Posted by Alex on June 26, 2003 at 18:41:19:
Me and Felipe went for a 6 hour birding trip today. As his dad as our lift, we traveled first to my neighborhood park and found Chimney Swift and the Cooper's Hawk. We soon left into Miami Springs for a bit to find some parakeets around the Apache and Wren areas. Along the way were Least Tern and Killdeer. When we got in Miami Springs we found a Common Grackle eating a dead Ringneck snake and 3 species of parakeet. 2 Red-masked Parakeet, a couple Monk Parakeets, and a Crimson-fronted Parakeet. After that we headed into South Miami for a good lunch at Miami Subs. After that we found Gray Kingbird and 2 Common Myna. After tha off to Matheson Hammock for some birding. We heard some Amazon parrots at the picnic area along with moorhen and Green Heron. We then headed to the end of the park for some wading birds. We hit some good luck with Killdeer, Little Blue Heron, Snowy and Great Egret, Ibis, Tricolored Heron and Least, Royal, and... GULL-BILLED TERNS!!!. Two of them diving at puddles in the exposed sea grass. It was worth taking off our shoes and getting muddy while wading in the low tide. After we got all muddy we went for some Black-whiskered Vireo. We heard atleast 3 singing but no visual. We searched for about 30 minutes as Felipe needed one. No luck, but we did fing the elusive Florida Reef Gecko in the Red Mangrove forest. After that we went to his house with Hill Mynas on the way there, 6 to be exact. At his house we watched some tapes he recorded of 3 species of birds. One bird was a Chipping Sparrow, but the other birds were not identified. One of the others was a sparrow, but the other bird which I suggested Vireo, was not a vireo at all. We need profesional help on this one. Not in the books, and I am going with a Carribean stray. It is a good segment of film and can the bird can be seen clearly. It looks like a pipit or wagtail kinda, but it was not. After that we headed back to my house and took a detour for Chestnut-fronted Macaw. We got great looks at pearched on a dead palm at it's nest site. Hear are our results:
Anhinga
Double-crested Cormorant
Brown Pelican
Green Heron
Little Blue Heron- lifer for Felipe
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Cattle Egret
Tricolored Heron
White Ibis
Muscovy
Common Moorhen
Killdeer
Laughing Gull
Least Tern
Royal Tern
GULL-BILLED TERN- lifer for both of us
Cooper's Hawk
Eurasian Collard Dove
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove
White-winged Dove
Monk Parakeet
Crimson-fronted Parakeet- lifer for both of us
Red-masked Parakeet
Chestnut-fronted Macaw- lifer for Felipe
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Gray Kingbird
Chimney Swift
Blue Jay
Fish Crow
Purple Martin
Loggerhead Shrike
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Hill Myna
Common Myna
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
House Sparrow
We also heard 3 Black-whiskered Vireos
Total= 41 birds