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Posted by John Boyd on 07:03:39 09/16/07
Nancy Freedman and I covered the keys (to Big Pine) for the NAMC. We got a relaxed start, leaving the Burger King at Florida City around 7am, after counting some of a continuing flow of Cattle Egrets. Although it was rather quiet around Alabama Jacks, we managed to find a Yellow Warbler (Cuban Golden Warbler) and two Cave Swallows flew over near the bridge. Then we crossed Card Sound into the Keys.
After a couple of quiet stops, we turned in to Carysfort Circle. Birding here was much better, and included a Baltimore Oriole, northern Yellow Warbler, and circling White-crowned Pigeons (a bird we would see many more of during the day). Stops in the other neighborhoods added more of the expected birds, as did Key Largo Hammocks.
We turned south on US 1, stopping at the Wild Bird Center in Tavernier. We picked up a surprising Black Vulture and very surprising Wood Stork on this stretch. In spite of high water, Sea Oats Beach on Lower Matecumbe added shorebirds. Nearby Anne's Beach was rather quiet.
A Yellow-crowned Night-Heron on the Golden Orb Trail at Long Key was the highlight there. High water at Lake Edna (Grassy Key) killed any chance of shorebirds, but we did find a nice Reddish Egret. By now it was past time for the lunch, and we stopped at Porky's (Marathon). We didn't find any Frigatebirds there, but did get the expected Common Mynas.
We found more shorebirds at No Name Key (and 2 Key Deer, one a 6-pt buck) as well as Merlin chasing them. A Lousiana Waterthrush was present near the shore. The west end of Watson yielded a "Whitish" Egret (white morph Reddish). Long Beach Road was notable for a nice collection of Gray Kingbirds. We also spotted a young Key Deer. On our way out, we found some pigeons feeding on poisonwood.
We hit Ohio Key on the way north. High water translated into few shorebirds. A visit to Boot Key allowed us to pad our White-crowned Pigeon total (82 for the day!). We missed Burrowing Owl at both golf courses.
Our totals were 1773 birds of 64 species (7 warbler species). This is about what we expect on this route in both diversity and overall numbers, maybe a little high. Regardless of how many times Toe claims otherwise, it is very typical for fall migration, at least during the 10 falls I've lived here.
Here are the totals (Dade and Monroe combined):
30 Brown Pelican
520 Double-crested Cormorant
3 Magnificent Frigatebird
2 Great Blue Heron
6 Great White Heron
23 Snowy Egret
1 Tricolored Heron
4 Reddish Egret (2 red, 2 white)
44 Cattle Egret
2 Green Heron
2 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
91 White Ibis
1 Roseate Spoonbill
1 Wood Stork
1 Black Vulture
36 Turkey Vulture
4 Osprey
1 Northern Harrier
3 Red-shouldered Hawk
1 Merlin
2 Black-bellied Plover
7 Semipalmated Plover
1 Killdeer
5 Spotted Sandpiper
1 Willet
18 Ruddy Turnstone
21 Sanderling
2 Semipalmated Sandpiper
13 Least Sandpiper
62 Short-billed Dowitcher
124 Laughing Gull
2 Royal Tern
1 Sandwich Tern
64 Rock Pigeon
82 White-crowned Pigeon
176 Eurasian Collared-Dove
37 Mourning Dove
1 Common Ground-Dove
9 Belted Kingfisher
13 Red-bellied Woodpecker
3 Great Crested Flycatcher
23 Gray Kingbird
13 White-eyed Vireo
5 Blue Jay
2 American Crow
2 Cave Swallow
15 Barn Swallow
22 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
50 Northern Mockingbird
1 Brown Thrasher
43 European Starling
3 Common Myna
2 Yellow Warbler (1 Cuban, 1 Northern)
7 Prairie Warbler
1 American Redstart
2 Ovenbird
2 Northern Waterthrush
1 Louisiana Waterthrush
5 Common Yellowthroat
52 Northern Cardinal
16 Bobolink
73 Red-winged Blackbird
9 Common Grackle
3 Boat-tailed Grackle
1 Baltimore Oriole
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