Green Cay
It is like coming home. I’ve been coming to Florida for part or for the whole winter for twelve years now. In those years I have built friendships with many other birders. I have also found my favorite places. One of those places is a spot called Green Cay Wetlands and Nature Center on the Boynton Beach/Delray border in Palm Beach County. Green Cay is a welcome oasis in a sprawling suburban area, with one manicured gated community after another. For many years the land was farmed and as the housing developments crept closer and closer, the owners of the land wanted something more for their property. So was born Green Cay and it is managed by Palm Beach County Water Utilities and the Palm Beach County Parks and Recreation. The creation of Green Cay was preceded by Wakodahatchee Wetlands and was the model for this bigger place, complete with an education and visitor center. It is a natural water reclamation system where waste water is purified and recycled. Along the perimeter and through man made high islands are board walks a mile and half long which are used by many residents and visitors, for walking, birding, photographing, chatting and reconnecting with nature.
I met two of my Florida birding buds, Betty from Connecticut and Larry from Queens, for a morning stroll to reconnect, chat and of course, bird. Betty said that a pair of painted buntings have been regulars at one of the feeders at one of the chickee huts. Chickee huts are traditional open sided, roofed structures built by the native peoples of the Everglades. We made our way towards the hammock and hut in birder fashion. Walk. Stop. Look. Walk. Stop. Look. There were many birds along the way to observe, all the waders, coots, moorhens, teals, red-shouldered hawk, limpkins, wood stork, and sora. It is one of the most reliable spots for sora that I know. We had two that day. We waited under the hut in the company of blue-gray gnatcatchers, yellow rumps and palm warblers for the buntings to appear. A pair soon arrived and after sitting together in a shrub, they hopped onto the feeder. We had great views of the dazzling male with all his brilliant colors and the drab greenish yellow female for several minutes. Our next mission was to catch up with the black-bellied whistling ducks we had seen flying overhead. It took us a little while with our walk, stop, look, but we did see two groups on two different islands. One of the events we witnessed along the way was aggression between a coot and a moorhen. A coot was chasing a moorhen and when the coot caught up with the moorhen, it held it under water for several seconds! I had never seen this kind of behavior before and am uncertain as to the purpose. Some coots and moorhen blithely watched the goings on while others scattered for cover beneath the vegetation. Hey, the action kind of scared me, too, but it was fascinating to watch!
Later that day, as I was pulling into our parking space at the condo after returning from the grocery store, I looked up at the building next door and I noticed that an osprey was sitting on the corner of the roof. I have often noticed ospreys in that prime location overlooking the ocean. My eye caught sight of another bird, sitting one story down on an outside window storm shutter. It was a peregrine falcon! I quickly gathered my grocery sacks (canvas, of course) and hurried to the elevator. I flew into the apartment, past a visiting relative, grabbed my camera and scope and dashed to the balcony. I had to get the shot! I have on several occasions, seen peregrines on that building. As a friend reminded me, tall buildings are a natural for falcons. I don’t know if it's the same bird I saw a few years ago as a first year bird or not. Who knows. Maybe it has come home, too.
Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. Photo by Jody Levin.
Male Green-winged Teal transitioning to winter plumage. Photo by Jody Levin.
Peregrine Falcon. Photo by Jody Levin.