South Florida bird trip, March 26 - 30

Subject:

Comments:
: Hello, birders. : Sorry for the late post but I haven't had time to write since I got back from my trip to South Florida late Sunday night. I'd like to mention some highlights of our trip for those who may be interested. My friend Jason and I took a quick birding trip from Miami to the Upper Keys during part of last week. We flew from Northern Virginia to Miami and birded for 4 1/2 days. We had a good time. We seemed to be too early for spring migrants but we enjoyed seeing winter visitors and permanent residents. Highlights include Gr. Flamingo, both red and white phase Reddish Egret, Western Kingbird, Gull-billed Tern, adult Broad-winged Hawk and Merlin. : March 26 : Overcast skies greeted us when we arrived in Miami, although the sun managed to shine through. We visited Fairchild Tropical Gardens for most of the afternoon, followed by a visit to Mattheson Hammock Co. Park. Exotics were the highlight at Fairchild. We saw at least 7 Yellow-chevroned Parakeets. Our views of them were generally brief as they whizzed over the treetops. Once, 2 of them landed on a palm for a minute or so. 2 Hill Mynas were building a nest in a palm, which I believe was called a Petticoat Palm. We marveled at 5 Blue and Yellow Macaws feeding high up. We were surprised by the abundance of lizards, most of which seemed to be Brown Anoles. This species was very common in many locations that we visited during our stay. : The highlight at Mattheson Hammock Co. Park was a female MERLIN, perched in a dead tree at the end of the park road, near the beach and parking lot. : March 27/28 : We allotted 2 days for birding Everglades NP. Before going there on the 27th, however, we swung by Flynn's to look for rare flycatchers. We found 4 WESTERN KINGBIRDS in the loop, 3 of them perched together. We enjoyed seeing three dove species there, White-winged, Mourning and Eur.-collared. : Everglades NP was great. Songbirds on one or both days included White-eyed Vireo and Blue-headed Vireo, B&W, Yellow-rumped, Prarie, Yellow-throated, Com. Yellowthroat and brown Palm Warblers and Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher. Great-crested Flycathers were common in Flamingo and Key Largo on Mar. 29. We saw at least 7 Swallow-tailed Kites on the 27th, gracefully flying near the Royal Palm Visitors Center. What amazing birds they are. To me, they look fanciful, like from another world. We enjoyed seeing wading birds like Great White Heron and Wurdemann's Heron. : The best birding in the park was at Flamingo. In the early AM on the 28th at low tide we saw several species of common shorebirds. Later that morning, we heard a Common Ground-Dove. 3 Gull-billed Terns were one of at least 3 tern species that we saw on the trip. They were flying above and diving into Eco Pond. Next we checked Nine Mile Pond where we saw 2 imm. Bald Eagles, one of which was really tame and perched in a nearby tree. A White-crowned Pigeon flew into another tree. We were to see 3 more pigeons at the parking lot of Bear Lake Trail later on that day. : The highlight of the trip is when we went canoeing in Florida Bay to Snake Bight to look for Greater Flamingo. The water was very warm and very shallow at high tide in Snake Bight. We saw about a half a dozen sharks in the shallows. An adult Bald Eagle flew over and put up dozens of gulls, skimmers and shorebirds. It was quite a sight. In the distance I could make out 1 adult and 1 immature GREATER FLAMINGO on the shoreline. We paddled closer and we could see that they were hanging out with 100 Am. White Pelicans. Nearby was a feeding frenzy of wading birds. I'm not sure what they were eating. There were mostly Snowies in this flock. I counted 37 Roseate Spoonbills, too. There were 3 REDDISH EGRETS, 2 red phase and 1 white phase. : The flamingoes were so cool. I'll never get the image out of my mind of the beautiful rose pink adult standing there on the shoreline, all legs and neck. : Mar. 29 : We went to the Upper Keys on the 29th, specifically Key Largo. We found 2 Monk Parakeets building a nest on the top of a light pole at the ballfield at Harry Harris Co. Park. We saw an ADULT BROAD-WINGED HAWK perched on the top of a telephone pole on the road through the big West Indian hammock east of Rte. 1. Someone directed us to a location where manatees were present and we saw 4 of them, too. : Mar. 30 : We drove to the Shark Valley area. Wading birds were abundant along Alligator Alley. We saw at least 7 Snail Kites across from the Tower Inn. A short walk in the Shark Valley section of the national park produced a few Purple Gallinules among numerous other birds, as well as a growling gator. I've never heard one vocalize before. It sounded like a motorcycle revving up. 2 Mottled Ducks flew overhead. : Birding was generally slow along the beach in the afternoon. Crandon Co. Park in Miami held lots of Ruddy Turnstones, Black-bellied Plovers and Sanderlings, along with 4 Dunlin, a peep and a dowitcher. We had great views of 2 Magnificent Frigatebirds at Bill Baggs. I was amazed at how effortlessly they soar, kind of like Turkey Vultures, seemingly not moving their wings at all. : I'd like to thank the rangers at Everglades National Park, especially Tim and Sabrina, who gave us good advice on where to look for some of our sought after species. I look forward to visiting Florida again soon. : Yours in birding, : Scott Baron : Fairfax, Virginia

Optional Link URL:
Link Title:
Optional Image URL: