Posted by David LaPuma on December 09, 2000 at 21:04:03:
I'm just going to make this brief, but a full report will follow soon. While "scouting" for CBC hotspots, Raphael Galvez and myself turned up a CUBAN GRASSQUIT at South-Point Park. The park is located at the southern-most point of Miami Beach, best reached by parking at 1st street and walking south along the beach to the Jetty, turn right and walk along jetty wall until you pass the "bathrooms" (don't even think of using them, they're locked, and if that doesn't stop you, they're GROSS!). The bird was seen on the stretch of "dune-like" vegetation just north of the bathrooms. Specifically, Raphael and I were walking on top of the dune and facing the northwest corner where there is a stand of tamarind with some Brazilian pepper mixed in. The bird popped up off the ground of the tamarinds and perched sideways, then upright. Some pishing kept it interested and we got great looks at the crescent from the back of the eye down across the throat and up again on the opposite side(clearly separating the chin and head from the breast). The face was very dark and with the brilliance of the yellow crescent indicated it was an adult male. About 2 minutes after the spot, it flew over the sea grapes to the west and was not seen again. After briefly looking for it we continued our count, but returned three hours later and searched again without any luck. The surrounding area doesn't seem to have much in the way of seeds, but I suppose it's possible that the nearby dunes and the small remnant of dune that we viewed it on may support it. We will be trekking up in that direction tomorrow and may stop to see if the bird returns.
Hopefully this bird will stick around for Raphael to get it on the CBC!
good birding,
David LaPuma
Miami, FL
trogon@bellsouth.net