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Posted by Bryant Roberts on 23:08:35 07/06/04
My holiday weekend was spent camping at Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park with visits to Flamingo, the north end of Key Largo, and southeast Dade County. Interesting birds seen during the weekend included White-tailed Kite, Short-tailed Hawk, American Avocet, Gull-billed Tern, Mangrove Cuckoo, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Cave Swallow, Yellow (Cuban Golden race) Warbler, and Shiny Cowbird.
Saturday (7/3) was spent mostly in the Flamingo area where I found two male Shiny Cowbirds in front of the lodge among several Brown-headed Cowbirds. At Eco Pond a Mangrove Cuckoo allowed me to watch at close range for several minutes as it preened in the Strangler Fig near the culvert. Later I located the out of season Scissor-tailed Flycatcher in the burnt area north of the marina where it has been seen for at least a couple of weeks. A walk down to Christian Point didn't produce any Flamingos but there were plenty of shorebirds and waders on the flats along with Marbled Godwits, nine American Avocets in alternate plumage, and a Gull-billed tern hunting in the distance over the flats. A walk down to Snake Bight was less successful, the most interesting birds were Spotted Sandpiper and Wilson's Plover. On the way out of Flamingo there were four Shiny Cowbirds among a flock of Brown-headed Cowbirds and Starlings feeding along the main road in front of the marina. The Wood Stork rookery at Paurotis Pond is still active with a bit under a hundred nearly grown young remaining, many of which were exercising their wings. Back at the north end of the park I saw a single White-tailed Kite near the south end of Research Road which was there every time I checked the area during the weekend.
Sunday (7/4) I headed down to Card Sound where I found an adult male Yellow (Cuban Golden race) Warbler singing and pursuing what appeared to be an immature west of the Alabama Jack's parking lot. At the Key Largo Hammock State Botanical Site I heard a Mangrove Cuckoo call in the distance and a couple of nearer fragmentary calls. The neatest thing I saw there was an adult Black-whiskered Vireo picking and tenderising Strangler Fig fruit then feeding them to a fledgling. I headed back north along Biscayne Bay with stops at the Biscayne National Park headquarters and Black Point Marina. No unusual birds were seen at these places but near the culverts under the trails there were schools of Parrotfish, Sergeant Majors, Mangrove Snappers, and a small Barracuda along with several other species of fish. Later I visited the Cave Swallow nesting area on Hainlin Mill Drive just east of the Turnpike where there was plenty of swallow activity with a good many juveniles flying with the adults around the colony. Before returning to camp I took a walk around Anhinga Trail. The water is still very low and there were few wading birds but I got to see a Yellow-billed Cuckoo along the trail and a dark morph Short-tailed Hawk soaring with a few Turkey Vultures. Back at Long Pine Key a quick count of the Common Nighthawks flying above the tops of the pines within a couple of hundred yards turned up about forty birds.
I walked the roads and trails around Long Pine Key on Monday (7/5) looking mainly for rock pineland wildflowers. There were plenty of Brown-headed Nuthatches, Eastern Bluebirds, and Northern Bobwhites to be seen and heard but nothing really unusual. The mosquitos have reached typical summer numbers, they are bad in the Long Pine Key area and very bad around Flamingo.
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