Survey #021016
Weather Conditions:
Temperature 61° F /16° C
Cloud Cover 80% ; Windy
Official low tide time: 3:29pm
Survey start time: 2:55pm
Survey end time: 4:45pm
Tide heights: -0.8 feet / -24 cm
Mud Flats exposed? Y
Common Name
|
Counts of birds foraging
on mud flats
|
Behavior
Forage-F
Rest/roost-R
Fly over -FO
|
Disturbance
(Flushing-F, displaced-D, agitated-A)
|
Feeding location
*Primary flat (P)
Mangrove flat (M)
|
Great egret
|
4
|
F, FO
|
M
|
|
Great blue heron
|
3
|
F,F,R
|
D (Human)
|
M, P
|
Little blue heron
|
3
|
R
|
D (Human)
|
|
Wood Stork
|
1
|
R
|
D (Human)
|
M
|
Roseate Spoonbill
|
1
|
F
|
P
|
|
White Ibis
|
4
|
R , FO
|
F (predator)
|
*Primary mud
flats are large center exposed flats at either the intracoastal or Lake Worth
Cove side of the park.
Mangrove mud flats are at the mangrove line
or radiating from mangrove tree islands
**we are only counting
birds foraging at exposed mudflats. We are not counting birds feeding at
mangrove lines without exposed mud flats.
NOTES: 2 kayakers
at the start of survey; 4 more kayakers 30 min. in. (on a Wed.!); There were a
fair amount of birds roosting at the tree island and far edges of the intracoastal
mangrove lines. Most of the birds seen were using the mangrove lines to forage
and avoiding the two main mud flats. The Roseate spoonbill and one Great blue
heron utilized the interior Lake Worth Cove mudflat for foraging and resting.
The Great blue heron and the spoonbill ignored each other.
The spoonbill was foraging and the heron was resting. As the spoonbill got
closer, the heron moved slightly out of his way. The Great blue heron did act aggressive
to the seagulls who were feeding.
Observations noted that the Great Blue Herons forage in one
spot for a short time, then move to other locations. They also rest on the
flats often without foraging for long periods of time. The Roseate Spoonbill
utilized the same foraging location for long periods of time (30 minutes were
observed at this survey).
Human disturbances included traffic noise and kayakers.
Future research: Find intertidal mudflats in the area
without human interference to compare bird usage, compare prey availability
Photos by Diane Arrieta
No comments:
Post a Comment