For those that haven't seen the small rural areas of Palm Beach County you are in for a stark contrast to the rich affluent areas near the beach.  This area is dotted with Palm Trees very much like the wealthy Worth Avenue in Palm Beach but instead of designer shops you will find old abandoned school buses and small little bait and grocery shops. 

Kimmie and I stopped at a questionable gas station diner and ordered a plate of alligator nuggets, fried catfish, and fries.  I could hear the arteries clogging but the food wasn't bad.  The atmosphere was a bit too run-down to fully enjoy the meal but it was entertaining to say the least.

With meals consumed we headed to the shorebird areas near Belle Glade, Florida.  You will have to come back next week to get the full installment of birds seen.  For now I'll leave you with a photo of a typical field in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA).  This shot shows you the border of sod field and sugarcane field.  These are the primary crops that you can find in Western Palm Beach.

Lifer Wilson's Phalarope

On August 3rd I headed out to the sod fields of Palm Beach County in search of a target bird.  I had seen reports of Wilson's Phalarope earlier in the day on the bird boards and I figured this was my best chance to find it before a potential storm hit over the weekend.  I left directly after work for CR 880 near Belle Glade, FL.

At the first flooded fields I found huge flocks of yellowlegs.  Mixed into the group were Least Sandpipers, Pectoral Sandpipers, and a huge group of Black Terns.  The photo above was taken by local birder, Trey Mitchell, on the same day but hours earlier.

I searched the flooded field over and over, stopping my car at intervals along the way and trying to stay out of traffic.  I finally gave up and decided to search some other areas.  I rounded the corner and there was a second flooded field.  Wouldn't you know it, the phalaropes were there all along!  I had been searching the wrong field. The three Wilson's Phalarope were busy feeding and gave me great looks as they spun around in search of food. 

This was a great Lifer and a County bird to boot!  The view was made better with my new Swaro CL binoculars.  The heat shimmer caused optimal viewing of the phalaropes to be limited but the great optics gave me my best view.  It was a great way to end the day, success in hand.  If you're interested in shorebird migration, the Everglades Agricultural Area in Palm Beach County, Florida is definitely where it's at right now.  Every time I go out there I find something new and exciting.

Peaceful Waters Sanctuary

Wellington, Florida has opened up two new wetlands in the past few years. The newest I will be traveling to today with my volunteers from Green Cay. We will be exploring the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Everglades Habitat, MSTDEH, and we may also stop by Peaceful Waters. I went on a scouting trip a few weeks back and snapped a few photos from Peaceful Waters. As you can see it's a small wetland and it also serves as a water reclamation facility (very common in South Florida and very similiar to Green Cay).

On this trip I had the normal suspects plus a flock of dowitchers. It was sunset but I was still able to have a nice loop around. This wetland is open sunrise to sunset and is located within a larger Parks & Recreation compound. The MSTDEH, it's still long shortened!, is the newer sibling and is only open 8am-5pm. I am really looking forward to what this new park has to offer next year. Right now it's full of new plant transplants and a handful of birds. Maybe today will offer up something delightful!