Today was another full day of birding in Southeast Florida! In the morning, we visited Wakodahatchee Wetlands and Green Cay, two of the best places for wetland birds in this area. Wakodahatchee was especially active — we saw a lot of great species, including two beautiful Roseate Spoonbills. The highlight of the morning was definitely a Blue-headed Vireo, which was a lifer for me! We also added a few other nice birds: Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, plenty of Glossy Ibises, and several really colorful Gray-headed Swamphens.
When we arrived at Green Cay, we checked the feeder near the entrance, but it was surprisingly quiet. No birds at all — the whole area felt completely still.
In the afternoon, after chatting with another birder, we decided to drive to Loxahatchee NWR. Unfortunately, the weather turned bad and it started raining, but something great still happened — we met Marcello, who kindly walked with us through the Cypress Swamp Boardwalk. The boardwalk itself was amazing, with huge cypress trees and all kinds of swamp plants. However, maybe because of the rain, the birds were not very active, and the Painted Bunting never showed up.
Tomorrow, we’ll be leaving Plam Beach County and continuing our Thanksgiving birding journey further south. Our plan is to visit two eBird hotspots: L31W Canal and the nearby Frog Pond WMA. We have three target species for the day:
- Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
- Smooth-billed Ani
- Groove-billed Ani
Both the Smooth-billed Ani and Groove-billed Ani have been continuing for months according to eBird, so I really hope we can find them!
Can’t wait for tomorrow!
A short video created by my father to show the summary of the whole day:
Part-1:
Part-2