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Posted by Paul Bithorn on 18:17:47 06/02/04
On Tuesday, June 1, 2004, I had the distinct pleasure of assisting freelance writer Jennifer Uscher and her husband Jay Conrad in seeking out the exotic parrots of South Florida for a story on feral parrotsin the U.S, she is writing for the National Wildlife magazine. I was joined by my dear friend, Tropical Audubon Society President, Joe Barros.
Before long, the balmy weather was purging the sweat glands of the young Brooklynites as we flew from location to location in search of psittacids.At our first stop, we found a small flock of White-winged Parakeets in Coral Gables in the company of Hill Mynas. South Miami produced several White-crowned Pigeons before heading to a quick tour of the Doc Thomas House, TAS headquarters, where we located a nice flock of Yellow-chevroned Parakeets at a feeder just south of the house.We witnessed adults regurgitating their food to their young.
At Matheson Hammock, we found a pair of Red-masked Parakeets and an Orange-winged Amazon on top of a dead Royal Palm. The big surprise, however, was a late dark morph Short-tailed Hawk that flew directly over us, a lifer for both Jay and Jen. A Red Admiral butterfly was an added treat. A quick spin by the Royal Palm Tennis Club was quiet, but a male Magnificent Frigatebird kited overhead. Only Rock Pigeons and House Sparrows were at Mrs. Furshcott s feeders.
The neighborhood directly across the street from Baptist Hospital (Pranty-pgs. 222 and 228) on Kendall Drive (S.W. 88 St.) and S.W. 87 Ave produced a single Red-whiskered Bulbul and several Monk Parakeets. A side trip to Tamiami Airport produced a pair of Burrowing Owls and on the way to the original Shorty s BBQ for lunch, we had close looks at a Common Myna. At lunch, we were joined by birding guide,extraordinaire, Larry Manfredi and his toddler son, Philip. Philip had his own binoculars in tow and entertained us with Mangrove Cuckoo imitations.
Another pass through the Gables produced a Chestnut-fronted Macaw and Spot-breasted Oriole and we were off to beautiful Miami Springs. We had a family of Orange-winged Parrots at Apache and Wren and at the Fair Havens Nursing Home located Dusky-headed Parakeet, Mitred Parakeet, Red-fronted Parakeet, and more Monk Parakeets.
Our final destination was the old Miller Drive Parrot Roost (Pranty-pg. 222 (map) and pg. 227). We drove to the intersection of S.W. 64th Street and S.W. 62nd Avenue, arriving about 7:30 p.m. Red-crowned, White-fronted, Blue-fronted, Lilac-crowned, Orange-winged, Yellow-crowned and Yellow-Headed Parrots alternated between the power-lines and Australian Pines. Our exotics total finished at 22 species adding Eurasian Collared Dove and European Starling including 16 species of psittacids.
As the cacophony of sound began to die down and the light began to dwindle, we headed to the Latin American Cafeteria on Coral Way, home to arguably the best Cuban Sandwich in Miami, where we washed down our sandwiches and tostones with one of my favorite pilseners, Presidente, as we relived our adventure. Jay had videoed most of the species seen to memorialize an excellent day of birding. Life is good.......... when filling the dog days of summer with the spectacle of exotic birding.
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