Kissimmee Prairie, The Big Lake, a Return to Station 5 and a Post Script March 2010
Kissimmee Prairie Kite nesting tree
Usually March is a great time to go north to Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park. I had hoped to write about singing Bachman’s sparrows, and the diminutive grasshopper sparrows, nesting white-tailed and soaring swallow-tailed kites. I had hoped to write about what a beautiful, warm day it was. Alas, I can write about neither. The Great Goddess of Birding was not smiling on us at the prairie. Our trip was postponed once because of cool temps and high winds and perhaps we should have postponed the second attempt as well. Like a broken record, I begin again, it was yet another cool day in South Florida. I had on at least 5 layers, gloves, and a goofy looking ear band. (No photos, please!) Larry had on at least as many layers, a leather jacket and gloves. Fred had on a hooded windbreaker and a thin pair of long johns. (I resisted the urge to steal them!) Pat, ever the optimist, had a pair of shorts on under his long pants, and a down vest. Long pants are a rare concession for Pat.
We saw no Bachman’s nor grasshopper sparrows. We saw Savannah sparrows and one song sparrow. Song sparrows are not common here and maybe it was second one I’ve seen here in Florida. The white-tailed kites had not yet returned to their nesting tree out in the open prairie. We schlepped out to the spot in a strong north wind just to make sure. There were few birds of prey in the skies, save both vultures. The day had some bright spots, however. On the drive towards the preserve, we were treated to a pair crested caracara right at the road side. At that hour of the morning, we were free stop in the middle of the road for several minutes, to photograph and watch them from the car. It was a life bird for Fred, so he got a nod from The Great Goddess with a satisfying first sighting. I don’t think I’ve ever seen caracara so close to my eyes. No binoculars necessary! It was delightful.
Crested Caracara
On the way out of Kissimmee (pronounced ki-SIM-me), we were looking for burrowing owl on the private grazing land that abuts the park dirt road and Pat spotted a pair at a burrow. I was able to get some photographs. Even though it was not all that warm, there was a heat shimmer radiating from the ground, making it difficult for me to get a good shot, especially with my dinky digital through my scope. Not that that stopped me from taking pictures and including one here!
One of other claims to fame about Kissimmee Prairie are the night skies. The area is very sparsely populated, so light pollution is minimal and one can have a horizon to horizon view in the flat landscape. The air is not Florida like in that the humidity is low. In the winter on a moonless night I bet the view of the stars is kick butt awesome. I must put that adventure on the to-do list!
Horizon view of Kissimmee Prairie
Heading south, we stopped at a public area at the top of Lake Okeechobee, in the town of Okeechobee. The entire lake is surrounded by a levee and there is a spot along the spill area on the outer side of the levee where shore birds can likely be found. We had an array of gulls, tern, sandhill crane and waders as well. I guess the Great Goddess was warming up to us a bit by that time, and allowed us to view killdeer, both yellowlegs, least and western sandpipers. Larry spotted some Wilson’s snipe and as we were standing there, more snipe came flying in, raising the count to a dozen or so.
On the way home, we stopped at DuPuis to see if we could find the red-cockaded woodpeckers we’ve been seeking all season. The Great Goddess of Birding gave us a big raspberry. At the nest cluster, I heard a woodpecker call note that sounded odd to my ears and I had to investigate with hope in my heart. Only for the sake of a friend’s life bird would I go traipsing through the rough in snake country. It turned out to be a hairy woodpecker. Who knew they had southern accents! A hairy is a good sighting in this part of Florida, though, and we ended up with a respectable 78 species for the day.
Skimmer
A few days later, Larry and I headed out to Station 5 again. The day also began on the cool side, looking goofy again in layers and my ear band, which I am so glad I brought down with me but the day warmed up nicely for a change. At one point, I was actually warm and overdressed when it dawned on me that I could put the top down on the car! I had almost forgotten that my car could do that. OMG! Topless IS the way to do Station 5. So much easier to see snail kites and bald eagles, harriers, white pelicans, overhead ducks and the whole sky! The Great Goddess was indeed feeling more favorable towards us that day. There were many more shorebirds on this trip. We had many long and short billed dowitcher, several black necked stilts, yellowlegs galore, least sandpiper and black bellied plover. There were Caspian and royal tern and more skimmers than I’ve ever seen in one place. They put on quite a show. May I never get to be so jaded that I do not delight in the beauty of dancing skimmers! Hear that Great Goddess?
Black Skimmer and Black-necked Stilt
Reported at the Station for most of the season have been some out of normal range kingbirds and an Eurasian wigeon, none of which we saw on the last trip out there. Larry and I spent most of the day ahead of the crowd, so we were able to point out the above birds to those that followed us. We had the fortune to see the Eurasian among the American wigeons and pointed out its general location to the group coming up behind us and then we moved on. Rounding the bend to a small stand of trees, I heard the unmusical, husky call of the Cassin’s kingbird before we spotted it. The crowd pulled up behind us as we were standing looking at the bird. Our next stop was where a small group of people were staking out the tropical kingbird. After a short wait, the bird reappeared and continued hawking from a chain link fence. It sat long enough in the open that I was able to get a very soft picture of it through my scope. We were almost ready to move on when the leader of the group behind us picked up the western kingbird. Its call was short and sharp and it has white on the outer edge of it tail that the Cassin’s and tropical lack.
Cassin’s Kingbird Tropical Kingbird
The woman that makes all the Station 5 tours happen, Margaret England, told us of a spot that has both barn and barred owls. Somehow, with minimal directions given hours before, we found the grove, along the Miami Canal in the middle of cane fields absolutely out in the wilds. There are no guard rails along the canal. My mind flashed back to the slipping and sliding ride into Station 5 last February and winding up in a 30 foot deep canal. Not something I wanted to dwell on for too long. Thankfully, the road was dry and dusty! Standing in front of the grove, I did my poor imitation of a barred owl. Pat usually gives the owl call but he wasn’t with us, so it was up to me. Amazingly, I flushed it and Larry picked it out from amongst the trees. There maybe a few fishermen and women that might tell a story about the red convertible with New York tags and the folk that waved and moved on.
Post Script. A few days later, I drove up to Port St. Lucie to spend the day with Linda. She took me around to some local quickie spots. At one place along the Indian River on mud flats we saw willet, black-bellied and semi-palmated plovers, sanderlings and laughing gulls. We ate lunch at a beach side snack bar with some great food. There we saw gannet and a magnificent frigate bird. Off shore were dolphin leaping out of the water and we also saw more in the river at our next stop. I always love seeing dolphin! During lunch, the sun came out and later the top came down on the car. Linda knew of a place where sandhill crane are nesting, as well as the location of a bald eagle nest. At the eagle nest site, the local state monitor was set up observing. We learned that this pair has been using this site for 17 years and when the nest came down in a storm, the birds remade it in four hours! On the way home along I-95, I got a swallow-tailed kite, gliding and wheeling low over the saw palmetto, that I did not get at Kissimmee Prairie. Thank you Great Goddess!
Sandhill Crane on nest
Bald Eagle adult and baby
For More on Kissimmee Prairie see: Great Sparrow Hunt 2007
Final Report 2009
More on Station 5 see: Pink Day at Station 5 2008
STA 5 2009
Windy Day at Station 5 2010
jlev545@gmail.com
Pat, Fred and Larry scanning the skies