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Fort DeSoto Field Trip |
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By Tom Bell
On Saturday afternoon (October 4th) at 4 p.m., 17 Audubon members gathered with field trip coordinator, Judi Hopkins, and trip leader, Ron Smith, at the big flag at Fort DeSoto CP for “Terns, Terns, Terns” (and shorebirds, too!). We concentrated on the North Beach area and enjoyed the 35 species we all got to see. Ron put us at ease when he opened his remarks by telling us that there was no such thing as a dumb question (though I’m not so sure he didn’t change his mind over the next two hours). He told us to keep our eyes peeled for banded birds as one of the Piping Plovers found recently at the park had been banded in Saskatchuan, Canada, in 2005 and another in Alberta, Canada. He said, too, that a Red Knot found this past September had been banded at Delaware Bay in 1997.
Once we all started walking out to the beach things picked up quickly
with flying birds, yelling kids, kayakers, beach walkers, and
scrambling shorebirds. It was like trying to take a drink of water from
a flowing fire hydrant. But in his typical calming manner, Ron managed
to slow everything down, getting us back to basics. He told us to pay
attention to the details you see and trust your knowledge or ask for
more. He broke things down into manageable concepts. Yes, there were
Sanderlings running around like they’d had several cups of caffeinated
coffee and Willets and some Least Sandpipers (watch for the non-black
legs ‘cause if they’re black, it’s a Western or Semipalmated he would
say), and Ruddy Turnstones and some Short-billed Dowitchers, too. Ron
instructed us to concentrate on the plovers. “There’s one larger plover
over there, the Black-bellied,” he said. “Some are still in summer
plumage with that dark belly but others (he put both in the same
spotting scope view) are juveniles and non-breeding plumaged adults
that have lost their dark bellies. Watch for the black ‘armpit’ when
they fly.”
Then our focus turned to the four small plovers, all about the same size. The one with the big black bill was a Wilson’s. No mistaking him. He told us that the Piping and Snowy Plovers were much lighter in appearance, much like that of dry sand, while the Semipalmateds and Wilson’s were darker, like that of wet sand. He talked about leg color and behavior. It was made easy.
All of a sudden the flock of 300+ Black Skimmers rose in a panic. Was it caused by a beachgoer, a passing Brown Pelican or Osprey? The culprit came into view, a Merlin! It flew overhead, unevenly, being buffeted by the strong east-southeast winds, gusting to 20 mph. The bird settled down quickly and Ron changed our agenda to the terns. The large ones with the orange bills were easy to identify, Royal Terns. The Sandwich, Common, and Forster’s terns, however, were all about the same size, but the Sandwich’s black bill had a pale tip (Judi said to think of a bird eating a sandwich with mayonnaise on it and some got stuck on its bill!). The last two, the Common and Forster’s, were tough to tell apart so it was great to be able to put one of each in the same spotting scope view.
We were also lucky enough to see a few Red Knots and it was most interesting to hear Audubon Education Director, Dr. Harold Albers, talk about an outbreak of malarial organism (that was almost honored with his name!) in over 300 knots back in the 1970’s when he was the bird vet at the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary. Using a new drug at the time, Ameride, did allow him to save a few of the sickest birds, but most died.
Many of our group reconvened at Jo-Jo’s for an Italian dinner to talk about all those field marks we had seen and to try and keep the individual birds separated in our minds. Thanks to Judi for setting up the trip and to Ron and his considerable expertise for giving us so much useful information about so many of our avian friends that spend time each winter at Fort DeSoto County Park.
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