Posted by John Boyd on October 12, 2002 at 22:37:46:
Today's birdwalk was originally planned as a visit to the hawkwatch at Curry Hammock. We did spend a couple of hours there, but it far from all we did.
The first stop was at 216th and the Turnpike to check for lingering Cave Swallows. None were lingering. A Limpkin was seen as we proceeded toward the keys. Our second stop was at Anne's Beach (MM 73) on Lower Matecumbe Key. We found over 10 individuals from four species of warbler: Prairie, Palm, Black & white, and Redstart. We
also noticed a fine Reddish Egret.
From there, we went to Curry Hammock. Sightings along the way included White-Pelican, Black Vulture, and a dark form Short-tailed Hawk. We weren't long at the hawkwatch before all of the normal hawks had been seen (Osprey, Harrier, Sharpie, Coop, Broad-winged, Kestrel, Merlin, Peregrine). Some Roseate Spoonbills were visible in the distance.
Six of our group then headed for Key West in search of the Slaty-backed Gull. It was raining hard when we arrived at Higgs Beach. We scanned one portion from inside our cars, without success. Then we moved to the other side of the Martello Tower. The rain cleared right away, and we started the search for the Slaty-backed, which had been seen earlier. We ultimately found it on a lightpole on the concrete pier back where we started. It soon flew to the beach, but was chased by a dog, and took up a position on a distant piling. We did the obvious thing, and sat down at one of the picnic tables to
eat lunch, expecting the gull to return to the beach. It was uncooperative.
We then escalated. Nancy Freedman and Vince Lucas fed some bread to the Laughing Gulls, hoping to the attract the SB Gull. They were soon surrounded by a cloud of Laughers, and some Rock Doves and White Ibis joined the party. The SB Gull remained unmoved. We waited a bit more, noticing warblers (mainly Palms) and two Red-masked Parakeets. Eventually, we decided to bird nearby Indigenous Park while waiting for the SB Gull to leave the pilings.
Things went quite well at Indigenous Park. Many, many warblers were present. We ended up with 11 species (Parula, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, BT Blue, Prairie, Palm, Black & white, Worm-eating, Redstart, N. Waterthrush, and Common Yellowthroat). A female Painted Bunting and White-crowned Pigeons were also present. We then tried again for the gull, which was still on the pilings.
From there, we headed back to the hawkwatch. We stayed at the hawkwatch until it ended at 5pm. Then it was back to Miami. We ended with 74 species for the trip.