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Posted by Paul Bithorn on 12:30:30 04/13/07
In Reply to: Re: Spindalis, any sightings since Tuesday? posted by Walter Lamb
Walter,
I spent about 1 1/2 hours in the late morning on Thursday, April 12th with my buddy, Bruce Christensen, D.V.M., from Gaineseville, Florida searching for the Western Spindalis and Bahama Mockingbird, but to no avail. A bull rainstorm put a damper on our efforts and despite umbrellas the best we could drum up was a female Summer Tanager, Cedar Waxwings, Chimney Swifts and a pair of Chestnut-fronted Macaws feeding on the fruit of a Royal Palm in a residential neighborhood adjacent to the cemetary.
Earlier in the day we saw several Purple Swamphens, a male and female Snail Kite, Wood Storks, Least Terns and a solitary Solitary Sandpiper at Markham Park in Sunrise. Pardon my redundancy, but my father is from New York, New York, so I get it honest.
We missed the Smooth-billed Anis before and after our trip to Evergreen Cemetary but got up close and personal with a White-winged Parakeet in Miami Shores before heading to Miami Springs for psittacids and lunch. After a great lunch and adult beverages (Yuengling) at Woody's Bar & Grill, we drove the neighborhood around Apache and Wren and picked up Green, White-eyed, Mitred, Red-fronted, Crimson-fronted, Yellow-chevroned and Monk Parakeets.
We then headed to the neighborhood north of Baptist Hospital where we had the good fortune of watching two male Red-Whiskered Bulbuls vying for the affection of a single female by rapidly beating their wings next to her on some powerlines in the neighborhood just north of Baptist Hospital. Yellow-chevroned Parakeets were also in the area.
The West Indian Cave Swallows swarmed the bridge at S.W. 216th St. and the Fla Turnpike and Cutler Wetlands had Black-necked Stilts, and Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs.
A Common Myna was hanging around Flynn's in Florida City and a brief stop at Lucky Hammock was pretty quiet but an adult male Peregrine Falcon loafing in a farm field, soaring Swallow-tailed Kites and a downy Barred Owl in a Strangler Fig in the Annex were quite fructifying.
A Gray Kingbird on the road into Royal Palm Hammock was the highlight of our Everglades National Park birding late in the afternoon, but calling Barred Owls could be heard on Gumbo Limbo Trail.
On the way to Rosita's on Florida City we saw several peenting Common Nighthawks. We celebrated a great day of birding with authentic Mexican cuisine and a few Modelo's and and Sprites to cool off salsa enflamed tongues. Life is good................ birding in beautiful South Florida with my good friend and Bruce, "May the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas bring you a plethora of tropical species indigenous to our little slice of heaven."
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