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Posted by John Boyd on 08:53:25 05/16/05
Nancy Freedman and I started our count by checking Kendall-Tamiami airport for Burrowing Owls. It was a little dark to see them well, but we found 5 anyway, along with a number of Meadowlarks, Shrikes, Nighthawks and other open-area birds.
Our next stop was the turnpike bridge at 216th Ave for Cave Swallows (25). Then we headed for the keys via Card Sound. We didn't stop until we got to Alabama Jacks. I knew Joe would be there later, but I also knew the Cuban Yellow Warbler can be elusive. Eventually, we turned up 3 of them singing (2 heard, 1 seen).
We poked into several neighborhoods in the keys, finding some Bobolinks (2) in addition to the usual birds. A brief stop at the parking lot of the botanical site turned up one Mangrove Cuckoo and a couple of Yellow-billed Cuckoos. The Mangrove Cuckoo appeared immediately when I started to play its song.
The Wild Bird Center in Tavernier brought us Black Vulture, Red-shouldered Hawk, and our first Waterthrush. We forgot to stop at Old Settler's Park. We wanted to check the school on Plantation Key (it had nighthawks last year), but the huge crowd for a plant sale discouraged us. We added some shorebirds at Lower Matecumbe, then visited Anne's Beach, which lacked warblers this time.
At Long Key SP we walked the Golden Orb trail. Warblers here included Prairie, Cape May, BT Blue, Redstart, N. Waterthrush, Ovenbird, and C. Yellowthroat. This brought us to 8 warbler species for the day.
Lake Edna on Grassy Key provided some shorebirds (including Stilts). There was only one Least Tern present (apparently on a nest). Several Frigatebirds were seen above the racing powerboats (Offshore Grand Prix) while we ate lunch at Porky's on Marathon.
After crossing the 7-mile bridge, we found more shorebirds and larids at Ohio Key. We also found a "Whitish Egret" (white-morph Reddish Egret) and other waders there.
We were surprised to find the trail closed at the Blue Hole on Big Pine. The sign threatened us with possible "death" if we took the trail. Apparently there is a big and aggressive gator hanging out there. The trail closure has benefited the Green Herons, which are nesting again after a couple of years absence (coinciding with the opening of a trail that encircles the Blue Hole).
The Tampa road marsh brought us little, as did the area at the end of Watson. We added some birds (and Key Deer) on No Name, but didn't see any swallows. After refueling, we went to the small freshwater pond on Summerland (near the intersection of Katherine and Margaret). Moorhens were there, as were a good number of White-crowned Pigeons.
From there it was back to Big Pine where we headed out Long Beach Rd. We padded our warbler totals a bit, then headed back toward Marathon where we padded them more on Boot Key.
The government center had Least Terns (some of them harassing a Collared-Dove that dared to perch on their building) and several Roseate Terns. The Sombrero golf course had 4 Burrowing Owls. We also checked the golf course on Key Colony Beach, but didn't find any there this time.
After dinner it was getting near sunset. We stationed ourselves at the south end of the airport. The first "pitty-pit-pit" sound turned out to be a false alarm (mocker), but the second was an Antillean Nighthawk. We then headed up to the airport parking lot where we added a couple more.
Here are the totals:
MIAMI-DADE: 25 species, 316 individuals
8 Muscovy Duck
1 Anhinga
1 Little Blue Heron
2 Cattle Egret
1 Green Heron
1 Killdeer
1 Laughing Gull
2 Least Tern
1 Rock Pigeon
28 Eurasian Collared-Dove
24 Mourning Dove
5 Burrowing Owl
6 Common Nighthawk
2 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Gray Kingbird
9 Loggerhead Shrike
25 Cave Swallow
16 Northern Mockingbird
11 European Starling
2 Northern Cardinal
4 Red-winged Blackbird
14 Eastern Meadowlark
9 Common Grackle
141 Boat-tailed Grackle
1 House Sparrow
MONROE: 63 species, 1540 individuals
42 Brown Pelican
258 Double-crested Cormorant
14 Magnificent Frigatebird
18 Great Egret
13 Snowy Egret
9 Little Blue Heron
2 Tricolored Heron
1 Reddish Egret (white morph)
1 Cattle Egret
8 Green Heron
12 White Ibis
1 Black Vulture
10 Turkey Vulture
17 Osprey
1 Red-shouldered Hawk
5 Common Moorhen
26 Black-bellied Plover
8 Semipalmated Plover
1 Killdeer
8 Black-necked Stilt
2 Willet
8 Ruddy Turnstone
21 Sanderling
1 Semipalmated Sandpiper
20 Least Sandpiper
52 Short-billed Dowitcher
163 Laughing Gull
12 Royal Tern
5 Roseate Tern
53 Least Tern
30 Rock Pigeon
43 White-crowned Pigeon
122 Eurasian Collared-Dove
115 Mourning Dove
4 Common Ground-Dove
3 Yellow-billed Cuckoo
1 Mangrove Cuckoo
4 Burrowing Owl
2 Common Nighthawk
4 Antillean Nighthawk
8 Red-bellied Woodpecker
5 Great Crested Flycatcher
21 Gray Kingbird
1 Loggerhead Shrike
18 White-eyed Vireo
15 Black-whiskered Vireo
3 Blue Jay
23 Northern Mockingbird
14 European Starling
6 Common Myna
3 Yellow Warbler
4 Cape May Warbler
3 Black-throated Blue Warbler
20 Prairie Warbler
10 American Redstart
1 Ovenbird
4 Northern Waterthrush
8 Common Yellowthroat
77 Northern Cardinal
2 Bobolink
70 Red-winged Blackbird
98 Common Grackle
6 Boat-tailed Grackle
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