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Posted by Martin Lumb on 16:48:55 12/15/09
Just got back from a fantastic 3 day birding trip in the Lauderdale/Miami area with a hit list of nine lifers. Here's a rundown.
Day 1(Sat12th). Met up with local birder Russ Titus just after dawn. Birded the Middle River Terrace area (N Fort Lauderdale) and quickly found a pair of Spot Breasted Orioles (lifer #1). Also, we had a small flock of Blue Crowned Parakeets along the canal. As we had found the orioles so quickly we decided to look for the Smooth Billed Ani at its hangout on Old Griffin Road. Spent an hour there without success searching south of the 800 bldg and over the road by the canal. Next up was White Winged Parakeet. We drove over to Plantation where Russ said we may be able to find some in a date palm he knew of. Unfortunately a one-hour stake out yielded nothing and as Russ had to leave, I decided to return to Griffin Rd. A 30-min sweep of the same area again came up empty. I wanted to spend the afternoon looking for Red Whiskered Bulbul in the Baptist Hospital area and as it was now 12:30 I headed off there. Got my bird after a two hour search when I heard strange whistles coming from a flowering Jasmine tree midway up the east side of 87th Ave. Getting closer, two bulbuls flew out and gave me great views when they perched on the overhead cable (Lifer #2.) As I had a location for roosting WW Parakeets in El Portal on N.Miami Ave, I now headed there. Not feeling comfortable birding the area on foot I drove around and sat in my car at several places. Seeing nothing I finally gave up around 5:45 and headed south to Homestead where I spent the night.
Day 2 (Sun 13th) Dawn found me at Lucky Hammock. Good birds here were Brown Thrasher (in the tangles over the road) and Song Sparrow (single bird perched in a tree on east side of road) Entering the park at 9:30 I drove straight to Flamingo and spent a couple of hours looking for warblers around the visitor centre and the campsite. Found Palm, Prairie, Yellow throated and Black & White. Also Yellow Bellied Sapsucker. Walked the Snake Bight trail to hit the bay at high tide and found 5 Wilsons Phalaropes, three Black necked Stilts and a pair of Avocets. Unfortunately, no flamingos. Also had an encounter with a cotton mouth on the walk back. I was probably spared an agonizing death by the fact that he already had a half eaten frog in his mouth. Driving back to Lucky Hammock I stopped at Mahogany Hammock and saw an Eastern Kingbird. At the hammock, where I ran into local birder Alex Harper, the White tailed Kites were easily seen and after dark we heard Short Eared Owl calling along with several Whip Poor Wills. We, or rather Alex, found one of these birds alongside the road and we enjoyed great views of a male bird in the flashlight(Lifer #3). After that it was back to the motel for a good night's sleep.
Day 3 (Mon 14th) Card Sound Bridge a little after dawn. Pulling up in my car I immediately saw two yellow birds fly across the road and land in the bushes right in front of me. Getting out of the car and grabbing my binoculars in one motion I got on one of the birds and saw... a "yellow bird". As I had driven down from Homestead with the car windows closed, my binoculars had steamed up. Before I could wipe them off the birds had flown. Knowing that Prairie Warbler can also be found here I was unable to count Cuban Yellow warbler. However, I was about to make up for this. Looking around, I noticed a large dark shape approaching from the east. Definitely not a pelican. As it got closer I saw a flying cigar on long powerful wings with an ice cream cone stuck on the front. Brown Booby!! The immature bird passed right over me at around fifty feet and with the sun behind me I could see every detail. Terrific!! Not a lifer but a fantastic addition to the ABA list. Thinking that this could be my lucky day I decided to try for Mangrove Cuckoo at Key Largo Hammock Park. It was not to be. However I did hear the sound of what I took to be White Crowned Pigeons exploding from the canopy. (Bird by Heard??.)
Noon found me up in Miami Shores looking for WW Parakeets with Alex who had offered to help me find them. We saw several other parakeets but not the one in question so we decided to head up to Griffin Road around 3:30 pm and try for the Ani again. No luck so back down to N. Miami Ave to the Parakeet roost. While we were cruising the back streets, Alex heard a high pitched "tick" and told me to pull over. A minute later we were looking at an immature female Cape May Warbler preening itself in a tree. I was totally amazed. How many birders can ID a Cape May from a solitary "tick" from a passing car. Certainly not me. Lifer # 4. I was still enjoying views of the Cape May when Alex called out "Parakeets" and there they were. About 8 birds flew out of a nearby tree and I managed to see the white underwings on the last bird. (Lifer #5.) Two lifers in as many minutes!! Fantastic. As it was now almost sunset we decided to call it a day and go home, Alex to his house and me to my hotel in Dania Beach. Looking in at Griffin Rd at 5:45 for the Ani produced nothing (again).
OK, this was meant to be a brief report but I guess I got a little carried away. Anyway, I usually don't post my sightings but the TAS bird board has been such an outstanding resource in planning this trip that I hope this helps somebody else. A big shout-out to Russ and Alex who helped me out so much. Thanks guys. Back next year for flamingo, shiny cowbird, mangrove cuckoo and that darned ani. .
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