Bird Board
Upland Sandpiper @ South Dade Agricultural Field 8/14/2015
Posted by Rangel Diaz
about 9 years ago
4 Comments
Hit the ag field along the intersection of CR 9336 (road that leads into Everglades National Park) and SW 217th avenue this morning between 7-8:30 am with Hans Gonzembach. Off the bat we heard warbler flight calls over head and were able to spot a few birds as they made their way south. Unfortunately most were left unidentified with the exception of the Upland Sandpiper that went over us doing it's very unique flight call. The Barn and Cliff Swallow numbers have definitely gone up since the last time I was here. According to my notes there was a Buff-breasted Sandpiper out in that same field August 17, 2013. Migration is picking up!
Comments
In the past these fields would have hundreds of shorebirds, if not more. August 1, 2004 I hit those same fields and the numbers of Pectorals and Lesser Yellowlegs was impressive. I must have seen over 1,000 individuals. Larry found ~80 Uplands in those fields on another occasion, and in early September, 2010, on my way back from seeing Larry's Cuban Pewee at LPK, I counted 13 Buff-breasted Sandpipers at the intersection of 217 Ave. and 9336. Since then, with the loss of Cutler Wetlands, the racetrack fields, the Mt. Trashmore pond, the Hurricane Waste ponds, the VA Key sewage treatment ponds, and the Lucky Hammock fields, it's become almost impossible to find any significant number of shorebirds in Dade County.
Toe, when was the last time you saw a semipalmated sandpiper in Miami Dade? Thanks
There is an eBird report (http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S24581549) of three semipalmated sandpipers seen at Crandon Park this past Tuesday. I would guess that the beaches of Key Biscayne have attracted a greater number of shorebird species over the years than any other location in Miami-Dade (feel free to prove me wrong). A quick look at the eBird bar graphs for Crandon Park and Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park show a combined total of over thirty shorebird species! Don't expect to see anywhere close to that number on any given day, but still . . .
2013 was my last Semipalmated Sandpiper in Dade, the last year I birded heavily in the county. Don't remember where exactly. While Crandon has the highest shorebird species total, in it's day Cutler Wetlands was the place to see great variety at one time, including some species not seen at Crandon. I recall days with 15-16 shorebird species at one time, including one afternoon with such gems as 2 Buff-breasted Sandpipers, 4 Wilson's Phalaropes, and 2 Red Knots. Crandon typically has at most 10 species, and usually less.
Leaving Dade County, we found one field in the Palm Beach sod farms that had 20 shorebird species, including 2 species of Phalarope at one time.
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