Posted by Paul Bithorn on December 23, 2003 at 21:06:48:
In Reply to: American Oystercatcher posted by Alex on December 21, 2003 at 17:24:03:
As one of her Christmas presents, I took my wife Pam to see the previously reported American Oystercatcher this afternoon at Morningside Park, a park that holds many childhood memories for me. It was seen by scope on the spoil island out in the bay southeast of the boat ramp. A county bird for both of us, this sighting is historically significant for Miami-Dade County.
Florida Bird Life, the 1954 tome by Alexander Sprunt, Jr., D. Sc., mentions a single sighting by Louis A. Stimson of Miami in 1932 on Miami Beach. Sprunt, himself, never saw the species in 17 years of field work in the State of Florida.
Florida Bird Species: An Annotated List, the 1992 by Robertson and Woolfenden, makes reference of the species as rare to very rare in extreme southern Florida and the Keys.
Life is good................