Bird Walk

Last week we went on a bird walk at the Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge. We met at 7:30am and our leader was Rick. There were about 30 people who showed up for this. I found the group extremely welcoming and willing to share their knowledge with a newbie. I learned that when a bird is spotted in a tree, it is better to point to that tree and use clock dial references to help others locate the bird. I also found it extremely helpful when people told me what bird I was seeing and then explaining the characteristics of the bird that makes it easier to identify. Our leader told me that planes were called “Silver bellied gas hawk” which made me laugh! The book that was recommended was The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America by David Allen Sibley. We also saw String Lilies blooming and Beauty Berry bushes with purple berries on them.

Below are the birds that I saw on our walk:

1.     Prairie Warbler

2.     Snail kite

3.     red-bellied woodpecker

4.     Wood stork

5.     Great egret - one bird yellow bill, black leg

6.     Snowy egret - small group, dark bill, yellow feet

7.     Eastern phoebe

8.     Glossy ibis

9.     Tricolored heron - diaper bird

10.  Monk parakeet

11.  Nanday parakeet

12.  Cardinal

13.  Blue jay

14.  Mockingbird

15.  Purple gallinule

16.  Palm warbler - pumps tail

17.  Indigo bunting

18.  Great horned owl

19.  Green heron

20.  Turkey vulture

21.  Northern harrier

22.  Anhinga - flap flap glide

23.  Common gallinule - clown laugh

24.  Black vulture – white on the ends of the wings

25.  Loggerhead shrike  - mask

26.  Pied-billed grebe

27.  Swallow - pointy wings

28.  American kestrel - sparrow hawk

29.  Cattle egret

30.  White ibis

31.  Osprey

32.  Yellow sapsucker woodpecker

Additional birds that others saw:

1.     Northern ruff wing swallows

2.     House wren

3.     Carolina wrens

4.     Blue-gray gnatcatchers

5.     Catbird

6.     Starlings

7.     Red-winged blackbirds

8.     Common grackle

9.     Boat-tail grackle

10.  Black and white warbler

11.  Common yellowthroat warbler

12.  Parula

13.  Yellow-rumped warbler

14.  Indigo bunting

15.  Painted bunting

16.  Limpkins

17.  Cormorant

I’m looking forward to going to other places to see if I can identify the birds using the knowledge that I’ve gotten from this walk. It feels like I’m learning a new language and the way to keep learning is by using what I’ve learned in other situations and practicing often.

This would be fun to do with students but first I need to get better at identifying the birds.

Are you a birder? What advice do you have for a beginning birder? Please share.