Birding Overview for Interns

At 0900 this morning, Cyndi and I met two of the biology interns from the refuge, Sage and Caroline, with the intent of giving them an overview of productive birding areas within the refuge.

Starting on 105 Rd, we stopped near the helispot where we encountered several Br-headed Nuthatches that were soon joined by at least four, perhaps seven, Red-cockaded WPs. We watched them at good range for several minutes: they were noisy (exuberant?) and putting on a good show of flaking off slash pine bark. While here, the interns thought we may as well take a crack at Henslow’s Sparrow, so we walked to the SE corner of the helispot and very efficiently put up a Henslow’s that perched and provided good clear looks. This was a lifer for both interns, and we got the bird after two short flushes. I would encourage my fellow birders to consider limiting the flushing of these or other skulking species to special occasions and to minimize disturbing them for day lists and other such mundane and trivial pursuits.

On to the levee between Stony Bayous 1&2. Moments after watching an Osprey make an unusually high, spectacular, and successful plunge to capture a fish so large it had trouble flying off with it, an adult Bald Eagle was spotted flying to the nest on the W end of SB2. It was carrying a coot, gallinule, or rail, something with big feet. When it approached the nest, the half grown eaglet stood up and gave an impressive white squirt of feces (exuberance?). We then watched the adult tearing up the prey and feeding the chick.

The Am Flamingo was present on the north end of Mounds 3, looking fine and obviously getting well dosed with carotenoids. Waterfowl numbers here have plummeted – a few species with all species combined totaling a few dozen. The south end of Mounds 3 was equally empty.

Hitting Tower Pond at high tide produced large numbers of shorebirds; nothing unusual, but one Bl-necked Stilt, and 11 Marbled Godwits (a species that has been absent on my last several refuge visits).

At this point it was 1430 and we decided to avoid the weekend horde at the Lighthouse. On the way out, we noticed that Picnic Pond had no ducks.