Florida Birding Trail - 12 Mar 2006

1200 Hrs. Flew into Orlando this morning. Temps 85F w/ partly cloudy skies, breezy. Got a Chevy Equinox and loaded up the scope/tripod/binocs and headed off to Merritt Island to do some birding. 

On the way there (Toll Rd 528 E) I saw numerous Turkey Vultures, Black Vultures, and a Crested Caracara. Lots of Cattle Egrets, Osprey, Great Egrets were seen also. 

Got to the jct. of US-1 and went south toward Merritt Island. I saw a sign for the Florida Birding Trail and pulled into a small park. Several Osprey were flying overhead, and I saw several Eurasian Collared Doves, Boat-tailed Grackles. 

I walked the little boardwalk trail and head only a Northern Cardinal. 

I stopped in the Nature Center and was able to get a map of the Great Florida Birding Trail w/ locations for birding all over the state. 

0230 Hrs. I decided to head back north up US-1 to Cape Canaveral to look for shorebirds. One stop was in Oak Hills, but it turned out to be a 2-hr drive. I got as far as Titusville and found Co-402 that took me to the Merritt Island NWF (which was what I originally was looking for). The winds were very strong, and the skies had cleared and the sun was shining at 85F. The bay had whitecaps so birding was going to be difficult. 

As I drove E toward the National Seashore I spotted a large flock of flying shorebirds to my right. I backed up, and found a dirt road that took me along side a flock of 50 American Avocets, 

about 200 American Coots, 20 or so Willets, Lesser Yellowlegs, Long-billed Dowitchers, Laughing Gulls, Caspian Terns, Little Blue Herons, Reddish Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets, Dunlin, Least Sandpipers, Black Skimmers (25+), Pied-billed Grebes, Double-crested Cormorants, possibly a Royal Tern, and Sanderlings. 

From there I continued east and found a sign for the Black Point Wildlife Drive. A left turn took me along a 1-way dike in an area where the USFW was conducting a controlled burn. With smoke blowing to the west, I drove past numerous ponds containing shorebirds, Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, and ducks. 

Among the notables were Glossy Ibis, 

White Ibis, 

Blue-winged Teal, Moorhens, Coots, Least Sandpipers, Greater Yellowlegs and Lesser Yellowlegs, Willets, 

Black Stilts, Dunlin. 

Note: all shorebirds were in basic plumage w/ the exception of some of the Avocets that were starting to show rusty heads. 

1700 Hrs. On the way back I saw Wood Storks, Sandhill Cranes, an Wild Turkey, Osprey, Black and Turkey Vultures, Glossy Ibis, White Ibis and Brown Pelicans. 

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (restricted access), Brevard, Florida, US
Mar 12, 2006 12:00 PM
Protocol: Incidental
Checklist Comments:     Flight to Orlando and drive to Cape Canaveral. Car-birding
37 species

Blue-winged Teal (Spatula discors)  2
Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)  2
Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps)  2
Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)  2
Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata)  2
American Coot (Fulica americana)  200
Sandhill Crane (Antigone canadensis)  2
Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)  2
American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana)  26
Long-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus)  2
Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes)  2
Willet (Tringa semipalmata)  2
Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca)  2
Sanderling (Calidris alba)  2
Dunlin (Calidris alpina)  2
Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla)  2
Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla)  2
Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger)  20
Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia)  2
Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus)  2
Wood Stork (Mycteria americana)  2
Double-crested Cormorant (Nannopterum auritum)  2
Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)  2
Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea)  2
Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor)  2
Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens)  2
Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)  2
Western Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis)  2
Great Egret (Ardea alba)  1
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)  2
White Ibis (Eudocimus albus)  2
Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus)  2
Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus)  2
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)  2
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)  2
Crested Caracara (Northern) (Caracara plancus cheriway)  1
Boat-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus major)  2

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S41853588

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)