Florida Keys Birding & Wildlife Festival.

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Posted by Larry Manfredi on October 06, 2003 at 09:09:35:

14 birders participated in the Florida Keys Birding & Wildlife Festival pelagic trip Saturday October 4th. This festival is held in Marathon. We left the city marina at 7:00 a.m. for a 25 mile boat ride due east to the Marathon Hump. We had a few usual terns and frigatebirds while traveling but not much else. Once we arrived at the hump about 2 hours later we saw hardly any birds, after some scanning we saw some distant birds, which we traveled closer to. As we got closer we saw that these birds were diving Brown Boobies, we got even closer views giving many participants great life looks. As the sun got higher, more and more Brown Boobies were seen with 2 Sooty Terns mixed in again lifers for many. Magnificent Frigatebirds continued to increase in numbers with at least 3 dozens soaring about giving us great views of males, females as well as immature birds. The captain, mate and a few others witnessed a Magnificent Frigatebird dive down to pick off a Flying Fish right out of the mid-air!!! As the day progressed I continued counting Brown Boobies and estimated the number of them at about 120 birds!!! This is a high count for me and perhaps a high count for Florida and the U.S.! My count is a conservative estimate as the birds were diving and sitting on the water. One flock sitting on the water had 80 birds present. A sharp-eyed participant spotted 2 jaegers but putting an I.D. to them was tough because of the distance seen. My bet is that they were Pomarine Jaegers, which are the only ones that I have seen in the keys. We also saw an accipiter flying north it looked to be a Coopers Hawk but we could not be sure. After searching the whole area including chumming we could not find any new pelagic species. We began our trip back to shore, which added a few more species such as Peregrine Falcon, Broad-winged Hawk and White-morph of Great Blue Heron.

Here is a list of total species seen near shore and offshore.

Magnificent Frigatebird 38

Brown Booby 120

Double-crested Cormorant 5

White-morph Great Blue Heron 1

Little Blue Heron 2

Accipiter species 2

Broad-winged Hawk 1

Peregrine 1

Jaeger species 2 probable Pomarine

Royal Tern 5

Sooty Tern 2

Belted Kingfisher 2

Barn Swallow 7

Not a bad trip with many people seeing lifers.

Larry Manfredi

Homestead, FL

E-mail: birderlm@bellsouth.net

http://www.southfloridabirding.com

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: 14 birders participated in the Florida Keys Birding & Wildlife Festival pelagic trip Saturday October 4th. This festival is held in Marathon. We left the city marina at 7:00 a.m. for a 25 mile boat ride due east to the Marathon Hump. We had a few usual terns and frigatebirds while traveling but not much else. Once we arrived at the hump about 2 hours later we saw hardly any birds, after some scanning we saw some distant birds, which we traveled closer to. As we got closer we saw that these birds were diving Brown Boobies, we got even closer views giving many participants great life looks. As the sun got higher, more and more Brown Boobies were seen with 2 Sooty Terns mixed in again lifers for many. Magnificent Frigatebirds continued to increase in numbers with at least 3 dozens soaring about giving us great views of males, females as well as immature birds. The captain, mate and a few others witnessed a Magnificent Frigatebird dive down to pick off a Flying Fish right out of the mid-air!!! As the day progressed I continued counting Brown Boobies and estimated the number of them at about 120 birds!!! This is a high count for me and perhaps a high count for Florida and the U.S.! My count is a conservative estimate as the birds were diving and sitting on the water. One flock sitting on the water had 80 birds present. A sharp-eyed participant spotted 2 jaegers but putting an I.D. to them was tough because of the distance seen. My bet is that they were Pomarine Jaegers, which are the only ones that I have seen in the keys. We also saw an accipiter flying north it looked to be a Coopers Hawk but we could not be sure. After searching the whole area including chumming we could not find any new pelagic species. We began our trip back to shore, which added a few more species such as Peregrine Falcon, Broad-winged Hawk and White-morph of Great Blue Heron. : : Here is a list of total species seen near shore and offshore. : : Magnificent Frigatebird 38 : Brown Booby 120 : Double-crested Cormorant 5 : White-morph Great Blue Heron 1 : Little Blue Heron 2 : Accipiter species 2 : Broad-winged Hawk 1 : Peregrine 1 : Jaeger species 2 probable Pomarine : Royal Tern 5 : Sooty Tern 2 : Belted Kingfisher 2 : Barn Swallow 7 : : Not a bad trip with many people seeing lifers. : : Larry Manfredi : Homestead, FL : E-mail: birderlm@bellsouth.net : http://www.southfloridabirding.com

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