Posted by Paul Bithorn on September 21, 2002 at 20:29:58:
Conrad Sempkill, Liz Golden, Rebecca Smith and Elaine Neuhring joined me in birding Key Biscayne, including Cape Florida State Park and Virginia Key, as a part of the Miami-Dade County 2002 Fall Migration Bird Count.
The weather was beautiful and the bird totals did not give any appearance of a fallout in spite of Hurricane Isidore's presence to the south. We saw 56 species and a total of 442 birds. The species seen with totals were:
Northern Gannet-2
Brown Pelican-5
Double-crested Cormorant-12
Magnificent Frigatebird-3
Great Blue Heron-3
Great Egret-3
Little Blue Heron-1
Reddish Egret-1
Cattle Egret-7
Green Heron-3
Black-crowned Night Heron-2
White Ibis-22
Blue-winged Teal-1
Osprey-3
Red-shouldered Hawk-1
Merlin-2
Peregrine Falcon-1
Spotted Sandpiper-1
Ruddy Turnstone-25
Sanderling-22
Laughing Gull-86
Caspian Tern-7
Royal Tern-1
Rock Dove-8
White-crowned Pigeon-9
Eurasian Collared-Dove-35
Mourning Dove-14
Monk Parakeet-10
Belted Kingfisher-1
Red-bellied Woodpecker-7
Great Crested Flycatcher-3
Eastern Kingbird-1
Gray Kingbird-4
Red-eyed Vireo-1
Barn Swallow-1
Blue Jay-10
Fish Crow-3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher-26
Northern Mockingbird-4
European Starling-29
Northern Parula-3
Black-throated Blue Warbler-1
Yellow-throated Warbler-1
Prairie Warbler-15
Black-and-white Warbler-1
American Redstart-6
Prothonotary Warbler-1
Worm-eating Warbler-1
Ovenbird-3
Common Yellowthroat-1
Northern Cardinal-9
Bobolink-1
Boat-tailed Grackle-16
Common Grackle-3
Northern Oriole-1
House Sparrow-1
A Presidente pilsener con conch fritters at Hurricane Harbor at Cape Florida and a Foster's lager with smoked marlin at Jimbo's on Virginia Key were a welcome respite from a fast-paced day of birding. Life is good...........especially when birding in beautiful South Florida.