On Saturday, March 22, twenty-six birders joined TAS Field Trip Coordinator Brian Rapoza for a full day of birding in Martin and Northern Palm Beach Counties. The trip began at Jonathan Dickinson State Park, in Martin County, where we explored trails that provide access to the park’s coastal scrub and pine flatwoods habitats. The coastal scrub habitat near the park’s entrance is home to a small population of Florida Scrub Jay, the state’s only endemic bird and one of our top targets for this trip. We easily found scrub-jays all along the trails in this area, providing multiple opportunities to study and photograph them. Other birds encountered in this area included Wood Duck, Mottled Duck, Pileated Woodpecker, Eastern Towhee and Pine Warbler.
We accessed the park’s pine flatwoods habitat via a trail that began at the old equestrian center. Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, another one of our top targets, have been recently reintroduced to this area and we found several around their nest trees along the trail. Other target species seen in this area included Swallow-tailed Kite, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Eastern Bluebird and Bachman’s Sparrow. After lunch in the picnic area along the Loxahatchee River, we left Jonathan Dickinson and drove to Pine Glade Natural Area, located on Indiantown Road in northern Palm Beach County. Several new birds were added to our trip list during our exploration of this area, including Limpkin, Sandhill Crane, Wood Stork, Glossy Ibis, American Bittern, Belted Kingfisher, Northern Flicker, Crested Caracara, Purple Martin and Eastern Meadowlark.
Our trip’s final stop was at John C. and Mariana Jones/Hungryland Wildlife and Environmental Area, shared by Martin and Palm Beach Counties. We hiked the Palm Beach section of the Gate 6 Trail, which begins at a trailhead four miles west of the Pine Glade Natural Area entrance. Birds seen in this area included our last two trip birds: Greater Yellowlegs and Snowy Egret, along with Wood Stork, Red-shouldered Hawk, Northern Flicker, Eastern Bluebird and Pine Warbler. We also spotted a wild hog along the trail. We ended the day with 55 bird species observed, all of which are listed in this eBird trip report.
Florida Scrub Jay: Photo by Brian Rapoza