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Posted by Paul Bithorn on 16:17:50 12/04/11
Thirty-five birders assembled for the Tropical Audubon Society's annual "Exotics" fieldtrip on Saturday, December 3, 2011. We met at 6:30 a.m. in the north parking lot of Matheson Hammock County Park. Birders from Orlando, Clearwater, Fellsmere, Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, Palm Beach Gardens, West Palm Beach and several provinces of Canada enjoyed the great weather with light winds and temperatures in the mid-70 s.
We arrived at Daria's home at 7:00 a.m. and were greeted by she and her husband, who welcomed us into their home in anticipation of the arrival of Blue and Yellow Macaws. Our Hostess with the Mostess and her husband were gracious enough to provide us with a breakfast feast of homemade muffins, fresh fruit, and freshly brewed coffee. It wasn t long before two macaws arrived, while a flock of White Ibis, Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls adorned the lawn in her backyard. I cannot thank her and her husband enough for hosting such a large group. Daria s passion for this species is quite evident when she addresses groups of birders.
Our next stop was Matheson Hammock, and a flock of eleven Hill Mynas fed in the Cuba Royal Palms offering close looks at the stark contrast between their black bodies, white wing patches and golden-yellow wattles. A small flock of Yellow-chevroned Parakeets were also seen at this beautiful county park built by workers from the Civilian Conservation, adding another exotic species to our list.
We headed to a residential neighborhood called Kendallwood west of S.W. 87th Avenue, and spotted a commune of Monk Parakeets on the power-lines adjacent to their stick nest, imbedded around an FPL transformer. A large flock of Mitred Parakeets landed on power-lines, and the large variability of red blotches on the head and body proved that no two Mitred s are alike . While walking along S.W. 83rd St. we spotted a pair of Red-whiskered Bulbuls, allowing scope views, they fed on Wild Balsam Apple seeds intertwined in a Glory Bower Bush. Another introduced species, White-winged Doves, were also in the area. Raptors in the area included; a Short-tailed Hawk, Red-Shouldered Hawk, and American Kestrel.
We proceeded to the Emergency overflow parking lot at Baptist Hospital, where Chinese Swan Geese,Egyptian Geese, and Pekin and Muscovy ducks were feeding on breadcrumbs by the large pond. Rock Pigeons, Eurasian Collared Doves, European Starlings and House Sparows were other introduced species seen at the park.
Our next stop was lunch at Havana Spice Café on US 1, where we were greeted by the owner, who treated us to tasty, authentic Cuban Cuisine at a very reasonable price. Studying the paintings on the wall of Cuba in better days and having recently watched Andy Garcia s movie, The Lost City , about the Cuban revolution, made me yearn for a free Cuba, the homeland of my mother. Ironically, my table was adjacent to a beautiful painting of a pair of Blue and Yellow Macaws.
After consulting the brain trust -an obvious oxymoron- of our group, we agreed that we should head to the Miami Shores Country Club for Chestnut-fronted Macaws, based on recent posts by Alex Harper and British birder, Graham Langley. A flock of thirty-five White-winged Parakeets were seen, but besides a pair of Egyptian Geese with three young, the birding was slow, so we headed over to Nancy Freedman s neck of the woods in Biscayne Gardens, and stopped at a well-known parrot roost at 14095 S. Biscayne Drive. To early for any psttacids, we headed to her home in hopes of spotting no pun intended a Spot-breasted Oriole. No luck, but we saw a large flock of White-eyed Parakeets heading toward the previously mentioned roost and were soon treated to close-up views of this emerald green parakeet. We estimated 90 birds were in the flock.
We headed back to Miami Shores Country Club and for the grand finale, we enjoyed a fly-in of 39 Chestnut-fronted Macaws, many flying directly over our heads. If you closed your eyes, you could imagine being in a country far, far away, where these spectacular birds wander in their native lands. The only disappointment was that Daria was not with us to enjoy this spectacle. Two Orange-winged Parrots flew over us as darkness began to set in and we called it a day.
Our exotics total finished up at nineteen, including eight psittacids. Total species seen was fifty-two. Many thanks to local birders, Brian Rapoza, John Boyd, Nancy Freedman, and Gary and Jocelyn Robinson, who were great co-leaders in helping such a large group navigate safely around the Miami area and to our birders for carefully following directions to all of our stops and returning home safe and sound.
Life is good............................ exotic birding in exotic South Florida. As I was writing this, I saw my first Wilson s Warbler of the year in my backyard in Virginia Gardens and a new Yardbird pales in comparison to seeing Jimmy Page for the first time in 1968!
P.S. Great Dolphin win over the Raiders, on a day that the late Jim Mad Dog Mandich was in our all of our thoughts. If you listened closely, you could imagine hearing All right Miamiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! each time the Dolphins scored. Paul BithornVirginia Gardens, Florida
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