Today I took a day off from work, for the first time in a long time. I needed to, because tomorrow I’m leading a field trip for the Audubon Society of the Everglades to the flooded fields of one of the larger farms in western Palm Beach County. We head out there every year around this time, because the farmers flood the fields to keep the soil from disappearing, the weeds from growing, and other bad things from happening. All this shallow water attracts lots and lots of wading birds. And so, naturally, it attracts birders as well. We’re very fortunate that this private property allows us supervised access; otherwise all these lovely birds would go un- (or at least under-) appreciated.
It’s important to scout the area in advance, because the water moves from place to place; you can never count on the same field being wet two years in a row. So this morning, I arose before the rosy fingers of dawn stretched out from the east. You have to, this far south, in August, if you want to beat the heat:
But if you start too early, you wind up with a lot of mist, which makes it hard to appreciate (at least photographically) the antics of the local burrowing owls:
Normally they are quite a respectable bird:
But every now and then, one of them will get fancy on you:
One of the favorites on this trip, and always present in astonishing numbers, is Chordeiles minor, the Common Nighthawk:
A night flyer, as its common name implies, you can find them roosting on the farm equipment:
Or you might find them simply making themselves at home on the rocks:
Because this is a working farm, the management puts the water where they need it, and takes it away from places where they don’t. This variability can be a bit confusing to the birds, as you can see:
The hope is that the birds will still be there tomorrow, when we bring the birders to them. But you never know!
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