TX - FL Trip ~ February 3-4, 2010

February 3, 2010

Today was basically a travel day from Texas to Florida. The overnight rain continued as I headed to the Laredo Airport for my flight to Fort Lauderdale, FL via Houston. I arrived in Fort Lauderdale around sunset, got my Chevy Cobalt rental from Enterprise, and drove the 2-1/2 hours up I-95 to my motel in Palm Bay.

---

February 4, 2010

I left the motel and drove the short distance up I-95 to the Viera Wetlands, getting there around sunrise. Because of the heavy rains that had occurred a few days before I arrived, the dike roads around the impoundments were closed to vehicles. So, I started walking the half-mile or so down the dike to Cell #4 to search for the male Masked Duck that had been there for over a month. Partway down, a Loggerhead Shrike perched in a tree along the dike.

Then, I very slowly walked right past a Limpkin standing on the dike road.

Eventually, the bird flew into its more natural habitat.

White Ibis also provided great looks at close range.

Cell #4 held Blue-winged Teal.

One of many Common Moorhens worked the edges of the vegetation.

One of three American Bitterns posed for a photo.

A pair of Sandhill Cranes were sporadically calling while building their nest.

Evenutally, more birders started filing into the area and, after about two hours, someone spotted the prize duck diving among a few American Coots. The Masked Duck was another 'lifer'. Its black head, eye ring, pale blue bill, and chestnut-colored body were unmistakable.

While we were watching the duck, an adult Bald Eagle circled overhead.

The impoundments also held Hooded Merganser, Glossy Ibis, Great Egret, Tricolored Heron, and Belted Kingfisher, which was the fourth species of kingfisher for the trip.

Around lunchtime, I left Viera and motored all the way back down I-95 to Pelican Harbor in Miami. There, I was very lucky to get to see and photograph the sub-adult Red-footed Booby that was sporadically visiting the harbor.

I continued down US-1 and took the Rickenbacker Causeway down to Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park on Key Biscayne. There was only a little over an hour of light left when I got to the area where the La Sagra's Flycatcher had been spending most of its time. I saw very few birds there before sunset came, so I headed back up to my motel in Coral Springs.

---

TX - FL Trip ~ February 5, 2010

I woke up early enough to get back to Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park just before it opened. I arrived at the flycatcher spot a little after 8:00 AM under pretty windy conditions. A few minutes later, Greg Cranna from Massachusetts joined me. The next hour of watching and waiting produced Eastern Phoebe, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Common Yellowthroat, and a female Painted Bunting. We both agreed that the winds were not a good sign and that checking the leeward side of the area might be worth a try. We exchanged cell phone numbers and slowly ventured off to the surrounding areas. About 9:05, Greg called to let me know that he had the bird. I headed for his location and he pointed out the bird to me. It was about 10 feet up in a tree right next to a paved bike trail. I got excellent looks at my 'life' La Sagra's Flycatcher that was, at one time, no more than eight feet away! But by the time I decided to grab my camera, the bird moved back into the thicker vegetation and disappeared. We planned to hang around a while longer to see if it would reappear, but a heavy rain shower moved in and squashed that idea.

Instead, we decided to drive over to the Kendall Baptist Hospital to look for parrots and parakeets. We did see a small group of Monk Parakeets and a small group of adult and young White Ibis.

A Boat-tailed Grackle walked aroung the grounds.

From there, I drove to Miramar to hopefully get a look at a Purple Swamphen. Several of them cooperated with close views.

Note the length of the toes on this bird.

My description of them is a pale-headed Purple Gallinule on steroids. Here's a comparison photo of the two species. Note the differences in size, leg color, bill color, and frontal shield color.

I managed to get a few photos of the Purple Gallinules there, including this young bird.

Here's one of the adults.

Other birds seen there included Osprey, Tricolored Heron, Common Moorhen, a 'fly-by' Cooper's Hawk, and more Monk Parakeets.

I still had a good amount of daylight left, so I headed for Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. There, I was thrilled to find this single Roseate Spoonbill.

Four Wood Storks also were present. One young bird (right) was with the adults.

Other birds included Anhingas, Tricolored and Little Blue Herons, and Limpkin. I left after sunset and headed back to my room in Coral Springs.

---

TX - FL Trip ~ February 6, 2010

I was supposed to getting on an 8:00 AM flight from Fort Lauderdale to Philadelphia, but the Mid-Atlantic was getting nailed by a major snowstorm and my flight departure time was rescheduled for 3:30 PM. Since Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge was about a half-hour away, I decided to spend the morning there. What I didn't realize was that there was an "Everglades Day" festival going on there. Tents full of displays and demonstrations were set up for the visitors. It just so happened that one of the people that was scheduled to speak at the time I was there was Kenn Kaufman, so I was pleasantly surprised when I got to meet him beforehand.

Nearby, a Red-shouldered Hawk of the pale 'Florida' race was unconcerned by the visitors watching it as it caught a lizard.

An Anhinga perched on a snag, waiting for its wings to dry.

A Little Blue Heron stalked something in one of the impoundments.

A pair of Mottled Ducks swam nearby.

A Tricolored Heron was also there.

A Pileated Woodpecker hung on a telephone pole along the main road.

I left there, headed for the airport, and dropped off my rental car. Little did I know that my delayed flight back to Pennsylvania was cancelled because the Philadelphia Airport was completely shut down. One U.S. Airways representative managed to get me on a flight to their hub in Charlotte, North Carolina. Unfortunately, that connecting flight to Philadelphia was also cancelled, so I ended up spending the night in the Charlotte airport.

---

TX - FL Trip ~ February 7, 2010

With the exception of one guy who was apparently having a bad day, I found all of the U.S. Airways employees to be extremely helpful considering the many stranded travelers who weren't very happy. I was among at least 40 other people on 'standby' lists. Philadelphia International finally reopened and, at 2:00 PM, I got on a plane to Philadelphia, arriving about a day-and-a-half later than planned. I was very happy to find that the two feet of snow had been blown off my car by the strong winds, so I did a little shoveling behind it, got in, and drove back home, getting there about the time the Super Bowl started.

It was a very successful trip as I managed to see four 'lifers', five if you include the 'uncountable' Purple Swamphen, among the 96 species. Here's the species list.

---

Texas and Florida Trip - February 1-6, 2010

1) Pied-billed Grebe----(Texas)(Florida)
2) Red-footed Booby*----(Florida)
3) Brown Pelican----(Florida)
4) Double-crested Cormorant----(Texas)(Florida)
5) Neotropic Cormorant----(Texas)
6) Anhinga----(Florida)
7) American Bittern----(Florida)
8) Great Blue Heron----(Texas)(Florida)
9) Great Egret----(Texas)(Florida)
10) Snowy Egret----(Texas)(Florida)
11) Little Blue Heron----(Florida)
12) Tricolored Heron----(Florida)
13) Cattle Egret----(Texas)(Florida)
14) Green Heron----(Texas)(Florida)
15) White Ibis----(Florida)
16) Glossy Ibis----(Florida)
17) White-faced Ibis----(Texas)
18) Roseate Spoonbill----(Florida)
19) Wood Stork----(Florida)
20) Mottled Duck----(Florida)
21) Blue-winged Teal----(Florida)
22) Gadwall----(Texas)
23) Ring-necked Duck----(Florida)
24) Hooded Merganser----(Florida)
25) Masked Duck*----(Florida)
26) Black Vulture----(Florida)
27) Turkey Vulture----(Texas)(Florida)
28) Osprey----(Texas)(Florida)
29) Bald Eagle----(Florida)
30) Northern Harrier----(Texas)(Florida)
31) Sharp-shinned Hawk----(Texas)
32) Cooper's Hawk----(Texas)(Florida)
33) Red-shouldered Hawk----(Texas)(Florida)
34) White-tailed Hawk----(Texas)
35) Red-tailed Hawk----(Texas)
36) Crested Caracara----(Texas)
37) American Kestrel----(Texas)(Florida)
38) Plain Chachalaca----(Texas)
39) Purple Gallinule----(Florida)
40) Common Moorhen----(Florida)
41) American Coot----(Texas)(Florida)
42) Purple Swamphen*----(Florida)
43) Sandhill Crane----(Florida)
44) Limpkin----(Florida)
45) Killdeer----(Florida)
46) Black-necked Stilt----(Texas)
47) Greater Yellowlegs----(Texas)
48) Lesser Yellowlegs----(Texas)
49) Spotted Sandpiper----(Texas)
50) Least Sandpiper----(Texas)(Florida)
51) Laughing Gull----(Florida)
52) Ring-billed Gull----(Texas)(Florida)
53) Great Black-backed Gull----(Florida)
54) Caspian Tern----(Florida)
55) Rock Dove----(Texas)(Florida)
56) Eurasian Collared-Dove----(Florida)
57) White-winged Dove----(Texas)(Florida)
58) Mourning Dove----(Texas)(Florida)
59) Inca Dove----(Texas)
60) Monk Parakeet----(Florida)
61) Buff-bellied Hummingbird----(Texas)
62) Amazon Kingfisher*----(Texas)
63) Ringed Kingfisher----(Texas)
64) Belted Kingfisher----(Florida)
65) Green Kingfisher----(Texas)
66) Golden-fronted Woodpecker----(Texas)
67) Pileated Woodpecker----(Florida)
68) La Sagra's Flycatcher*----(Florida)
69) Black Phoebe----(Texas)
70) Eastern Phoebe----(Texas)(Florida)
71) Great Kiskadee----(Texas)
72) Couch's Kingbird----(Texas)
73) Northern Rough-winged Swallow----(Texas)
74) Blue Jay----(Florida)
75) Fish Crow----(Florida)
76) Ruby-crowned Kinglet----(Texas)
77) Blue-gray Gnatcatcher----(Texas)(Florida)
78) American Robin----(Texas)(Florida)
79) Northern Mockingbird----(Texas)(Florida)
80) Loggerhead Shrike----(Texas)(Florida)
81) European Starling----(Texas)(Florida)
82) Blue-headed Vireo----(Texas)
83) Orange-crowned Warbler----(Texas)
84) Yellow-rumped Warbler----(Texas)
85) Palm Warbler----(Florida)
86) Common Yellowthroat----(Florida)
87) Northern Cardinal----(Texas)(Florida)
88) Painted Bunting----(Florida)
89) Lark Sparrow----(Texas)
90) Lark Bunting----(Texas)
91) Savannah Sparrow----(Florida)
92) Red-winged Blackbird----(Texas)(Florida)
93) Eastern Meadowlark----(Texas)
94) Great-tailed Grackle----(Texas)
95) Boat-tailed Grackle----(Florida)
96) House Sparrow----(Texas)

* Denotes "Life Bird".

---

Allen's Hummingbird in PA! ~ December 13, 2009

Scott Weidensaul got word about a hummingbird visiting a feeder near Leola in Lancaster County. In the process of catching and banding it, he documented the 1st record of Allen's Hummingbird for Pennsylvania! Arlene Koch and I drove down at first light and got to see this bird in dark and rainy conditions. Here are some very poor photos of it.

Allen's Hummingbird near Leola, Lancaster County on December 13, 2009. This adult female, caught and banded by Scott Weidensaul, represents the 1st record for Pennsylvania!

The drive back home was very interesting. It took about three hours because of the freezing rain and detours around the many accidents, but getting to see a new state bird more than compensated for it.

---

Black-headed Gull in Easton! ~ November 18-21, 2009

November 18th

After hearing reports and seeing photos of an adult Black-headed Gull at Merrill Creek Reservoir in nearby New Jersey, I decided to spend some late mornings and afternoons down at the 'Forks of the Delaware' in Easton. Gulls from Merrill Creek and other areas visit the local landfills in Easton and Bethlehem and then, afterwards, depending on the water level of the river, they tend to rest along the shoreline or on the rocks on a island below the dam. My hope was that the Black-headed Gull would drop in while I was there. Although it hadn't shown, I did find an Iceland Gull there on the 17th, which was the earliest that I had ever seen one in the area.

Then, at around 2:00, I noticed a small gull among the many Ring-billeds. Although I was hoping for it to happen, I was really surprised that I was looking at a first-winter Black-headed Gull! I managed to take some documentation photos of it, called Arlene Koch and asked her to post it on PABIRDS, and called a few other local birders about it. Rick Wiltraut was able to make it down there and also see the bird. Because of the excitement, what didn't click in my head until Rick mentioned it was that this was a different Black-headed since the Merrill Creek bird was an adult! Also there that afternoon were two Iceland Gulls.

Black-headed Gull at the 'Forks of the Delaware' in Easton. The orange bill with a black tip, the spot behind the eye, and the orange legs help make this a first-winter bird. I was so surprised when I found this bird that I overexposed the photo. This bird represents the 1st record for the Lehigh Valley area.

Black-headed Gull at the 'Forks of the Delaware' in Easton. Note the faint brown ulnar bar and the thin, black terminal band on the tail of this first-winter bird. This bird represents the 1st record for the Lehigh Valley area.

---

November 21st

I spent most of Saturday down at the 'Forks of the Delaware' in Easton, hoping to refind the Black-headed Gull. Thankfully, it showed up between 2:00 and 2:30 and allowed me to get much better photos than what I got on the 18th.

Black-headed Gull at the 'Forks of the Delaware' in Easton. The orange bill with a black tip, the spot behind the eye, and the orange legs make this a first-winter bird. This bird represents the 1st record for the Lehigh Valley area.

Black-headed Gull at the 'Forks of the Delaware' in Easton. The orange bill with a black tip, the spot behind the eye, the brown ulnar bar, the extensive amount of white in the outer primaries, the orange legs, and the black terminal band on the tail make this a first-winter bird. This bird represents the 1st record for the Lehigh Valley area.

---