Posted by Leo Miller on April 18, 2004 at 20:24:01:
My last (I leave shortly) South FL weekend birding trip, with my birding buddies Linda McCandless and Linda Most, turned out fantastic even with the high winds and roller coaster boat trip to the Tortugas. We saw 113 species on the Keys. Highlights include:
Red-legged Honeycreeper (MP 59 in Bottlebrush trees behind the parking lot of the “Wreck” restaurant).
21 species of Warblers including a male Cerulean and Louisiana Waterthrush at the Botanical Garden (Stock Island), dynamite looks at a male Kentucky (Fort Zachary Taylor), Swainsons (Indigenous Park), Blackpoll and Hooded Warblers (ubiquitous).
Bobolinks (Sunshine Key Campground, Ohio Key, MP39)
Shiny Cowbirds (SE corner,17th Terrace and Flagler), Eastern and Western Kingbirds (Key West)
Black-whiskered and Red-eyed Vireos (Indigenous Park)
Garden Key, Tortugas:
Perched Antillean Nighthawk and Chuck-wills-widow.
15 species of warblers, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Summer and Scarlet Tanagers, Orchard Orioles, Veery, Gray-cheeked, Swainsons and Wood Thrushes, numerous Yellow-billed Cuckoos and a Peregrine harassing the Noddys and Sooty Terns over Bush Key.(No Black Noddy)