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Posted by Paul Bithorn on 21:31:04 10/05/12
Four birders joined me for the Fairchild Tropical Gardens Bird Festival Tropical Audubon Society's annual "South Florida Exotics" field trip held on Thursday, October 4, 2012. We met at 7:30 a.m. in the north parking lot of Fairchild and drove to the Dog Park on the west side of Matheson Hammock County Park. Birders from Melbourne, Florida; Chevy Chase, Maryland and San Diego, California, along with my dear friend Daria Feinstein survived a 12-hour day of sweltering, sauna-like weather with temperatures in the 90 s.
A pair of Orange-winged Parrots and a small flock of Yellow-chevroned Parakeets were our first exotics, along with, Rock Pigeons, Eurasian-Collared Doves, European Starlings. A Green Heron, Cooper s Hawk, two Eastern Screech Owls (heard), White-eyed and Red-eyed Vireo, Common Yellowthroat and Yellow-throated Warbler were also in the mix.
A brief stop in a South Miami neighborhood had Common Peafowl of various ages, and a flock of five Monk Parakeets.
Our next stop was Kenwood Elementary former Attorney General Janet Reno s Alma Mater - in search of Bulbuls, but no luck. We headed to Baptist Hospital, where Chinese Swan Geese graced the lake out front. The residential neighborhood of Kendallwood west of S.W. 87th Avenue was quiet, so we headed for the Datran Center across from Dadeland Mall, where several Red-masked Parakeets were feeding on the fruit of Royal Palms.
Our next stop was lunch at Havana Spice Café on US 1, where we were greeted by House Sparrows in the parking lot and by the owner, who treated us to tasty, authentic Cuban Cuisine including Cuban Sandwiches and Pan con Lechon with home-made Mariquitas.
After lunch, we proceeded to a church on S.W. 104th Street, west of US 1, where fifteen Egyptian Geese were breaking bread with a large flock of White Ibis, a Pied-billed Grebe and Common Gallinules.
We headed to Pinecrest and caught a glimpse of two Red-whiskered Bulbuls in a large ficus tree that also had Northern Parula, American Redstart, Prairie, and Black & White Warblers. A Ruby-throated Hummingbird and Cape May Warbler fed in a Bottlebrush tree across the street.
A.D. Barnes was our next stop, and two adult White-crowned Pigeons and a Palm Warbler were spotted in the large trees just west of Homeless Hammock.
Little Havana produced a noisy flock of White-winged Parakeets, but they flew out of sight before we could relocate them. Three Gray Kingbirds on the power-lines above LeJeune Road was a nice treat.
We headed to Miami Springs and found a flock of fifteen Aratinga parakeets in a Live Oak Tree on Truxton Drive, including Mitred, Scarlet-fronted, Crimson-fronted, White-eyed and Green Parakeets, and soon after our arrival, a juvenile Monk Parakeet arrived and began flying within inches of us. Daria, our parrot whisperer, began speaking softly to the bird and it soon perched on her finger. An obvious, escaped pet, she fed it bread-crumbs and water and he traveled with us for the next two-hours. The Monk alternated sitting on our shoulders, and heads and was quite calm. A photo of the bird sitting on my head, while driving, may be soon circulated and could go viral on YouTube. Stay tuned.
We finished up our excursion at Palm Springs Mile in Hialeah, with three Common Mynas, a Feral Mallard,a family of Junglefowl and several Black Vultures eerily lurking on the light poles in the parking lot near the large lake behind the mall. It culminated a great day of birding with 67 species seen or heard, including 23 exotics and 8 warbler species.
Daria is posting an ad for a lost pet, in the hopes of finding the Monk Parakeets owners.She will see to it that the young bird is properly cared for in the interim. Cooper s Hawks constantly dive on this parrot flock and the trusting, young parakeet would have been easy prey.
Life is good............................ exotic birding in exotic South Florida. As I began writing my report, this afternoon, an adult Spot-breasted Oriole and a Prairie Warbler were picking off aphids from the leaves of the Firebush (Hamelia Patens) in my backyard in Virginia Gardens. Later, while heading to the Falls for some shopping with my lovely wife, Pam, we spotted a Hill Myna across from Norman Brothers on Galloway Road.
My appropriate celebratory libation was "Monk in the Trunk", a tasty American Amber/Red Ale, from the Inlet Brewing Company, brewed up the road a piece, in Jupiter, Florida. Once the initial spiciness subsides, this tasty brew leaves a nice caramel smoothness that I really like.
The Festival runs though Sunday, October 7th and features the James A. Kushlan Keynote Speaker, Pete Dunne, author of Hawks in Flight, and Director of the Cape May Observatory in Cape May, New Jersey on both Saturday and Sunday. Local TAS field guides: Brian Rapoza, Joe Barros, Rafael Galvez and Paddy Cunningham are also scheduled to give lectures. Google Fairchild Bird Festival for more information. See you there!
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