Wellington Environmental Preserve

Yesterday morning, Maureen and I returned to Wellington Environmental Preserve for our second visit to this spacious (365 acre), brand-new public wetland. Just a few weeks ago we made our way up to twitch us some Canvasbacks, which are uncommon visitors to Palm Beach County. We had been able to find the Canvasbacks, but the vastness of the park left us wondering what we were missing.

This time around there were noticeably fewer waterfowl - an ominous sign that we're getting on with Spring, and about to lose our Winter visitors. All that remained of this group were a lone female Northern Shoveler, a male Ring-necked Duck, several Blue-winged Teals, and Florida's very own Mottled Ducks, which won't be going anywhere.

Great Egret

Right out of the car Maureen (who has more of an ear for birdsong than I do) heard an Eastern Meadowlark. Our only other Meadowlarks were during a day-trip to Galveston late last year, making this a state bird for us. It took some effort to locate where the bird was perched because of the distance their song carries. We finally picked it up as a speck across the street and in someone's private property, effectively keeping us from obtaining a better view. Once we started for the trail, though, we heard several others, which sounded like they were always just ahead of us. We were only able to locate one other, but he was pretty lively. Initially, we found him in a tree, before he flew down to the ground, walked across the path and into a clump of tall grasses (and singing the whole time). 

Eastern Meadowlark

Eastern Meadowlark

Eastern Meadowlark

One thing about Wellington Environmental Preserve is that they are Limpkins EVERYWHERE! Above all others, this is the bird that you know you're going to find when you come here. Apple snail shells litter the shores, and sometimes you even find yourself crunching a discarded shell underfoot on the boardwalk. There are so many Limpkins, in fact, that even the Limpkins want to see what else is around (see below). 

Limpkin

Limpkin

Among the highlights of the day was when we picked a single American Avocet out of a small flock of Black-necked Stilts. It's always a pleasure to pick up a new county bird, as this was for us. Still, it's a shame that we didn't get to see it stick around, since Avocets are among my favorite shorebirds, and we only see them rarely, and usually from a great distance.

The Palm Warblers are all looking fancy in their breeding plumage, which in Florida, means that they're getting ready to leave us any day now. All throughout winter, these common birds are the classic LBJs, and now look at them! It's like watching a caterpillar become a butterfly. I wish them well on their journey back north. 

Palm Warbler

When we arrived at the 6-story observation tower, we felt obligated to trudge our way up, since we had been short on time during our only other visit. It turned out to be well worth the effort. From that vantage, we were able to watch a juvenile Northern Harrier terrorize dozens of Common Moorhens and American Coots. Just a couple of minutes later, a juvenile Snail Kite flew in low from the direction that we'd just seen the Harrier disappear. 

Northern Harrier

From above, a juvenile Harrier and a juvenile Snail Kite can look remarkably similar - both are brown overall, with a broad patch of white toward the base of the tail. Luckily, we were on our toes and weren't taking anything for granted, for which we were rewarded by watching the kite snatch an apple snail out of the water. Easy prey, perhaps, but still, it's pretty awesome to watch a Snail Kite do as Snail Kites do.

Snail Kite

Snail Kite with an apple snail

Florida very fortunate to have it's very own population of Sandhills with us year-round, albeit not in anything near the numbers seen in the Platte River valley. Early on, we had a group of five fly over while making their bugling calls. This one was just taking a stroll.

Sandhill Crane

Oh how the Meadowlarks moved me…

Over the holidays, we went to visit family in Houston. And of course, whenever we can, we squeeze in some birding. This time, we ventured a little farther out of town to Galveston Island. And what a great venture this was! 

Eastern Meadowlark

(Please excuse the poor quality video - taken with my phone).

There were several areas we could check out, but based on a brochure my sister snagged for us, we decided mid-island would be our best bet to catch some new and different species. We set out early in the morning. As soon as pulled on to a back road that was known for good birding, we saw a gorgeous glow of yellow on some powerlines above. We immediately whipped around on the two way street and pulled over. To our delight, we saw an Eastern Meadowlark! This was a life bird for both of us.

Eastern Meadowlark

Eastern Meadowlark

Eastern Meadowlark

Savannah Sparrow

We watched a Meadowlark on the wire for a while as it continued to sing, and then it eventually swooped down into the field below and was out of sight. We then spotted a sparrow that we were hoping was a new one for us, but which we later determined was a Savannah Sparrow.

Eastern Meadowlark

Eastern Meadowlark

I had crossed the road to get a closer look at the sparrow, and to my surprise, the Meadowlark that had hopped down earlier hopped back up on a eye-level fencepost about 20 feet away. I started snapping away as the Meadowlark posed and sang with the glow of the sun illuminating his golden plumage. Being so close to this bird and hearing his song, I became so full of emotion that tears nearly came to my eyes. 

Eastern Meadowlark singing

Eastern Meadowlark singing

We eventually were able to pull ourselves away from the chorus of Meadowlarks, and we continued on this back road, but not before we got a look at a few Sandhill Cranes fly over us in the morning sky. 

Sandhill Cranes in flight

In a soggy patch of grass off the side of the road, we saw about half a dozen Wilson's Snipe frolicking about. This was the closest we've been to these Snipes, and definitely the most we had seen at once. I took a couple of photos from the car. But as I tried to ease out of the car to see if I could get closer look, the skittish snipes flew off. 

Wilson's Snipe

Also, in one of the bodies of water along the road, we noticed a group of ducks. Here, we were able to spot our first Gadwall! We weren't even at the park in Galveston where we were headed, but we were already having a great birding trip. Stay tuned for the continuation of our birding adventure on the Texas side of the Gulf Coast.

Gadwall