Took a two-hour drive up to Merritt Island today, in the hopes of having a Big Day (meaning lots of species sightings and good photo ops). A Big Day is hard to accomplish by myself, since I don't own a spotting scope and I'm not great with shorebirds and peeps. I tend to see a lot that I can't identify. My solo one-day record is 74 species, but I managed to get 66 today, including a lifer: Northern Gannet! And some of my favorite species, including Roseate Spoonbills, Scrub Jays, and Reddish Egrets.
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| Spoonbills make every day better. |
The highlights:
An enormous flock of white pelicans, literally hundreds...the most I've ever seen. They were hanging out with several dozen spoonbills and dozens more assorted egrets and white ibis. I didn't realize how many there were until they all flew up and headed over to a new foraging site...and the birds just kept coming...and coming...there was no end to their numbers. At first I started taking pictures, but then I just stood and watched in awe.
Likewise, the coots throughout the refuge probably numbered in the thousands. Perhaps tens of thousands wouldn't be an exaggeration.
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| American Coots |
Scrub jays were abundant but secretive and not friendly this time around. Usually they at least come out to investigate me and the shiny grommets on my hat, but today they were camera-shy. Got some good looks at some of my favorite ducks: wigeons, pintails, and shovelers, and had a strange sighting in the early afternoon. At first I thought I was seeing a giant flock of blackbirds or starlings making their characteristic swooping, undulating circles. That in itself is cool enough to stop and watch, but these birds seemed too large to be blackbirds. When I looked at them through binocs, I could see patches of white on some of them. A few minutes later, I ran into a couple photographers who told me that the giant flock was comprised of WIGEONS (and was possibly two flocks) being pursued by a peregrine falcon. None of us has ever seen ducks flock or fly the way masses of blackbirds do. I wish I'd had time to get the video set up on my camera.
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| Wigeons on the wing |
Spent a beautiful hour at Canaveral National Seashore, where I spotted what I first thought were several Masked Boobys offshore, far enough away that it was hard for me to make a positive ID at first. I didn't have my bird book with me, and although I've seen Masked Boobys in the Galapagos, I wasn't entirely sure what these were. They turned out to be Northern Gannets, allowing me to add to my life list. (And for the record, it's awfully awkward when you're sitting on the beach with binoculars, and someone asks what you're looking at, and you say "boobies!")
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| Canaveral National Seashore |
All in all, a decent birding day. I wish I'd gotten my butt out of bed earlier, because I didn't get there until 8:30, and I think I should have hit the wildlife drive areas first. (Note: there's a new $5 entrance fee to access Blackpoint Wildlife Drive; however, you're on the honor system to actually put a fiver in the envelope.)
Species list for today:
American Wigeon Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail Hooded Merganser
Pied-billed Grebe Wood Stork
Northern Gannet Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga American White Pelican
Brown Pelican Great Blue Heron
Great Egret Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret Cattle Egret
American White Ibis Glossy Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture Osprey
Bald Eagle Northern Harrier
Red-Shouldered Hawk merican Moorhen
American Coot Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper Greater Yellowlegs
Ruddy Turnstone Sanderling
Laughing Gull Ring-Billed Gull
Herring Gull Royal Tern
Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe White-eyed Vireo
Florida Scrub-Jay Tree Swallow
Tufted Titmouse Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird
Yellow-rumped Warbler Yellow-throated Warbler
Palm Warbler Black-and-white Warbler
Common Yellowthroat Savannah Sparrow
Northern Cardinal Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle Boat-tailed Grackle
Daily total: 66
2012 total: 74
Life total: 422
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