This was a great experience and a wonderful opportunity for us to participate in the larger birding community with Bird Watching Digest’s Big Sit. We were one of 61 Big Sit Circles registered.
We had a total of 41 species at the end of our four 2-hour shifts for a full 8-hour day. Mostly birds we would expect to see at Viera Wetlands with a great aerial display by two Northern Harriers; Bald Eagles, Wood Storks and Vultures enjoying the thermals; and a Swamp Sparrow. The biggest surprise was a Florida Cottonmouth during the last shift, maybe looking for one of the Marsh Rabbits we saw. The 1st shift had 34 species, 2nd shift 38, 3rd shift 17, and 4th shift 21. Morning was best but the afternoon shifts got birds that weren’t seen in the morning. A big thank you to all our birders for sitting down for birds.
Species seen at the Big Sit Field Trip at Viera Wetlands:
- Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
- Mourning Dove
- Common Gallinule
- Limpkin
- Sandhill Crane
- Wood Stork
- Anhinga
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Least Bittern
- Great Blue Heron
- Great Egret
- Snowy Egret
- Little Blue Heron
- Tricolored Heron
- Cattle Egret
- Black-crowned Night-Heron
- White Ibis
- Glossy Ibis
- Black Vulture
- Turkey Vulture
- Osprey
- Northern Harrier
- Cooper’s Hawk
- Bald Eagle
- Red-shouldered Hawk
- Belted Kingfisher
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
- Pileated Woodpecker
- Eastern Phoebe
- Loggerhead Shrike
- Fish Crow
- Tree Swallow
- Barn Swallow
- European Starling
- Swamp Sparrow
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Common Grackle
- Boat-tailed Grackle
- Common Yellowthroat
- Palm Warbler
- Northern Cardinal
