Posted by John Boyd on October 04, 2003 at 20:14:16:
We started the TAS trip to Curry Hammock by picking up a few exotics near the Doc Thomas House, including 3 pairs of Blue-and-yellow Macaws that flew over Red Rd. as we were driving off.
We saw both Mynas, Hill at DTH and Common at Florida City, where we briefly stopped.
Our first birding stop was at Anne's Beach. Several warblers were present. We found Magnolia, Palm, Prairie, Black-and-white, and Redstart. There was also a young Yellow-crowned Night-Heron that was puzzling over how to eat a crab.
Then it was on to the Hawkwatch at Curry Hammock. A light morph Short-tailed Hawk on the way served to warm us up. There is now a $2 entrance fee at Curry Hammock, presumably due to the "improvements". The TAS trip coincides with the Keys Birding Festival, and there was already a crowd present when we arrived.
While we were there, we saw well over 100 each Peregrine Falcon and Broad-winged Hawk, with one Broad-winged kettle of 60+. There were also good numbers of Osprey, Sharpies and Kestrels. A Red-shouldered Hawk made an appearance. It is rare that far into the Keys. I think it was the 4th seen this year at the hawkwatch. Harriers, Cooper's Hawks, and Merlins were also seen.
Casey Lott gave a very nice presentation on raptor ID. I was surprised to pick up a couple of pointers. The continual flow of hawks provided numerous examples for Casey.
Tiffany brought over a couple of "canned" hawks that were caught at the banding station. A young male Kestrel was particularly interesting due to an unusual tail pattern. The outer tail feathers had black-and-white bands. This type of banding (often involving the whole tail) is sometimes seen in Kestrels. The second bird was a vocal Merlin, which Jim Sigsbee had the pleasure of releasing.
TAS trips to the hawkwatch are not always scheduled on a day the hawks are present in numbers. I was very pleased that we saw many hawks today...just the thing to sharpen one's raptor ID skills!