Monday, March 3, 2008

FLORIDA TRIP

The family went to Florida to go to Disney World. We were supposed to arrive at 9:45 am on Wed. February 26th and I was going to get to bird all day. The next day we were going to go to Disney and maybe the third morning a bit of birding before catching a flight home.



Of course the flight to Orlando was canceled and we had to catch a later flight through Atlanta. We didn't make it in until about 4:00 pm and the day was shot for birding. Could I possibly be going to Florida less than an hour from Merritt Island and not get to bird there?! It looked grim and I felt like a cornered weasel. We went to Disney the next day (I wore my binocs) and was lucky enough to get a real good and close look at a Bald Eagle fly in and land on the lake beach as we were leaving on the ferry at the end of the day. Not much else save the Ring-billed Gulls, White Ibis & Boat-tailed Grackle. Oh, I did get Grey Catbird there too which was pretty cool.



The next day we were supposed to leave but I was determined to get to Merritt Island/Titusville and get the birds I needed from this trip so I got everyone going as early as possible and got to Titusville at about 10:30am.



We had until 3pm to get going to make the flight back. We made it, I was going to get to bird Merritt Island. I lifted my binocs and began to turn the focus wheel...and turn and turn and turn....not focusing properly, no stops. Are you F&*%^ing kidding me! My binocular is broken?!?! NOW?!!?! The focus was a pain in the ass but I was able to use them and get birds as long as they weren't moving to fast.



The bird list started taking off the moment we arrived. I got 80 something birds for the trip mostly from Merritt Island and mostly from the car. Check out the list! One important bird was the Florida Scrub Jay. I asked at the Visitor center where to see it and checked the areas I was told at the end of the Black Point Wildlife Drive to the gate at Canaveral National Seashore. No luck. Last year we went to the gate at Canaveral and asked where they had been seen lately and the guard/money taker told us just ahead about 300 yards at a pull off on the left. We indeed saw them there. This year we asked again and the guard told us she hadn't seen them lately, good luck. At this point the kids and wife were getting tired and hungry and Cranky! We paid the $3 to get in and so we could "go to the beach". I had to get the Florida Scrub Jay. I was telling everyone to help Daddy find a blue bird so we could hurry up and go to the beach. (By the way, the 2 days we were there it was in the 50's and windy) We drove in slowly and in less than a minute saw one sitting on the top a snag on the side of the road. I yelled "YES, YES, There is a scrub jay!!" and then we came to the pull off to the left where we had seen them last year and stopped. Sure enough, there was another and another. We dropped a few bread crumbs out the window and were mobbed by about 8 of them almost instantly.



Black Point Drive before this produced just about everything, including a bunch of gators including a couple of really big ones! As we were driving through racking up the species I said out loud "Come on, I need a Reddish Egret" 30 seconds later I blurted "There is a Reddish Egret!" My wife said flat out "I don't believe you." Then she began to question the integrity of all birders in general wondering how we could trust anyones lists, yadda, yadda, yadda. I showed her the bird and she stopped. Then I told her to find a Green Heron for me. I can't believe I am not going to get Green Heron?! 1 minute later she said "What is that! A Green Heron!?" Sure as hell, there it was.


We also saw several Loggerhead Shrikes here, 4 or 5. I don't know if I even saw that many mockingbirds on the trip! I saw a Crested caracara flyover which was totally unexpected! I thought I got a Yellow-breated Chat until I put it in e-bird and e-bird said "What?!, that is amazing, are you sure?" so I didn't list it. Alot of these birds were also the best looks I have ever gotten which was really nice. When I saw a pair of Hooded Mergansers Gannon said "Wooden Bananas?!!" That was pretty much the funniest part of the whole trip.

At Blackpoint Drive there were quite a few shorebirds especially peeps that I was not able to identify. I probably could have gotten 10 more species with more time and a more experienced birder with me like Ryan Slapringer, Matt Malarkey, Jeff Blowhard or Brian Smartypants.


1 Mottled Duck (Anas fulvigula)
2 Blue-winged Teal (Anas discors)
3 Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)
4 Greater Scaup (Aythya marila)
5 Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis)
6 Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola)
7 Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus)
8 Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps)
9 Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus)
10 Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)
11 Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
12 Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga)
13 Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
14 Great Egret (Ardea alba)
15 Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)
16 Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea)
17 Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor)
18 Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens)
19 Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis)
20 Green Heron (Butorides virescens)
21 White Ibis (Eudocimus albus)
22 Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus)
23 Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja)
24 Wood Stork (Mycteria americana)
25 Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus)
26 Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
27 Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)
28 Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
29 Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)
30 American Coot (Fulica americana)
31 Limpkin (Aramus guarauna)
32 Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis)
33 Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
34 Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)
35 Willet (Tringa semipalmata)
36 Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)
37 Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)
38 Sanderling (Calidris alba)
39 Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)
40 Dunlin (Calidris alpina)
41 Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus)
42 Laughing Gull (Larus atricilla)
43 Bonaparte's Gull (Larus philadelphia)
44 Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)
45 Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)
46 Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia)
47 Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri)
48 Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus)
49 Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis)
50 Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger)
51 Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon)
52 Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus)
53 Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus)
54 Florida Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens)
55 Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)
56 Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus)
57 Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum)
58 Palm Warbler (Dendroica palmarum)
59Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway)
60Northern Parula (Parula americana)
61Yellow-rumped Warbler (Dendroica coronata)
62Pine Warbler (Dendroica pinus)
63Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia)
64Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
65Rock Pigeon (Columba livia)
66Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)
67Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)
68American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
69Fish Crow (Corvus ossifragus)
70Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis)
71Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula)
72Boat-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus major)
73American Wigeon (Anas americana)
74Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius)
75Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus)
76Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)
77Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor)
78Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)
79Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
80House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
81European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
82American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
83Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)

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