Where the Birds Are

A trip down through Florida proved mostly succesful as we picked up pretty much every target bird I could have hoped for in the areas we visited. What follows is a brief trip report written up by Andy Bankert, who without his help we would not have been able to pick up so many great birds. Of course, without Jim McGrath and Nature Discovery we could not have made it to Florida in the first place. On the way down and back up we made stops in Georgia, which proved to be very enjoyable and succesful, of course we also would not have had success without so much advice from Pierre Howard. A part of this trip that was left out was a brief stop in Tennesee at a rest area where I briefly stopped to phish in the woods, bringing out many peoples first  Carolina Chickadee. I added a little bit on the Georgia portions of this trip, as Andy was not with us during these times.

The group left Michigan early Friday morning and arrived at our hotel in Titusville late on Saturday.  After picking up Red-cockaded Woodpecker in the Piedmont area of Georgia early on Saturday (as well as Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Bachman’s Sparrow, and Brown-headed Nuthatch, all thanks to help from Pierre Howard), Jim (our driver), realized he left his scope in the hotel room back in Atlanta.  This caused the group to get down here about five hours late.  Jim brought his non-birding family along, so we usually birded for a few hours in the morning then returned to pick up his family.    

Sunday morning we saw the Limpkin at his little pond in Cocoa near 520.  Several people also saw their first Anhinga.  On the way to Viera wetlands some spotted a Caracara on the side of the road, but not everyone saw it.  Once we got to Viera a pair of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks flew over.  We only had time to bird the wetlands and saw most of the herons along with more Whistling-Ducks, several Least Bitterns, and a pair of Caracaras on the large tower.  We headed back to the hotel to pick up the family and headed south towards Belle Glade.  A stop at a Fulvous Whistling-Duck spot produced Spoonbills, a lifer for many.  The Barn Owl roost was impressive and held a lifer for almost everybody.  It was getting a little late, so we decided to head towards our hotel near Miami Shores.  I wanted to make a quick stop at the Ft. Lauderdale Airport for Smooth-billed Ani, but the birds made the stop about an hour.  We did find a pair all of the way at the western end of the park near the road.  After a few minutes at the hotel we birded with Alex Harper in Miami Shores.  We were able to locate two Spot-breasted Orioles, but no White-winged Parakeets.  

The next morning we tried for White-winged Parakeets in Miami Shores, but were only able to find Monks.  I knew there were some White-wings in Kendall, so we fought the traffic to get there.  It took us 45 minutes to find some White-winged Parakeets, but we missed Red-whiskered Bulbul.  From what we could see all of the parakeets were White-wings and not Yellow-chevroned.  We had to go back to pick up the family in Miami Shores and then hit the Cave Swallow spot near 216th street.  We observed the swallows for about 30 minutes and found a perched bird that everyone was able to photograph.  Mary Krome Park had some cool butterflies including a Ruddy Daggerwing.  A long drive down Tamiami Trail produced almost nothing except lots of Alligators.  I was afraid that this would be the second year in a row that this trip missed Snail Kite.  No Kites were flying around and the sun was going down, so we went back to Kendall to get Bulbul out of the way.  This time we only spent 5 minutes looking because they were on the first side street we drove down.  By getting the Bulbul we were going to have more time later in the trip to pick up other misses like Snail Kite.

Tuesday was our earliest start because we were headed to Everglades.  Since we got out fifteen minutes later than planned we did not have time to stop for Chuck-will's-widow. There was one on the road on the way down, but no one got a good look at it as it flushed off as we drove by.  The mosquitoes were really bad at West Lake, so we decided to go to Snake Bight.  Erik Enbody and I walked all of the way to the end and were surprised when there was lots of pink on the mudflats.  Too bad they were all Spoonbills and no Flamingos.  Other birds of note out there were Clapper Rail, American Avocet, White Pelican, and Black-whiskered Vireo.  When we got back to the van we learned that the rest of the group had seen two Mangrove Cuckoos fly over the park road as they were getting the mosquitoes out of the van.  We drove down the road and located one sitting in a tree near one they had seen earlier.  These were the best views I had ever had.  After getting a Shiny Cowbird in Flamingo we went back to the hotel in Florida City (with brief stops for some stunning Swallow-tailed Kites above the road in Everglades).  Instead of going for the Yellow Warbler on Card Sound Road we just took US 1 down to the keys.  This paid off since we located a pair of Snail Kites flying over the marsh on the west side of the road.  Later in the trip we would see five kites along the road.  Down in the Keys our only stop was for Roseate Tern where we watched them chase the Least Terns around for food.  Since this was not very exciting for Jim's family we left after a while and headed towards Key West.  We rested at the hotel for a few hours then Erik and I decided to walk to the airport since the group was still getting ready.  I did not realize how long the walk was, but we made it to the airport at the same time as the group that drove.  We waited for a long time, but did not find any Antillean Nighthawks.  I knew we could get them in Marathon, so I was not very worried.  A cop pulled up as it was getting dark and told us it was time to leave.  As we were leaving a (probable) Short-eared Owl flew across the road. 

We did not do much birding the next day so we would be rested for the trip from Florida City to Marathon and back.  We did see a few Roseate Terns over the Seven Mile Bridge, and were pleased with close looks at Reddish Egret and Black-necked Stilt at the Wild Bird Center in Key Largo.  At six o'clock only four of us made the trip down towards Marathon to pick up the nighthawks.  We stopped for the Snail Kites on the way down and saw at least five between mile marker 120 and 116.  When we pulled up to the airport a nighthawk flew by, then another.  After about fifteen minutes we had seen seven nighthawks, all silent.  They put on a good show for about twenty minutes before the first one gave its pitty-pit-pit call.  The birds called until nine o'clock.  

I am not sure if we actually saw any birds on Thursday morning, but most of the group got their life Chuck-will's-widow, King Rail, and Seaside Sparrow in the Everglades.  There were several Chuck's along the road, we picked up the rails while waiting for Seaside Sparrows on the road to Royal Palm, and the Sparrows were singing just past the turn to Mahogany Hammock.  We did find a road kill Common Nighthawk and Chuck-will's-widow.  Our only stop on the ride back to Brevard County was for Purple Gallinule at the old Masked Duck pond in Pembroke Pines.  The first gallinule we saw was a young one.  It did not take long to locate two adults, and we also saw Purple Swamphen and a Common Moorhen nest.  When we got to Titusville it was raining, so the only bird we had a chance at was Scrub-Jay.  We found two birds on SR 3 on Merritt Island NWR. 

Friday morning we found Painted Buntings in the Groves in northern Brevard.  There were two females along Hammock Road.  After I left the group they saw Gull-billed Tern, Clapper Rail, and Wilson's Plover in Jacksonville. A stop near Macon, GA on Saturday produced a stellar Swainson’s Warbler that provided brief views, but sang clearly for most of the time the group was present.