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"Saturday morning started out with
around 15 of us, which very quickly
grew to a group of nearly 25 birders
joining and leaving the group all
day. We headed out at sunrise to
Viera Wetlands, where we enjoyed the
aerial antics of a peregrine falcon
in search of prey. We were amazed as
we watched the falcon, which took
away the disappointment of not
finding the short-eared owl. A
member our group noticed an otter
sitting and rolling in the soft sand
of the trail at the wetlands, to our
delight. A caracara performed an
amazing fly-by to show off its
breakfast prey and we also observed
a bald eagle in the area. There were
high numbers of coots, moorhens and
ducks, which consisted mainly of
blue-winged teal. Hooded mergansers,
ring-necked ducks and ruddy ducks
were also seen in the ponds. We
spent considerable time identifying
a Greater scaup (female) that was
quite cooperative for us. We had
great looks at two black-crowned
night herons.
Northern harrier, red-shouldered
hawk and American kestrel were also
seen. The click ponds with the high
water level did not produce anything
for us. Plenty of sandhill cranes
could be seen in the fields. We
headed out to Dixie Crossroads for
lunch and met a few more
participants. Due to MINWR closure
for the delayed shuttle launch, we
came up with an alternate plan. Tom
got permission for us to enter Blue
Heron Treatment Plant, where we
found American wigeon and wood duck,
plus many more of the same ducks. An
American bittern was seen by some of
the participants.
This trip, by far, was one of the
most fun adventures for our group
and hopefully will be repeated next
year with better access to MINWR.
Special thanks to Tom Dunkerton for
coordinating and leading this trip
for us."
- Diane
Reed, 12/12/07
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 Leader:
Thomas J.
Dunkerton
Date:
Saturday,
December 8, 2007
This field trip is designed to
accommodate ‘early birders’ and
‘not-so-early’ birders. It is
divided into two parts to enhance
the birding enjoyment for our
chapter participants.
PART 1 –
Viera Wetlands
Begins:
7:00AM – 10:30AM
Meeting Place:
Burger King parking lot at
Exit 191 of I-95, Wickham Road.
From this point, we will caravan to
the Wetlands searching for King
rail, Purple gallinule, Northern
bobwhite, as well as some of the
other Viera specialties (Caracara,
Limpkin) and the seasonal grand
parade of waterfowl.
Trip
difficulty: Birding in and
out of cars – very little walking.
Directions:
Approximately 2 hour drive from St.
Augustine.
From I-95, take Exit 191 (Wickham
Road) and go west to the end of the
road. You will pass through
developed properties of the Duda
Farms along the way. Sign in at the
Administration Office before going
to the dikes. To get to the north
ponds go back out through the gate
and go north on the dirt road next
to the power lines. For information,
call 321-255-4328. Note that we will
be meeting at the Burger King
parking lot prior to entering the
Wetlands.
PART 2 –
Merritt Island National Wildlife
Refuge
Begins:
11:00AM (with lunch break) – mid
afternoon.
Meeting Place:
Dixie Crossroads Restaurant
Directions:
Approximately 90 minute drive from
St. Augustine.
Exit 220 off I-95, East 2 miles; on
the south side of Garden Street;
just west of Park Avenue. We will
meet at 11:00 AM at the restaurant
for lunch prior to continuing our
trip to the Refuge. Please let us
know if you will be having lunch
with us, so we can plan for seating.
Appetizers and salads, sandwiches
and baskets are available for a
reasonably priced lunch. Please
notify Diane Reed by December 1st if
you are planning on going to the
restaurant for lunch.
From the restaurant, we will plan
our visit to the Refuge at the
direction of our trip leader. Expect
to see specialties, such as Florida
scrub jay, migratory water fowl,
wading birds, nesting bald eagles,
and the many shorebirds that winter
at the Refuge. In the event of a
shuttle launch, we will still
proceed with our field trip to areas
of the Refuge that are not closed.
The Refuge exit is the same (Exit
220 from I-95) as the restaurant.
Refuge trip
difficulty: Easy car birding,
short walks to observation
platforms.
What to Bring:
Drinks, snacks, insect spray,
binoculars, and a scope if you have
one.
Contact:
Diane Reed at 904-829-9854. Cell
phone day of trip: 904-540-2030
Visit Tom's
one-of-a-kind
photo gallery for pictures of
various species he's photographed
over the years at MINWR and the
surrounding areas.
Masked Duck photo above courtesy
and copyright by Tom Dunkerton.
Unauthorized use is prohibited. |
1. pied-billed grebe
2. double-crested cormorant
3. anhinga
4. American bittern
5. great blue heron
6. great egret
7. snowy egret
8. little blue heron
9. tri-colored heron
10. reddish egret
11. cattle egret
12. green heron
13. black-crowned night heron
14. white ibis
15. gloss ibis
16. American wood stork
17. wood duck (??)
18. green winged teal
19. mottled duck
20. mallard
21. blue-winged teal
22. American wigeon
23. ring-necked duck
24. greater scaup
25. hooded merganser |
26. ruddy duck
27. black vulture
28. turkey vulture
29. osprey
30. bald eagle
31. northern harrier
32. red-shouldered hawk
33. Cooper's hawk
34. red-tailed hawk
35. American kestrel
36. peregrine falcon
37. Crested caracara
38. sora (??? heard)
39. common moorhen
40. American coot
41. killdeer
42. willet
43. ruddy turnstone
44. sanderling
45. short-billed dowitcher
46. Wilson's snipe
47. laughing gull
48. ring-billed gull
49. royal tern
50. rock dove |
51. Eurasian-collared dove
52. mourning dove
53. common ground dove
54. belted kingfisher
55. Eastern phoebe
56. tree swallow
57. American crow
58. fish crow
59. house wren
60. marsh wren
61. ruby-crowned kinglet
62. blue-gray gnatcatcher
63. Northern mockingbird
64. loggerhead shrike
65. European starling
66. yellow-rumped warbler
67. palm warbler
68. prairie warbler
69. Savannah sparrow
70. swamp sparrow
71. red-winged blackbird
72. boat-tailed grackle
73. house sparrow |
