Birding Update: Amelia Island and Little Talbot Island

It's been a big week, birdwise. Migration is in full swing here in north Florida, and I'm taking advantage of my location and my free time to explore some places I've been meaning to visit. This past Saturday I took a trip up to Jacksonville to explore the parks around Amelia Island and the Talbot Islands, which I hadn't been to before.

First stop was Ft. Clinch State Park. On the beach by the fishing pier was a nice mix of Laughing Gulls, Herring Gulls, Black Skimmers, Semipalmated Sandpipers, and Royal and Caspian Terns:

I also visited the eponymous fort in the park, built during the Civil War, but to be honest it was a bit boring. It might have been nice if there was a guided tour, but I wandered around on my own with a brochure and thought "meh". If you're into military stuff you might like it; I am not.

Ft. Clinch State Park also disappointed me due to the lack of trails; the park's pretty small overall, and the majority of the attraction is the beach and the fort. Beyond that, there's two hiking/biking trails, but there was some sort of marathon or race going on that day, so I was constantly in the way of runners. I decided to head south on A1A to the other parks on my list.

Of the two Talbot Islands, I chose Little Talbot simply because I've heard the name come up more often than Big Talbot when discussing rare bird sightings. I was not disappointed. The beaches themselves were very nice, and I drove all the way to the south beach, which had the fewest people. The birds weren't numerous, but because it was a beautiful day and the beach was so nice and empty, I decided to sit and chill for about an hour. 

Splendid Isolation

When I got up to walk around again, I noticed a couple of birds that I didn't recognize. I took some photographs to help me ID them because I'm not good with shorebirds, especially when they're in winter vs. breeding plumage. Three of the birds hung around long enough for me to sit with my book for a few minutes and positively ID them as a Piping Plover and a pair of Wilson's Plovers, two uncommon species that made my Life List.

Piping Plover

Wilson's Plover

I ate lunch under a pavilion on the beach, but lots of people had shown up by that point and it was no longer quiet and peaceful. Next stop was further down A1A, at Hugenot Memorial Park. I'd been told this was a great breeding place for shorebirds including Dunlins, which I've only seen once in my life and hoped to find again. It's also a place where you can drive your car on the beach ($3 entrance fee).

It is also where I began having a panic attack from the crowds of people.

I guess my mistake was going on a Saturday, and this wasn't even a holiday weekend, but oh my god. It was like Spring Break. Hundreds, maybe a thousand cars and people crammed on this little stretch of beach. Hundreds, maybe thousands of Laughing Gulls in their fenced-off breeding area, flying everywhere and making a racket that drowned out the music from the partiers. I parked briefly and got out to look around, and I might have enjoyed looking at the birds if I hadn't been surrounded by so many people. I wanted to cry. I needed to get out of there fast. In my haste to leave, I drove the wrong way and nearly got my car stuck in the sand, which made me start freaking out more, and then I hit so many potholes and bumps on the way toward the exit I was afraid I was permanently damaging my car, which made me start crying and then I hated myself for not being able to cope with crowds of people and for ruining what had otherwise been a good day. And when I found a somewhat quieter parking area near the exit, and tried to salvage what I could of the trip, my shoes got bogged down in mud when I walked around and then I tracked mud into my car and everything was awful for a little while.

I left the park and made a few other stops along the way and took some more wrong turns; nothing interesting to see, and there was no place to park to visit Fernandina Beach, so I wound up just going back to Ft. Clinch (entrance fee good all day) to walk along the beach there. It was kind of crowded by that point but not terrible. Trying to avoid the runners and mountain bikers, I hiked along the trails for a bit and saw a Roseate Spoonbill fly by, along with some migratory warblers in the oaks. Also got another lifer on the beach: Sandwich Terns, which weren't there earlier that morning.

Sandwich Tern, small bird in the center. You can make out the yellow tip on the bill.

Two Willets, just chillin.

Verdict: The parks are probably nicer to visit on a weekday when there's fewer crowds. Overall, I only saw 34 bird species the whole day (I spent about 5 hours, total, in the car) but three of them were lifers, so while it wasn't a total bust, the day could have been better. The weather was nice and Little Talbot has pretty beaches, so I may go back at some point, but Cedar Key remains a better spot for migration.

Birds, Birds, Birds! Big Day at Cedar Key and Lower Suwannee

So it's been a while since I wrote about my birding activities...took a drive out to Cedar Key this morning, under cloudy skies and a light mist. The rain stopped but skies remained overcast until about 2:00, which was good because it didn't get too hot, but disappointing for photography and identification. Still, the day was productive and I managed to nab 61 species including 2 lifers.

My first stop was the shell mound and Lower Suwannee Wildlife Refuge. As I turned onto the road that leads to the camping area and shell mound, I found dozens of Blue Grosbeaks foraging in the grass, and numerous Barn Swallows everywhere. The shell mound itself was kind of dead at 8:00 AM, but there was a nice flock of Black Skimmers on a sandbar.

Next stop was the railroad trestle trail, where I ran into the Alachua Audubon field trip that had come over from Gainesville. In some ways it would have been nice to go with them and get positive IDs on difficult birds, but I generally prefer to bird alone or in a very small group. There were about 20 people in this caravan and that's just too much for me. At the trailhead I got a Northern Parula and Black-throated Green Warbler, and further on, a Common Ground-Dove, and then had the good fortune to spot a Bald Eagle eating a fish out on an oyster bed. I managed to get one picture before a boat came along and scared it off:

Headed over to the museum grounds next, and had the place to myself. I stumbled upon a small flock of Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks (8 males, 6 females) that I watched for a good half-hour because they're so pretty. I have a fondness for black-and-white animals in general. I wasn't able to get a really clear picture of one, but the best picture I got shows off his rosy breast very well:

Other highlights around the museum at this time included a Summer Tanager, female Black-and-white Warbler, and a Mystery Bird that I later ID'd as an Orchard Oriole -- a lifer for me! I failed to get a photo, which would have greatly helped with the ID because I didn't have my book on me and I was trying to go from memory. At the time I couldn't think of any North American bird that fit the description of what I was seeing. I later saw another one in a garden when I went back towards the railroad trestle trail in the early afternoon.

Blue Grosbeaks have taken over the Cedar Key cemetery. I probably saw well over a hundred total today, between Cedar Key and the shell mound area. The boardwalk trail around the cemetery was also a nice spot for Avocets (some in breeding plumage), Willets, and some photogenic Barn Swallows:

Male Blue Grosbeak

There was also a female Scarlet Tanager on the ground by the side of the trail. As I approached she hopped into the bushes, but it was clear she was injured or possibly just exhausted from the migration. She was holding her right wing slightly away from her body.

I then headed over into town and walked around the pier. The shoreline was surprisingly absent of birds -- no gulls or terns to be seen.  I did, however, see two dolphins and a group of at least four, possibly 5 manatees in the shallow water on the north side of the bridge on the road that I don't know the name of. (That was helpful, wasn't it?)

I didn't want to make the trip back to Gainesville without making sure I'd covered everything, so I went back to the railroad trestle trail and saw a pair of Indigo Buntings and Summer Tanagers, as well as the other Orchard Orioles. I was really happy about the Indigo Buntings because every time I saw a blue bird earlier in the day, it always turned out to be a Blue Grosbeak. I realized Indigos are a much brighter blue, which will help me in future IDs. (I know they're also smaller than Grosbeaks, but you can't always tell size when they flit into the bushes.) I then went back to the museum grounds, where nothing appeared to be happening, so I decided to leave for lunch. But as I was driving away, I happened to look over at a tree and I saw a long tail with some distinctive white spots.

Cuckoo! Yellow-billed Cuckoo! I love these birds. Every time I've seen one, it's been by random chance: I just happened to be looking in the right place without expecting to see anything at all. At this point the Audubon field trip group showed up, so I pointed out the cuckoo to them and stuck around to do some further birding on the trails that go around the museum. The best photographic highlight for me was a male Scarlet Tanager who unfortunately was injured or exhausted from migration, but made for a good subject by not moving around too much.

Also found an oak tree filled with a mess of warblers (that's a more fun term than "mixed flock") and in total I wound up with 61 species for the day, including two lifers. I was out from 8 AM to about 3 PM, on my own, without a scope, so I think I did pretty well, considering. I could have probably had a longer and more productive day had I packed a lunch. Here's the total for today, including Cedar Key, the Lower Suwannee, and alongside S.R. 24:

Brown Pelican                                        Double-Crested Cormorant

Great Egret                                             Great Blue Heron

Tricolor Heron                                        Snowy Egret

White Ibis                                               Black Vulture

Red-shouldered Hawk                          Bald Eagle

Osprey                                                     Wild Turkey

American Avocet                                    Willet

Black-bellied Plover                              Sanderling

Ring-Billed Gull                                     Least Tern

Forster's Tern                                         Black Skimmer

Common Ground-Dove                        Mourning Dove

Eurasian Collared-Dove                        Yellow-Billed Cuckoo

Pileated Woodpecker                             Red-bellied Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker                              Great Crested Flycatcher

Gray Kingbird*                                       Barn Swallow

Tree Swallow                                          Carolina Wren

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher                          Veery

Gray Catbird                                           Northern Mockingbird 

American Crow                                      Red-eyed Vireo

Blue-headed Vireo                                 Northern Parula

Black-throated Green Warbler            Cape May Warbler

Pine Warbler                                           Palm Warbler

Prairie Warbler                                       Black-and-white Warbler

Common Yellowthroat                          Summer Tanager

Scarlet Tanager                                       Northern Cardinal

Rose-breasted Grosbeak                       Blue Grosbeak

Indigo Bunting                                       Painted Bunting

Swamp Sparrow                                     Common Grackle

Boat-tailed Grackle                                Red-winged Blackbird

European Starling                                 House Sparrow

Orchard Oriole*

*New species for the life list. Total so far for 2014: 112 species

Birding Update: Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

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.

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.

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.

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!")

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