Tropical Audubon Society

South Florida’s Voice of Conservation

Twenty birders joined Paul Bithorn and me for today's TAS Tour to STA-2 and the Everglades Agricultural Area near Belle Glade in Palm Beach County. We experienced weather typical for late summer in south Florida; hot and sunny in the morning, with intermittent rain showers in the afternoon. Water levels in STA-2 were found to be too high to provide suitable habitat for shorebirds, so we only spent a couple of hours at this first stop. Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Least Bittern, Grey-headed Swamphen (about 20) and Bobolink were among the species seen there.

We then made several stops along US 27. At a flooded field near Star Quarry on the west side of the highway, we found our first shorebirds, including American Avocet, Willet and Pectoral Sandpiper. Sod fields at King Ranch on the east side of US 27 held a few shorebirds, but nothing new. At sod fields on the west side of US 27 between US 827 and Willard Smith Road, just south of South Bay, we found several Upland Sandpipers.

After lunch in Belle Glade, we stopped at flooded fields on CR 880, where we found hundreds of Wood Storks and Roseate Spoonbills, Bald Eagle, several types of shorebird (again, none new) and four species of terns (Caspian, Gull-billed, Black and Least) plus Black Skimmer. Our final stop of the tour was a flooded field at Roth Farm, west of Brown's Farm Road, where we found several Wilson's Phalaropes among the many shorebirds present. We also had both Fulvous and Black-bellied Whistling Ducks at this location. Our trip list follows:

Muscovy Duck
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Fulvous Whistling-Duck
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Least Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Wood Stork
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Red-shouldered Hawk
King Rail
Grey-headed Swamphen
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Spotted Sandpiper
Upland Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Stilt Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Snipe
Wilson's Phalarope
Laughing Gull
Gull-billed Tern
Caspian Tern
Least Tern
Black Tern
Black Skimmer
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Common Ground-Dove
Common Nighthawk
Belted Kingfisher
Loggerhead Shrike
Blue Jay
Fish Crow
Purple Martin
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Common Myna
Yellow Warbler
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Boat-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Sparrow