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Posted by Alex Harper on 17:33:23 11/29/14
Miami birders,
I d like to take a page out of the Tallahassee Bird Club s book and organize monthly birding blitzes for Miami-Dade County. A birding blitz is an effort by the local birding community to bird a specific area within a short amount of time. The focus of the blitzes can vary from blitz to blitz, but to start, we are going to focus our first go on underbirded suburban and urban parks. As individuals or small groups, we would all set out to bird parks.
This seems easy enough, so there is more of an objective to this blitz: we want to add new species to park lists. Using ebird data (it s not too late for the reluctant to hop on the bandwagon!) data that already exists for our parks, the challenge is to see who can add the most new species to the park of their choice. This will encourage us to focus less on well-birded parks such as A.D. Barnes and Matheson for once.
There are a number of parks in Miami that are never truly explored, and many of these small parks turn up oddities; Wilson s, Nashville, Blue-winged, and MacGillivray s Warblers and Western Tanagers are among these birds that can be turned up at these parks with enough search effort. Aside from the possibility of rarities, we ll also be able to add to our understanding of the bird life within our city limits and our own backyards. Lastly, we hope to connect our diversifying birding community.
December is tricky due to Christmas Bird Counts and the holidays, so although introduced under short notice, our first birding blitz will be the December 6-7. Find a park, take your notebook, and record what you see. Submit the results to ebird and send me your list. At the end of the blitz, I will post the results and a comprehensive list. Birders are already on board with parks we ve probably never heard of in mind. Carlos Sanchez is helping spearhead this with me.
I d also like to introduce a new project, the Miami Birding Wave. The idea among several individuals, the concept is to lend a breath of fresh air to the Miami birding community. We hope to compliment Tropical Audubon Society, though there is no affiliation. We are aiming to stir the pot by pushing for new ways to amp Miami s birding community. The blitz is just the start. More to come.
~~~Miami Birding Wave~~~
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