St. Johns Audubon Society - Tomoka & Lyonia Trip Info

Tomoka Landfill & Lyonia Preserve - "From Eagles to Scrub Jays"

Trip Summary & Journal Entry
A fantastic showing of around 20+ people met at the Volusia (Tomoka) Landfill on Saturday morning. We rendezvoused with Flagler Audubon for a really exciting morning of birding. Our caravan drove to the site where the glaucous gull had been spotted and we had no trouble scoping this bird out. Amazing numbers of gulls were at the landfill, as well as multiple views of bald eagles actually standing around on the grounds. We had great looks at wood storks, who were also just 'standing around'. We drove to a grassy area where we found numerous Wilson's snipe and Savannah sparrows. Eastern meadowlarks were up and perching for us. A stand of pine provided us with Eastern bluebird, chickadees, kinglets, cardinals and catbirds. Afterwards, we caravanned over to Lyonia Preserve for our picnic lunch and to find our target specie, the Florida Scrub Jay. The group of 16 of us were certainly not disappointed to have these friendly birds meet and greet us the entire time. We also had towhees and white eyed vireo while we were there. Diane Reed and others took many photos and have shared them with the group. A special thanks to Don White and Joanie Tasca for coordinating this trip and to Bonnie Cary for leading us on the Scrub Jay field trip. - Diane Reed, January 25, 2007

Original Trip Notification and Itinerary
Date: Saturday, January 13, 2007 Meeting Place: Tomoka Landfill at 8:45AM, OR at Lyonia Preserve at 1:00PM What to Bring: Choice of snacks/beverages, bug/sun lotions, binoculars, camera, spotting scope if you have one. Trip Difficulty Level: Driving, walking, easy flat surface. At Lyonia Preserve, the walk is not difficult, but sand is soft and good walking shoes or hiking boots are recommended. Directions: See below Questions? Call Diane Reed @ 904-829-9854. Cell phone on day of trip 904-540-2030 This is a two part trip with two separate locations, giving you the options of participating in both or the one of your choice. We will begin by joining Flagler Audubon for the Tomoka Landfill Field Trip. Afterwards, we will drive to Lyonia Preserve for our Scrub Jay experience. Part I: Tomoka Landfill 1990 Tomoka Farms Road Port Orange, FL 32128 Trip times for Part I: From 8:45AM until noon. Excellent locale for high numbers of Bald Eagles, shorebirds, raptors and other wildlife. Directions for part I : Tomoka Landfill (approx 50 minutes drive time from St. Augustine) Driving Directions: I-95 to Daytona Beach; Next exit past LPGA, Go west on International Speedway Blvd. (Daytona), Bear right Exit 261B toward Deland. Turn left at 1st light onto Tomoka Farms Rd. (CR415). Drive 3 1/2 miles and Tomoka Landfill is on the right. Drive in 200 yards to Administration Bldg. parking lot. Meet there. Don White (Flagler Aud) will have someone sign us in at the Scale House. Part II: Lyonia Preserve Behind the Deltona Library 2150 Eustace Ave Deltona, FL. 32725 Trip times for Part II: From 1PM – 4PM (picnic lunch at 12:30) Sand pine canopy with under story that includes Scrub Oak, Scrub Hickory, Saw Palmetto, a type of Rosemary, Stagger Bush, and Scrub Holly. Other than Florida Scrub Jays, you may see White-eyed Vireo, Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers, Wrens, Pine Warblers, and migrating warblers. Last trip we saw a Red-Headed Woodpecker. Directions for part II: Lyonia Preserve (behind the Deltona Library) (approx 30 minutes drive from Tomoka Landfill) We will meet Volusia County Naturalist, Bonnie Cary - Land Acquisition and Management, County of Volusia. (cell phone 386-804-0437) at 12:30pm at the Deltona Library kiosk. There are picnic tables behind the library at Lyonia and we will have lunch there before proceeding with the next part of our trip. Directions to Lyonia Preserve from the landfill: Tomoka Farms Rd. is SR 415. When you exit the landfill turn south on SR 415. Go about 15 miles (about 25 minutes). Turn right (west) on Howland Blvd. Follow Howland through Deltona (about 6-8 miles??). Turn left at the light at Providence Blvd. (This is where the road becomes 4 lanes.) Turn right on Eustace Ave. The Deltona Library is on the left corner. Turn into the parking lot, we will meet at the kiosk.

Species List & Count This area contains a listing of the species seen or heard on the trip.
Tomoka Landfill: Double-crested cormorant Wood stork White ibis Cattle egret Black vulture Turkey vulture Bald eagle Red-shouldered hawk Red-tailed hawk American kestrel Laughing gull Ring-billed gull Herring gull Great black-backed gull Lesser black-backed gull Glaucous gull Mourning dove Belted kingfisher Eastern phoebe Tree swallow Blue jay Fish crow Ruby-crowned kinglet Eastern bluebird American robin Gray catbird Northern mockingbird Loggerhead shrike Yellow-rumped warbler Pine warbler Palm warbler Northern cardinal Savannah sparrow Red-winged blackbird Eastern meadowlark Wilson's snipe	Lyonia Preserve: Florida scrub jay Blue jay Eastern towhee White-eyed vireo Red-tailed hawk (others reported Sandhill cranes)