[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TAS BirdBoard ] [ FAQ ]
Posted by Paul Bithorn on 22:10:14 03/09/08
While birding with my good friend Tom Marko from the Montgomery Bird Club in Maryland on Saturday, March 8, 2008, we picked up a respectable 96 species between Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties.
Undaunted by an approaching cold front, we looked into the eye of the beast and found ourselve's in front of the abandoned airboat concession on Tamaiami Trail (Rapoza's Birding;Florida; pg. 129.) at 6:30 a.m. and were immediately greeted by a male Snail Kite hunting for apple snails. Glossy Ibis, a Black Skimmer, Mottled Ducks and a male Painted Bunting at the entrance to Shark Valley were also seen along the Trail, but the showstopper was a beautiful Fox Squirrel that I almost hit in front of the Safari Airboat concession that ran safely into the parking lot and seemed to be waving us in for an airboat ride.
Next stop - the residential area north of Baptist Hospital- where Red-whiskered Bulbuls, Spot-breasted Oriole, White-crowned Pigeons and Mitred Parakeets were seen.
Cutler Wetlands had White Pelicans, Roseate Spoonbill, Mottled Ducks, Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal and Northern Shovelers.
We bee-lined for the Card Sound Bridge and found Rick and Nancy Blanchette and Nancy Diersing peering out at the Binary Geese-two Brants- through Rick's scope.Other birds on the oyster bar were White Pelicans, Double-crested Cormorant, Royal and Caspian Tern, Ring-billed and Laughing Gull, Willet, Dunlin, Black-bellied Plover, and Western and Least Sandpipers. We all headed to Alabama Jack's for lunch and enjoyed conch fritters and blackened dolphin sandwiches washed down with Yuengling, Red Stripe,Corona and Presidentes. Dr. Bonnie Ponwith joined us and shared an excellent pipefitter joke at Rick's expense.
After lunch, Tom and I headed to Lucky Hammock and had a Swallow-tailed Kite soaring overhead and a quick search for Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and Shiny Cowbird along S.W. 217 Ave. came up empty, but we soon found Eastern Meadowlarks and a Burrowing Owl at Homestead General Airport, peering out next to an orange cone just inside the entrance.
We stopped by Castellow Hammock where three Ruby-throated Hummingbirds nectared in the butterfly garden. Cooper's Hawk,White-winged Doves, (4) Northern Parulas and a Black and White Warbler were also seen.
We finished up in Miami Springs where Monk Parakeets, Yellow-chevroned Parakeets, Mitred, Red-masked, Red-fronted, Crimson-fronted, White-eyed and Green Parakeets and Orange-winged and Red-crowned Parrots were in their usual haunts.
Life is good.......................
[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TAS BirdBoard ] [ FAQ ]