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Posted by Paul Bithorn on 18:36:43 12/03/06
Twenty-two birders assembled for the Tropical Audubon Society s annual "Exotics" fieldtrip on Saturday, December 2, 2006. We met at 1:00 p.m. in the emergency overflow parking lot of Baptist Hospital on Kendall Drive and proceeded to walk to the neighborhood directly across the street from Baptist Hospital (Pranty-pgs. 222 and 228) on Kendall Drive (S.W. 88 St.) and S.W. 87 Ave. We walked around several blocks across Kendall Dr. and soon located the first of several Spot-breasted Orioles. Doubling back, we located a single Red-whiskered Bulbul under a Monk Parakeet stick-nest built around an FP& L transformer. A flock of Mitred Parakeets landed in a Ficus tree in the parking lot offering excellent looks and three White-crowned Pigeons was a nice bonus. We also located Muscovies, Rock Pigeons, Eurasian Collared Dove and European Starlings on the hospital grounds.
We headed to Miami Springs to the Fair Havens Nursing Home, where we spotted a dark morph Short-tailed Hawk overhead and a Merlin perched in a Norfolk Pine. Monk Parakeets were in the Malaleuca trees surrounding the large pueblo revival structure. We drove the area with our windows down and had little luck locating any Psittacids. A pair of Mottled ducks was in the pond in front of the Curtiss Mansion restoration project on Deer Run.
On the way to Apache and Wren we saw several House Sparrows feeding on the ground. We were running short on time when a flock of Mitred Parakeets was seen flying overhead near the Springs Pool. The one different species in the flock went unidentified.
We soon spotted another flock of Aratingas, which briefly landed on a power-line. We identified Green Parakeet, Crimson-fronted Parakeet and White-eyed Parakeets before they flew off.
Light would soon become scarce so we headed south to our final destination - the old Miller Drive Parrot Roost (Pranty-pg. 222 (map) and pg. 227). Four White-fronted Parrots perched on the power-lines near the intersection of S.W. 64th Street and S.W. 62nd Avenue. A pair of Hill Mynas were seen calling nearby. We were unable to find where any large flocks of parrots are now roosting and called it a day.
Our exotics total finished at 14 species and 15 counting Common Mynas I saw in Florida City on the way to Lucky Hammock earlier in the day. Highlights at the hammock were an American Bittern, Sandhill Cranes, Least Flycatcher, Grasshopper, Savannah, Lincoln s and Clay-colored Sparrows, Painted Bunting and a yellow Northern Cardinal.
Life is good...... .. urban birding in a world class city like Miami. Speaking of urban good luck to Urban Meyer and the Florida Gators in keeping a Florida university in the NCAA - BCS national championship hunt.
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