Posted by John Boyd on May 09, 2004 at 08:40:31:
Although it was windy, we had a good day for birding. Migration is not over yet! Nancy Freedman and I found 85 individual warblers of 9 species and 18 Bobolinks. We generally did well except for shorebirds, partly due to unfavorable tides. I've put totals for the Dade and Monroe portions of our count at the end.
Our first birding location was Kendall-Tamiami Airport. This is
normally done by the Loop Road group, but Bill was unable to cover it this time. Since it was on our way, we added it to our route. The day's first highlight was a Burrowing Owl breakfasting on a female or immature Boat-tailed Grackle. We saw it carry the grackle across the road and start feeding in one of the grass fields. The airport also brought us our 18 Meadowlarks, a few Common Nighthawks, and most of our 15 Shrikes.
Stop #2 was by Alabama Jacks on Card Sound Road. We were disappointed to miss the Cuban Yellow Warblers, and had to be content with some Prairies and Gray Kingbirds. We paid our toll and stopped on the other side. Still no Yellow Warblers, but we found our first Frigate of the day.
We made a couple of brief stops on Card Sound before turning in to Valois, and then Palm. Cardinals and Black-whiskered Vireos were singing. A flock of Bobolinks where the likely Florida race Kestrel was seen last spring provided a highlight. A few warblers were present and we found our only Ground Doves of the day.
The public portion of Key Largo Hammocks gave us some Cape May Warblers, but several warblers eluded us. As we returned to the car, we heard the distinctive call of a Mangrove Cuckoo...make that two Mangrove Cuckoos calling to each other. We were able to locate one on the right side of the parking lot. We watched it for a while before heading down US 1.
We saw our last Boat-tailed Grackles of the day as we went through Key Largo. The Wild Bird Center was next on the agenda. Very few shorebirds were present: only a few Stilts and one Dowitcher. The number of waders also seemed low, although a Green Heron was a surprise. It also provided our last Blue Jay of the day. Both Jays and Boat-tails are absent from much of the keys.
There were no shorebirds at all at the usual stop on Lower Matecumbe. We did find a few warblers at Anne's Beach (Redstarts and Prairies). It was almost noon when we got to the Golden Orb Trail on Long Key (the entrance fee is now $6 for 2 people). This provided the best warbler variety as we found our only BT Blue (1), Black-and-white (1), and Ovenbird (2) of the day.
The Lake Edna area was pretty dry. Both Least Terns and Black-necked Stilts were nesting there. We found no other shorebirds. We stopped at Porky's for a late lunch. During lunch we were seranaded by Common Mynas. We also spotted our only Wurdemann's of the day.
After lunch, we went straight to Big Pine. We spotted 8 Key Deer on Big Pine and No Name. I was surprised to find a Broad-winged Hawk soaring near the intersection of Watson and Key Deer. A little later I spotted two buteos soaring near the west end of Watson. One may have been the Broad-winged. The other was never close enough for ID although it was
holding itself like a Short-tailed and looked somewhat dark...that went down as buteo sp. We also found our first Reddish Egret of the day at the west end of Watson.
By now it was after 5 and we headed back toward Marathon. We stopped on Ohio Key. Very few shorebirds were present (3 Willet, 3 G. Yellowlegs) and only a couple of Least Terns. However, we did find both red and white morph Reddish Egrets. Back in the car, we noticed some birds in the water and pulled into Veteran's park to scope them. These included some Royal Terns and a flock of Dowitchers.
Back at Marathon, we took a side trip to Boot Key. There was little activity. The road is getting more overgrown at the end each time I go out there. We put the trip around the Sombrero County Club near the end to maximize the chance of Burrowing Owl. We were not disappointed, finding 3 Owls. We also found more Bobolinks as well as a number of Common Yellowthroats.
The Government Center was next. Least Terns nest there, and we had heard that some Roseate Terns are also present this year. We found 2 Roseate Terns. We probably undercounted the Least Terns. We were only seeing up to about 10 at a time when something put them up and there were about 60 in the air. A second building also had Least Terns but they were not put up for easy counting.
By then it was well after 7. We went to Miami Subs by the Marathon Airport for something to eat. We noticed Blackpolls and Yellowthroats actively feeding in a weedy lot adjacent to Miami Subs. At about 8, we heard a pity-pit-pit. Yes, the Antillean Nighthawks were coming out. We then drove up to the airport terminal parking lot where we heard more Antillean Nighthawks. While there, we got our final new bird of the day. Some Monk Parakeets were roosting in the area, probably in a palm across US 1 (it was getting dark).
Dade: 24 species, 325 individuals
1 Double-crested Cormorant
5 Cattle Egret
7 White Ibis
6 Muscovy Duck
5 Laughing Gull
8 Rock Pigeon
31 Eurasian Collared-Dove
1 White-winged Dove
23 Mourning Dove
9 Burrowing Owl
4 Common Nighthawk
2 Northern Flicker
6 Gray Kingbird
15 Loggerhead Shrike
2 Blue Jay
6 Barn Swallow
9 Northern Mockingbird
40 European Starling
2 Prairie Warbler
19 Red-winged Blackbird
18 Eastern Meadowlark
12 Common Grackle
92 Boat-tailed Grackle
2 House Sparrow
Monroe: 55 species, 1369 individuals
60 Brown Pelican
324 Double-crested Cormorant
11 Magnificent Frigatebird
7 Great White Heron
1 Wurdemann's Heron
14 Great Egret
8 Snowy Egret
1 Little Blue Heron
5 Tricolored Heron
2 Reddish Egret (red morph)
1 Reddish Egret (white morph)
9 Cattle Egret
2 Green Heron
13 White Ibis
38 Turkey Vulture
10 Osprey
1 buteo sp.
1 Broad-winged Hawk
1 Black-bellied Plover
9 Black-necked Stilt
3 Greater Yellowlegs
3 Willet
28 Short-billed Dowitcher
102 Laughing Gull
22 Royal Tern
2 Roseate Tern
107 Least Tern
15 Rock Pigeon
25 White-crowned Pigeon
65 Eurasian Collared-Dove
41 Mourning Dove
3 Common Ground-Dove
2 Monk Parakeet
2 Mangrove Cuckoo
3 Burrowing Owl
4 Antillean Nighthawk
17 Red-bellied Woodpecker
9 Great Crested Flycatcher
25 Gray Kingbird
22 White-eyed Vireo
26 Black-whiskered Vireo
1 Purple Martin
17 Northern Mockingbird
17 European Starling
3 Common Myna
7 Cape May Warbler
1 Black-throated Blue Warbler
20 Prairie Warbler
11 Blackpoll Warbler
1 Black-and-white Warbler
15 American Redstart
2 Ovenbird
3 Northern Waterthrush
23 Common Yellowthroat
18 Bobolink
99 Red-winged Blackbird
78 Common Grackle
9 Boat-tailed Grackle