Posted by Brian Rapoza on May 06, 2015 at 00:44:32
Nine birders joined Paul Bithorn and me for Tropical Audubon’s annual three-day birding tour to the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas. Though we only encountered a couple of brief rain showers during the tour, we had to deal with brisk winds throughout. While the cool breezes made for comfortable birding conditions on land and even on the ferry ride to the Dry Tortugas, such was not the case on the return voyage to Key West. Sustained northeast winds of 20 mph made the passage through Rebecca Shoals a real roller coaster ride! Day One of the tour began at Doc Thomas House, where participants saw the first of nineteen species of warblers tallied during the tour. En route to the Keys, we tried for Mangrove Cuckoo at Black Point Park, but none cooperated. Stops in Key Largo included the Card Sound Bridge, Carysfort Circle and Dagny Johnson Botanical State Park. Around Marathon, we birded Grassy Key, Marathon Airport, Sombrero Golf Course, Marathon Government Center, Ohio Key and No Name Key. Several Key Deer were spotted at the latter location. After checking into our Key West hotel and dinner on Stock Island, we made a visit at dusk to Key West Airport, where an Antillean Nighthawk flew across the road inches from the lead van! Dry Tortugas National Park was our only stop on Day Two. The relatively smooth ride out allowed for excellent sea watching conditions. Pelagic species seen along the way included Northern Gannet, Brown Booby, Audubon’s Shearwater and Bridled Tern; flocks of Sooty Tern and Brown Noddy appeared as we approached the national park. The ferry passed close enough to Hospital Key to allow for spectacular looks at the Masked Booby colony. Once on Garden Key, we scoured every patch of foliage both inside and outside Ft Jefferson, producing a nice selection of neotropic migrants still lingering from a front-related fallout a few days earlier. A cooperative Antillean Nighthawk was photographed inside the fort, another was later found near the north coal docks. An immature White-throated Sparrow, first spotted by Paul and later photographed at the new bird fountain, was the most unexpected find of the day. After several scans for Black Noddy at the north coal docks, we finally hit pay dirt an hour before departure! Though rough seas on the return to Key West minimized sea watching opportunities, eagle-eyed Russ Titus still managed to spot a couple more Audubon’s Shearwaters. Our morning on Day Three was spent at Ft. Zachary Taylor State Park and Indigenous Park on Key West, where we added a few more migrant songbirds to our trip list. A stop at Boca Chica Key Beach added several shorebirds to our list, including White-rumped Sandpiper. A pre-lunch stop on Sugarloaf Key failed to produce a Mangrove Cuckoo; a possible Acadian Flycatcher was heard while searching. An afternoon stop at Marathon Government Center added Roseate Tern, missed on Day One. We weren’t as lucky at Sombrero Golf Course, once again failing to find a Burrowing Owl. Northern Flicker and Pileated Woodpecker were spotted along the 18-mile stretch between Key Largo and Florida City. A late-afternoon return to Black Point Park finally produced Mangrove Cuckoo, the last Keys specialty we still needed. Two Egyptian Geese were at the Cave Swallow spot at SW 216 Street and Florida’s Turnpike, our last new bird of the tour and a lifer for two participants! The following 131 species were tallied during the tour: Egyptian Goose Muscovy Duck Pied-billed Grebe Audubon’s Shearwater Masked Booby Brown Booby Northern Gannet Brown Pelican Double-crested Cormorant Anhinga Magnificent Frigatebird Great Blue Heron (white morph) Great Egret Snowy Egret Little Blue Heron Tricolored Heron Reddish Egret Cattle Egret Green Heron Black-crowned Night-Heron Yellow-crowned Night-Heron White Ibis Roseate Spoonbill Black Vulture Turkey Vulture Osprey Red-shouldered Hawk Broad-winged Hawk Merlin Peregrine Falcon Common Gallinule Black-bellied Plover Semipalmated Plover Killdeer Black-necked Stilt Spotted Sandpiper Solitary Sandpiper Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Whimbrel Ruddy Turnstone Sanderling Semipalmated Sandpiper Western Sandpiper Least Sandpiper White-rumped Sandpiper Dunlin Short-billed Dowitcher Laughing Gull Herring Gull Royal Tern Roseate Tern Least Tern Bridled Tern Sooty Tern Brown Noddy Black Noddy Rock Pigeon White-crowned Pigeon Eurasian Collared-Dove White-winged Dove Mourning Dove Common Ground-Dove Red-masked Parakeet White-eyed Parakeet Orange-winged Parrot Black-billed Cuckoo Yellow-billed Cuckoo Mangrove Cuckoo Common Nighthawk Antillean Nighthawk Chimney Swift Ruby-throated Hummingbird Red-bellied Woodpecker Northern Flicker Pileated Woodpecker Eastern Wood-Pewee Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird Gray Kingbird Loggerhead Shrike White-eyed Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Black-whiskered Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Fish Crow Purple Martin Northern Rough-winged Swallow Bank Swallow Cave Swallow Barn Swallow Veery Gray-cheeked Thrush Swainson’s Thrush Gray Catbird Northern Mockingbird European Starling Common Myna Ovenbird Worm-eating Warbler Northern Waterthrush Black-and-white Warbler Orange-crowned Warbler Common Yellowthroat Hooded Warbler American Redstart Cape May Warbler Northern Parula Magnolia Warbler “Cuban” Yellow Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Blackpoll Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Palm Warbler Yellow-throated Warbler Prairie Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler White-throated Sparrow Scarlet Tanager Northern Cardinal Rose-breasted Grosbeak Blue Grosbeak Indigo Bunting Painted Bunting Bobolink Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Boat-tailed Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird House Sparrow