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Posted by Mark McShane on 16:22:58 06/10/12
Hi All,
This is a long trip report but some may enjoy a bit of a comprehensive and lengthy report.
I would like to say a Big Thanks to all of the many of you who responded to my 5/21 request for information post concerning the May 25th-30th Florida trip that Max Medley and I made down from Georgia.
We ended up driving 2550 miles and also made the boat day trip to the Dry Tortugas (a first for both of us to be there, what a place!)! I didn't realize that we were going to be traveling more than the distance from Jacksonville to San Diego but we did!
Thanks in large part to your help we were pretty successful in getting to see almost all of the regular countable (and maybe just countable in Florida) Florida specialties which are available to be seen on land or from shore in the spring!
Possible Regular Spring Florida Specialties (just my list):
Fulvous Whistling-Duck
Muscovy Duck
American Flamingo
Magnificent Frigatebird
Masked Booby
Brown Booby
Great White Heron
Reddish Egret (white morph)
White-tailed Kite
Snail Kite
Short-tailed Hawk
Crested Caracara
Limpkin
Whooping Crane (nonmigratory)
Brown Noddy
Roseate Tern
White-crowned Pigeon
Budgerigar
Monk Parakeet
Nanday (Black-hooded) Parakeet
White-winged Parakeet
Mangrove Cuckoo
Smooth-billed Ani
Burrowing Owl
Antillean Nighthawk
Black-whiskered Vireo
Florida Scrub-Jay
Cave Swallow
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Common Myna
Yellow (Cuban Golden) Warbler
Shiny Cowbird
Bronzed Cowbird
Spot-breasted Oriole
We only missed:
American Flamingo (didn't try as they were reported seen fairly recently but now as probably gone from Florida Bay for the season)
Reddish Egret white-morph (saw the dark-morph)
Whooping Crane (nonmigratory, didn't try for any)
Mangrove Cuckoo (one distant heard only bird on Key Largo on the Dynamite Trail)
Smooth-billed Ani (foiled for the 2nd time)
Spot-breasted Oriole (I saw a parent with young last trip down, but that was no consolation for Max this time)
We didn't see or chase any West Indian Vagrants (none had been reported on the Florida RBA since May 15th).
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We attribute our pretty good results certainly not to the fact that we are incredible Florida birders but more to the following:
1. In preparation consulting two excellent books: A Birder's Guide to Florida (ABA Lane Birdfinding Guide,Bill Pranty), and Birding Florida (Falcon Guide, Brian Rapoza).
2. Availing ourselves of the latest information made public on the Florida public forum birding sites, primarily FLORIDABIRDS-L, BIRDBRAINS, and the TAS Miami Bird Board.
3. Putting out Requests For Information just before the trip concerning target birds on some of the Florida public forum birding sites, and reaping the benefits of your many responses!
4. Research, Research, and, well, more Research.
5. Trip Planning, Trip Planning, and, well, more Trip Planning.
6. Birding and traveling every available minute as much as possible during the trip and trying to take advantage of any good opportunities which arise.
I put up about 50 handheld phonescoped video clips from the trip including some pretty good highlights of some great birds, please see the VIDEO section at the end of the post.
If you plug GPS coordinates into Google Maps it is usually the green arrow which displays the exact location and not the red lettered marker.
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Our itinerary with highlights:
*****
5/24 Thursday - TRAVEL
*****
We departed the Atlanta area in the evening and headed for Hernando Beach, Hernando County, slated to try to find the fabled Hernando County BUDGERIGARS the first thing in the morning.
*****
5/25 Friday - HERNANDO BEACH, HERNANDO AND PASCO COUNTIES, ST. PETERSBURG AREA, KISSIMMEE/LAKE TOHOPEKALIGA
*****
We arrived in Hernando Beach early for hopefully (LIFE) BUDGERIGARS and were successful in finding a flock of 10+ all green birds on Gulf Winds Circle.
--- See BUDG VIDEOS
We then tried different Hernando County and Pasco County sites for SHORT-TAILED HAWK to no avail.
MONK PARAKEETS and a single NANDAY (Black-hooded) PARAKEET were seen at the power sub station at Walsingham Park in Pinellas County at GPS: N 27 52.785 W 82 48.707. We didn't see any parakeets further down the road by the baseball fields where I had seen a NANDAY (Black-hooded) PARAKEET 3 years ago.
--- See MOPA and NAPA VIDEOS
A pair of exotic MUSCOVY DUCKS were seen in the canal east of the Ulmerton Road and 10th Sreet intersection. A local person said that there used to be a lot more of them there in previous years.
We then made a good try at Sawgrass Lake Park in St. Petersburg for SHORT-TAILED HAWK, again to no avail.
It was getting on towards late afternoon and evening and so we made haste to Kissimmee for a try at previously reported FULVOUS WHISTLING-DUCKS and SNAIL KITES there.
Our first stop was the canal at Oak Street (Osceola County Oak Street Extension Preserve?) at GPS: N 28 18.022 W 81 23.725. John Thomton had posted a SNAIL KITE from this location the previous day and we were able to see probably the same (LIFE) bird which was sitting on a wall very close to the road when we arrived! Thanks John!
--- See SNKI VIDEO
Having birded in central and south Florida only once before I was fairly shocked to see not 1, but 26 LIMPKIN along the canal, I didn't know that they congregated in these and larger numbers as well.
We then headed the short distance to Brinson Park, at the north north end of Lake Tohopekaliga, hoping for a (LIFE) FULVOUS WHISTLING-DUCK. We found 6 about a quarter of a mile to the north of Neptune Road there, and I was able to get some phonescoped video of what looked like a big male calling with neck fully extended and bill lifted and lowered with each call! GPS: N 28 17.601 W 81 23.737, and as John posted what an incredibly birdy place that was! We saw even more LIMPKINS from Brinson Park than we had at the canal we had just left! We stayed in Orlando that night.
--- See FUWD VIDEO
*****
5/26 Saturday - MERRITT ISLAND NWR, VIERA WETLANDS, JOE OVERSTREET ROAD LAKE KISSIMMEE, THREE LAKES WMA
*****
On Saturday we traveled to Merritt Island NWR in Brevard County early for FLORIDA SCRUB-JAY and found a very cooperative bird just past the ranger station gate on the approach to Playalinda Beach at the Canaveral National Seashore. GPS: N 28 38.680 W 80 40.971.
--- See FLSJ VIDEOS
The May 27th pelagic trip out of New Smyrna Beach sponsored by the Friends of the Marine Science Center, Ponce Inlet, and organized by Michael Brothers, was officially canceled Saturday due to the crazy activities of Tropical Storm Beryl. So we stopped and rearranged our trip plans and hotel reservations. It turned out that with a bit more time to spend in South Florida we were able to squeeze in a pelagic day trip to the Dry Tortugas (our first) to replace the pelagic trip lost out of New Smyrna Beach! Thank you Michael Brothers, er uh, we somehow soldiered on... lamenting any missed possible future Sunday Florida east coast tropicbirds as we went... in spite of the new plans.
We headed to the Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands at Viera to be sure of getting CRESTED CARACARA for the trip and were able to observe a pair of the birds in beautiful but windy conditions there at GPS: N 28 13.715 W 80 45.627.
--- See CRCA VIDEOS
From Viera it was on to Lake Kissimmee at the end of Joe Overstreet Road in Osceola County hoping for more SNAIL KITES. It seems that there was kind of a Memorial Day weekend airboat super party going on at the landing there, airboats were running everywhere, and no kites were to be seen anywhere no matter how far out or how many times you scanned.
However, We did observe some BALD EAGLES and a little family of PURPLE GALLINULES seemingly fussing with some COMMON GALLINULES there at GPS: N 27 56.235 W 81 13.559.
--- See PUGA VIDEOS
After Joe Overstreet Road during the evening we were going to traverse part of Three Lakes WMA to the east of Hwy 523 but couldn't gain eastward entry at the Williams Road crossing. We noticed from the highway there what looked like RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER clusters with trees with the requisite rings painted around them so we spent the last light of the evening scoping the trees around for the woodpeckers but did not see any.
We watched a male COMMON NIGHTHAWK performing probable courting flight and dives but didn't hear any booming or see the bird pause to come to the ground. We stopped for the night in Fort Pierce.
*****
5/27 Sunday - KISSIMMEE PRAIRIE PRESERVE STATE PARK, FORT LAUDERDALE, MIAMI, KENDELL
*****
Due to the cancellation of the pelagic trip and the changes in plans we were able to take advantage of the sudden opportunity which the great staff at the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park made available, on Sunday the 27th, to go out and see the WHITE-TAILED KITE nest recently found out on the prairie! We arrived very early, but on the approach roads to KPPSP we counted no less than 9 CRESTED CARACARAS (but again no SHORT-TAILED HAWKS). I guess it is true that caracaras like to check things earlier in the day than most other raptors.
Arriving on the park proper, GPS: N 27 32.331 W 81 01.371, prior to prairie buggy departure we had excruciatingly good looks at a couple of NORTHERN BOBWHITES at the roadside.
--- See NOBW VIDEO
Once out on the prairie in the buggy, and warming up for the WHITE-TAILED KITES, Ranger Jen Benson pulled us up to a roadside stop for great views of a SWALLOW-TAILED KITE nest with young on the nest and very close to the road.
--- See STKI VIDEO
Finally we arrived at the WHITE-TAILED KITE nest spot and observed two (LIFE) adults with nest and young. One of the kites made a closer approach hunting right in front of us, while still out a ways, and I was able to handheld phonescope video the bird kiting. We were sad to read of the recent nest failure on Birdbrains reported by Biologist Paul Miller.
--- See WTKI VIDEOS of the nesting, preening, and hunting WHITE-TAILED KITES.
Thanks So Much to Paul Miller and staff for putting on the WTKI buggy rides and to Ranger Jen Benson for taking us out, a really great time was had by all.
Upon departing we found BURROWING OWLS to the west of the road before the park entrance, and we had a CRESTED CARACARA in at the roadside which was eventually casually attacked by a mockingbird!
--- see CRCA Kissimmee Prairie PSP VIDEOS
Then it was on to Fort Lauderdale where we tried for SMOOTH-BILLED ANI in the afternoon to no avail, but we did see (LIFE) WHITE-WINGED PARAKEETS at Ocean Bank in Miami afterwards at GPS: N 25 46.755 W 80 15.851.
--- See WWPA VIDEO
The Kendell area was next where we saw our first WHITE-CROWNED PIGEONS and the only CAVE SWALLOWS for the trip, but missed RED-WHISKERED BULBUL and SPOT-BREASTED ORIOLE.
--- See WCPI VIDEOS
We stayed in Homestead that night.
*****
5/28 Monday - KEY WEST, DRY TORTUGAS NATIONAL PARK, FLORIDA KEYS, MARATHON
*****
We departed Homestead Extremely Early for Key West to make sure we would get there in plenty of time for the morning departure of the ferry boat for the day trip to the Dry Tortugas.
On the way out and back on the pelagic portion of the trip we saw large numbers of (200-300+) AUDUBON'S SHEARWATERS. Also seen at sea were SOOTY and BRIDLED TERNS, and a few pelagic MAGNIFICENT FRIGATEBIRDS (but alas, no tropicbirds).
Once at Fort Jefferson, GPS: N 24 37.644 W 82 52.326, we were properly astounded, as first time visitors, at the scene taking place there, thousands and thousands and thousands of terns and noddies roosting and in flight. Many, many MAGNIFICENT FRIGATEBIRDS roosting and in flight. MASKED and BROWN BOOBIES on nearby Hospital Key. As we only had about 4 hours onsite we immediately set to work scouring and pouring over all of the noddies which were close enough to not be totally distorted by the heat haze and heat waves in the scope. We could not detect any BLACK NODDIES, RED-FOOTED BOOBIES, or any other West Indian vagrants during our stay at the site.
We left a bit sad that we hadn't seen the BLACK NODDIES somewhat recently reported but we had tried as hard as we could have. We were stunned by stark beauty and grandeur of the setting there, and by the sheer huge numbers of seabirds present. I can't imagine what it must have been like for those poor souls who had to build Fort Jefferson brick by brick.
--- See the DRY TORTUGAS BUSH and LONG KEY VIDEOS for close-up video of these two islets (If you see any BLACK NODDIES in the videos, ah, it might be best not to let me know).
Arriving back in Key West we noted several RED JUNGLEFOWL on our way out of town and to Marathon. Once in Marathon we found the nesting ROSEATE and LEAST TERNS on the Government Center buildings at GPS: N 24 42.700 W 81 05.859, as well as the BURROWING OWLS at a couple of spots at the Sombrero Golf Course, GPS: N 24 42.440 W 81 05.147. At the end of the day we were at the Florida Keys Marathon Airport terminal building north parking lot listening and watching for ANTILLEAN NIGHTHAWKS at GPS: N 24 43.577 W 81 02.904. One Antillean was hawking and calling pretty close in and well before dark, and we had good looks at the bird just north of the parking lot.
We headed back to Homestead for the night very contented and happy birders (missing BLACK NODDIES notwithstanding).
*****
5/29 Tuesday - HOMESTEAD, FLORIDA CITY, CARD SOUND ROAD, KEY LARGO, HOMESTEAD, EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, KENDELL
*****
Very early we left Homestead to try to first see "CUBAN GOLDEN" YELLOW WARBLERS near the north end of the Card Sound Bridge, on Card Sound Road on the approach to Key Largo, but not before first finding several COMMON MYNAS by the time we had made it to the first McDonald's for breakfast south of our hotel in Homestead. We first saw a couple of the mynas on wires on the side of the road and then again a pair in the McDonald's sign while in the drive-thru! Cool!
We stopped at Alabama Jack's just before the toll booth on Card Sound Road to look and listen for the warblers, we heard and found only PRAIRIE WARBLERS there. Finding no Yellow Warblers we eventually worked our way past the toll booth and on out towards the bridge and the water and the end of the roadside mangroves where we finally found a (LIFE) singing Cuban Golden (Yellow) Warbler or maybe two at GPS: N 25 17.364 W 80 22.415!
The morning was burning away so it was on to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park to obtain our backcountry permit to hike the Dynamite Trail at Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park to look for MANGROVE CUCKOO and BLACK-WHISKERED VIREO.
From the roadside parking for the Dynamite we had a BLACK-WHISKERED VIREO even before entering the backcountry, but it was the first and last one we would see. We heard another on the trail, and also heard a MANGROVE CUCKOO in the distance but never did see the cuckoo. There were plenty of WHITE-EYED VIREOS though on the Dynamite that morning.
When we came back to the car we were fairly famished, and a good bit mosquito bitten, and we immediately headed for the Garden Cove Marina and the Buzzard's Roost Restaurant to rest, refuel, and recuperate.
Once very well fed and watered we headed to a private residence in Homestead where we saw plenty of WHITE-WINGED DOVES and (LIFE) BRONZED COWBIRDS (including a male doing a portion of the courtship display)... but no SHINY COWBIRDS. So it was fairly immediately off to Flamingo in Everglades National Park for the last attempt of the trip for the Shiny Ones. We arrived at Flamingo after a beautiful trip through the park, seeing both SWALLOW-TAILED KITE and BALD EAGLE on the way. Immediately we located a couple of small cowbird flocks around the Visitor Center building just to the southwest of the marina. In with the flocks of BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS were at least 2 male SHINY COWBIRDS, GPS: N 25 08.439 W 80 55.472. I was trying to sort out the female cowbirds, get a good count, and to shoot more video of the cowbirds, but somehow didn't get too much, something to do with the amount of mosquito activty transpiring around and mostly, on me, I ended up with mosquito bites on my mosquito bites, the record being, I think, a 5-story mosquito bite.
--- See BRCO VIDEOS
--- See SHCO VIDEO
--- See WWDO VIDEOS
Well, what to please do for an encore?
There was just enough daylight left to make it back to the Kendell area and try again for RED-WHISKERED BULBUL and SPOT-BREASTED ORIOLE before heading north for Ormond Beach after dark. So off we went.
We made it to Kendell and searched and searched the neighborhoods north of the Baptist Hospital of Miami to no avail. Then I decided to again try the Shibui restaraunt location recently posted by Carlos Sanchez on the TAS Miami Bird Board as a last try for the bulbul. We arrived and just before dark found a (LIFE) RED-WHISKERED BULBUL in the northeast corner of the property at SW 102nd Ave and SW 72nd St.! GPS: N 25 42.129 W 80 21.437.
We seemingly now perpetually happy birders took off for Ormond Beach planning to arrive at Central Park in the morning for a last, but hopefully not grim, try for SHORT-TAILED HAWK.
*****
5/30 Wednesday - ORMOND BEACH, ANASTASIA ISLAND, ST. AUGUSTINE BEACH, ST. AUGUSTINE
*****
Early Wednesday morning we were on station at Central Park in Ormond Beach scanning the skies for the elusive SHORT-TAILED HAWK. We started on the north shore of a lake on Hammock Lane, GPS: N 29 16.350 W 81 04.276, mostly watching the treelines to the south where we right away picked up 3 SWALLOW-TAILED KITES feeding and working.
We then drove around the park making stops in our search, and finally set up at the benches just north of Hand Avenue at GPS: N 29 16.008 W 81 04.119. It was almost 10:45 and we were wanting to hit the road for home at about 11 when suddenly and almost overhead we picked up a juvenile dark-morph (LIFE) SHORT-TAILED HAWK! The hawk afforded us very good close looks for a couple of minutes but was almost directly overhead and I could not bring the handheld phonescope to bear on the bird while it was reasonably close in. The Short-tailed then drifted maybe a quarter mile to the southeast over the lake area north of Fleming Avenue at about GPS: N 29 15.903 W 81 03.937. We were pretty delighted as the hawk was soaring and gliding into the wind and then performed a couple of stunning vertical plummeting like a stone dives, we thought for us. On one of the dives the bird stopped at mid-dive and soared pretty motionless, trying I am sure to reacquire prey, and I was able to get some distant phonescoped video of the hawk.
--- See STHA VIDEOS (I also extracted a distant still frame of the hawk from one of the videos and put it up as well)
Once we made it back to the car and consulted our Wheeler Guide, Raptors of Eastern North America, we felt that the bird looked to be of the streaked type of dark-morph juvenile.
Now we were pretty ecstatic birders, and we headed for home, stopping to take a quick tour of the St. Augustine area where I used to live as a boy.
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What a great trip and thanks so very much again to all of you who helped us with great information regarding finding our target birds!
Good Birding All!
Mark
Mark McShane
Lawrenceville, Gwinnett County, Georgia
www.neargareport.com
***** VIDEO INFORMATION SECTION *****
The current state of my handheld phonescoped video being what it is, handheld phonescoped video clips of some of the birds seen on the trip can be downloaded from the 052512-053012 Florida folder on my Box site at:
http://www.box.com/shared/2yxtdkm3ta
Of particular interest to some may be:
BRCO - Bronzed Cowbird (male warming up for helicoptering)
CRCA - Crested Caracara (Kissimmee Prairie PSP mockingbird attack)
DRY TORTUGAS (Bush and Long Key Spectacle)
FUWD - Fulvous Whistling-Duck (male calling)
MOPA - Monk Parakeet (nest building)
STHA - Short-tailed Hawk
STKI - Swallow-tailed Kite (young on nest)
WTKI - White-tailed Kite (at nest, preening, and hunting)
-----
If you need or want the free QuickTime Player from Apple for the MOVie files, it's available at:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download
The phone only shoots video at 1080p and produces a native video resolution on the computer screen of 1920x1080, which also may be way too big for a lot of folks' screen settings or monitors, but it can't be changed.
The videos should be set up to fit your computer screen, but if not then once you get into QuickTime you can click on the View menu up at the top left and then select Half Size, or Fit to Screen, and the video should better fit your screen. You can play around and change some of the other settings from the menus up there as well.
You can also pause the videos, and then click-on (hold your click down), and then drag the little upside-down black triangle progress indicator (at the bottom of the screen) through the video very slowly, a frame at a time, for maybe more revealing frame-by-frame detail shots!
The videos are a little jumpy being handheld, but selecting Play All Frames under the View Menu in QuickTime may help.
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Video Reference (probably 2 pages of the video list in the folder, some stuff may be on Page 2):
BRCO - Bronzed Cowbird (male warming up for helicoptering)
BUDG - Budgerigar
CRCA - Crested Caracara (Kissimmee Prairie PSP mockingbird attack)
DRY TORTUGAS (Bush and Long Key Spectacle)
FLSJ - Florida Scurb-Jay
FUWD - Fulvous Whistling-Duck (male calling)
MOPA - Monk Parakeet (nest building)
NAPA - Nanday Parakeet
NOBW - Northern Bobwhite (very close)
PUGA - Purple Gallinule (with young)
SHCO - Shiny Cowbird
SNKI - Snail Kite
STHA - Short-tailed Hawk
STKI - Swallow-tailed Kite (young on nest)
WCPI - White-crowned Pigeon
WTKI - White-tailed Kite (at nest, preening, and hunting)
WWDO - White-winged Dove
WWPA - White-winged Parakeet
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