TAS Third Annual Birdathon

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: On Saturday, April 10, 2004, Bruce Purdy, Brian Rapoza and I, the “Life is good......” team as two-time defending champions, sought to break our record of 142 species from last year, while participating in the Tropical Audubon Society’s Third Annual Birdathon. We began our quest at 5:00 a.m., with our first birds of the day being House Sparrow and a nesting Common Myna at a Publix in West Kendall. : : We would do a 16-hour loop, which traversed Miami-Dade, Monroe, Collier, Hendry and Broward Counties, using the same itinerary as last year with the exception of a stop at STA-5. We would tally 132 species ten below last year’s 142 species. We missed 30 species seen from last year but added 20 new species indicating that with a decent fallout, which we did not have, 150 is easily within reach. I have decided to lift the shroud of secrecy as to our route, so that my fellow birders will have a shot at victory. : Before I forget, Brian Rapoza was featured in today’s Miami Herald on page 3L of the Issuues & Ideas - Speakup section. The feature titled, FIVE QUESTIONS: The call of the wild will certainly introduce many more people to the object of our obsession. Nice job Brian! : Some of the highlights of our day were an Eastern Screech Owl trying to land on my head at Shark Valley, neon-yellow Prothonotary Warblers warbling their sweet song at Sweetwater Strand on Loop Road, a Long-billed Curlew foraging on the mud flats of Tigertail Beach on Marco Island, Bronzed Cowbirds at Eagle Lakes Park, Scissortail Flycatchers and Western Kingbirds along Government Road, a beautiful Ruff at STA-5 in Hendry County and the spectacle of hundreds of psttacids flocking in South Miami. We had 23 species of shorebird not counting a Pectoral Sandpiper that only Brian saw along Tamiami Trail near Everglades City that flew before Bruce or I could get on it. : Our last species of the day was a pair of staked out Solitary Sandpipers at the puddle in front of the Curtiss Mansion on Deer Run in Miami Springs at 9:00 p.m. : We hoisted Guinness and Bass Pale Ales in honor of our Old World rarity visiting from “Across the Pond.” : Here is the list of all species seen by the “Life is good………………” team during the Birdathon: : Pied-billed Grebe : White Pelican : Brown Pelican : Double-crested Cormorant : Anhinga : Magnificent Frigatebird : Great Blue Heron : Great Egret : Snowy Egret : Little Blue Heron : Tricolored Heron : Reddish Egret : Cattle Egret : Green Heron : Black-crowned Night Heron : White Ibis : Glossy Ibis : Wood Stork : Black Vulture : Turkey Vulture : Mottled Duck Mallard (feral) : Blue-winged Teal : Muscovy : Osprey : Swallow-tailed Kite : Snail Kite : Northern Harrier : Red-shouldered Hawk : Crested Caracara : American Kestrel Merlin Common Moorhen : American Coot : Sandhill Crane : Black-bellied Plover : Snowy Plover : Wilson’s Plover : Semipalmated Plover : Wilson’s Plover : Killdeer : American Oystercatcher Black-necked Stilt : Greater Yellowlegs : Lesser Yellowlegs : Solitary Sandpiper : Willet : Long-billed Curlew Marbled Godwit : Ruddy Turnstone (50) : Sanderling : Semipalmated Sandpiper Western Sandpiper : Least Sandpiper : Dunlin : Ruff : Short-billed Dowitcher : Long-billed Dowitcher : Common Snipe Laughing Gull : Ring-billed Gull : Herring Gull : Gull-billed Tern Caspian Tern : Royal Tern : Least Tern : Black Skimmer : Rock Dove : White-crowned Pigeon : Eurasian Collared-Dove : White-winged Dove : Mourning Dove : Common Ground-Dove : Monk Parakeet : Mitred Parakeet : Red-masked Parakeet : Blue-crowned Parakeet : Orange-winged Parrot : Yellow-crowned Parrot : Red-crowned Parrot : Lilac-crowned Parrot : White-fronted Parrot : Blue-fronted Parrot Eastern Screech Owl (2-Gray) : Burrowing Owl (2) : Barred Owl (2) : Common Nighthawk : Chuck-will’s Widow : Red-bellied Woodpecker : Downy Woodpecker : Northern Flicker : Pileated Woodpecker : Great Crested Flycatcher : Western Kingbird : Scissor-tailed Flycatcher : Loggerhead Shrike : White-eyed Vireo : Red-eyed Vireo : Blue Jay : Florida Scrub Jay (100) : American Crow : Fish Crow : Purple Martin : Tree Swallow : Northern Rough-Winged Swallow : Tufted Titmouse : Carolina Wren : Blue-gray Gnatcatcher : Gray Catbird : Northern Mockingbird : European Starling : Common Myna : Northern Parula : Cape May Warbler : Pine Warbler : Palm Warbler : Black-and-white Warbler : American Redstart : Prothonotary Warbler Northern Waterthrush Common Yellowthroat : Eastern Towhee : Savannah Sparrow : Northern Cardinal Rose-breasted Grosbeak : Red-winged Blackbird : Eastern Meadowlark : Common Grackle : Boat-tailed Grackle : Bronzed Cowbird : Spot-breasted Oriole : House Sparrow (132) : : Life is good....................and good luck to our competition - you’re gonna need it. If you are interested in participating in this year’s Birdathon, which runs until April 25th, go to the tropicalaudubon.org website.

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