Natural History Wanderings

I went birding at Green Cay Wetlands in Boynton Beach in Palm Beach County in southern Florida this past Sunday. Green Cay Wetlands  is the old Green Cay Farm that was owned by Ted and Trudy Winsberg.  When the farms around them were being converted into housing developments they preferred to restore their land to open prairie with wetland similar to how it had been previous to farming.

There is a 1.5-mile elevated boardwalk through the wetland and a nature center.  It is an excellent area to see birds, alligators, turtles, and rabbits.  Here is the visitor’s center  Bird Checklist and Bird Counts links (which include monthly and often weekly bird counts starting on April 2007 and going through 2010).

I saw 33 species. Highlights includedseeing a Limpkin, American Bittern, trying to identify a female Purple Gallinule, watching a flock of Glossy Ibis fly overhead and a Red-shouldered Hawk being chased by another bird. I also saw two Alligators and an Iguana.