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Posted by Angel & Mariel on 01:11:24 06/07/08
This past weekend we camped at Bahia H. State Park in the Keys. The view from our camp site was absolutely A-MA-ZING!
Briefly after checking in our camp site we saw a little blue butterfly flittering about our campsite. Quickly observed closer knowing that this was a lifer butterfly. We were able to get great looks of our lifer Miami Blue Butterfly, finally and it was awesome! This Miami Blue showed a sign of good things to come. So we headed out in hopes of getting our lifer Roseate Tern & Antillean Nighthawk. We were not disappointed after picking through the many Least Terns we observed several Roseate Terns as they flew passed us, they were a beautiful bird to finally see just like Toe said they would be. After enjoying them for a bit, we headed South to FT Zachary. The view of the sun and sailboats in the water from the top of the Fort was AMAZING. First we waited for the Antillean Nighthawk at FT. Zachory in the open field next to the fort, unfortunately there we did not find any. There wasn't enough time to get back to Marathon Airport so we looked around Key West Airport in hopes that we may see an Antillean Nighthawk there. Unfortunately we didn't find one there either! Rats...at least we still both had the Roseate Tern (which of course was our Bird of the Day)! Plus a bonus Brown Thrasher in the early morning we had two year birds in our pocket.
Since we were in Key West and hungry from birding all day we decided to eat at Mr. Z's Pizza on Southard near Duval Street. The pizza was delicious but once we had split a pizza and were already stuffed we found out that it is really their Cheesesteak Subs that they are known for. Well I guess that means we will be back tomorrow for lunch.
On Sunday we woke up at our beautiful beach campsite to the ocean and the amazing sunrise.
After enjoying the view for a while we then headed to look for Mangrove Cuckoo with no luck next stop was National Key Deer Refuge. Right away we spotted our lifer Key Deer which was INCREDIBLE! We got some great views, pics and video while we heard a Black-whiskered Vireo singing in the trees. Shortly afterwards we spotted the BWVI singing it's heart out. It was AMAZING!
Although we tried several spots in the Keys over the weekend Mangrove Cuckoo still eluded us for a year bird. We will find one towards our BIG year soon! Thoughout the weekend we mainly birded the lower Keys finding several species of Wading and Shorebirds including a few Reddish Egret which is always nice. The Gray Kingbirds were scattered throughout and delightful to see and hear along the way. We have to say that "There is a White-crowned Pigeon" was the phrase of the trip. We counted 50 White-crowned Pigeon or so between Sat and Sun just in the Lower Keys. So we definitely got that for the year!
On the way out of Key West we stopped at Mr. Z's and tried their Cheesesteak sub which was INCREDIBLE! The second day was even better than the first! Afterwards we headed to get better looks at the Roseate Tern and off to Marathon Airport for the Antillean Nighthawk before heading home. We kept our eyes peeled around the Airport for a while when we finally spotted a Common Nighthawk. With our hopes up some time passed and we were beginning to think we may not see the Antillean. We even phoned a friend to make sure we were in the right area. Then just like that 4 Antillean Nighthawk called out pity-pit-pit flying above us. AWESOME!!! We were able to get some video and enjoyed great satisfactory views for our lifer. Thanks to Toe for your helpful advice. Our trip to the Keys was INCREDIBLE & AMAZING!
The heat was killer, like a roasting pig on Noche Buena, but the views and birds were great company.
Thanks to Toe, Robin and Trey for the tips on spots to check while we were there. We celebrated our lifers with a Great Divide Hercules Double IPA and Dogfish Head Burton Baton which were absolutely incredible.
Here is a list of the birds found over the weekend in the Keys:
Northern Gannet
Brown Pelican
Double-crested Cormorant
Magnificent Frigatebird
Great Blue Heron
Great White Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret
White Ibis
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bkack-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Willet
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Dowitcher
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Least Tern
Roseate Tern
Royal Tern
Rock Pigeon
White-crowned Pigeon
Eurasian-collared Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Monk Parakeet
Common Nighthawk
Antillean Nighthawk
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Great Crested Flycatcher
Gray Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Black-whiskered Vireo
Blue Jay
Tree Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Prairie Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Sparrow
Common Myna
Other great Lifers on our Keys adventure:
Miami Blue Butterfly
Key Deer
Nature is Awesome
Angel & Mariel
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