Before fall even came around, I was scheming up a birding plan for fall break, which at my school (Western Carolina University) was October 13-18. I was down to two choices- Cape May, NJ or a trip to Florida. I have birded Cape May in mid-October once before, during a young birders camp with the American Birding Association in 2007. The raptor migration was phenomenal, and there were still a good number of passerines coming through as well. Having Michael O'Brien and Louise Zemaitis as leaders for our group certainly helped our bird-finding cause. There is also the matter of the Brown Booby, which would be a lifer for me, who has been settled in near Two Mile Landing in Cape May for the last couple months. But, Florida could give me multiple lifers, especially if I had good luck in the Keys and Everglades. Plus, a rarity of some kind is certainly possible down there in mid-October. I won't go as far as to say "likely", but maybe just one baby step below that classification. So, the decision was made. Brent Mills, a friend of mine from school who had recently gotten hooked on birding, decided to come with. Great! I also made a decision to bypass the established, countable exotics in and around the Miami area. This was almost changed at one point on the trip, but more on that later.
I am not one to get excited about exotics, and although I enjoy list-keeping as much as the next birder, I would much rather concentrate on finding all the native species first. The fact of the matter is, Red-whiskered Bulbuls, White-winged Parakeets, etc. do not belong in south Florida. Ornithologically speaking, there really is no advantage to having these birds around. I could go to PetSmart and see some of these species if I wanted to. Thus, in my opinion, chasing after these birds is something done almost exclusively for listing purposes, to be done on a Big Year or Big Day, for padding an already extensive Florida list, or for something to do if one has a spare day or so. Some may differ with my opinion on this, but I will admit that it is worthwhile to keep tabs on their populations in the area in general. I thought that it was funny that the very first thing multiple birders asked me, upon hearing that I was visiting Florida to bird for a few days, was what my plan was for the exotics. I didn't have one. I was tempted at one point, however, when a big time local birder offered to guide us around Miami to get all the countable exotics. We were an hour away from Miami at the time, and that excursion would have taken up the whole afternoon and taken time away from the Everglades. The weather was looking iffy for the afternoon, but even iffier for the next day, so we decided to head on to the Everglades as originally planned.
We left school after class on the 12th, and arrived in Titusville after a nine (ish) hour drive and caught a few hours of not-so-restful sleep at an interstate rest area. Personally, I like the idea of doing this. First of all, it is free. Secondly, it is *relatively* safe, for most rest areas are well-lit and in Florida are constantly patrolled by 24-hour security. Usually, there are a number of other travelers doing the same thing as well. Sleeping in the car is not the most comfortable thing in the world, but you get used to it after a while. And if you're tired enough, it doesn't really matter anyways. From the point of view of an unemployed college student, the 50-60 bucks a night that I save by doing this add up over the course of a few nights and then, bingo! A few hundred bucks still in pocket, enough for another birding trip!
We started birding on the 13th by listening for nocturnal migrants passing over from the entrance to Black Point Wildlief Drive at Merritt Island NWR. I visited Merritt Island several times during my visit here in January, 2010 and was impressed. Logistically, it was a great place to start off on this trip. We heard Gray-cheeked (1), Swainson's (several), and Wood (1) Thrushes passing over pre-dawn, as well as a couple Bobolinks (right at dawn). Stops by the visitor center and Oak Hammock (I think that's what it is called, I'm going strictly from memory here!) yielded a handful of warblers, vireos, flycatchers, buntings (indigo and painted), and a Summer Tanager. After the gate to Wildlife Drive opened about 8, we took a quick drive through and found Palm Warblers and Common Yellowthroats to be about the two most common birds around. The expected variety of waders was present as well, but nothing really unusual birdwise. The highlight of this stop was a very photogenic Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake that we found near the restrooms about halfway through the Drive. We had been tipped off earlier to look for them here. It appeared to be an adult, with three rattles. I was amazed at how small it was though, I have seen Carolina Pygmy Rattlesnakes on two occasions previously and this little guy was dwarfed by them! After finishing our loop around Wildlife Drive, we briefly tried for Florida Scrub-Jay on the refuge, but to no avail.
Snowy Egret- Merritt Island NWR
Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake- Merritt Island NWR
Next up our agenda for the day was to stop by Blue Heron Wetlands while heading south along I-95, which just off the interstate right outside Titusville. It was pretty quiet here, so we went on down to Viera Wetlands, site of the perennially wintering Masked Duck that I saw 3 times in as many days in January 2010. We were dismayed to see upon arrival that the gate was closed to prevent vehicular traffic from driving the dirt road around the "pools". Apparently, the gate is closed periodically after heavy rains due to the conditions of the dirt road. It had been several days since a heavy rain, however, and the roads appeared fine to me. Guess they just hadn't gotten around to opening it again yet. While visiting the porta potty by the parking lot, I heard a quiet clattering on the roof for a few seconds. When I exited, Brent showed me a couple photos he took with my camera--a shrike! The pair of resident Crested Caracaras that like to hang out in the pines around the parking area gave us some nice looks. We didn't have a whole lot of time, so just walked a short distance in along the dirt road around the first pool. Scoping the adjacent ag fields we found a pair of Sandhill Cranes and a Wood Stork. Apart from this, the majority of the birds we saw here consisted of Anhingas, Common Gallinules, Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, and Tricolored Herons. The fact of the matter is, there's just not much bird activity at midday when it is 95 degrees, even in October! Common Gallinule used to be known as Common Moorhen, up until the latest edition of the AOU's taxonomic revisions. Common Moorhen was then split into two species- the Eurasian species, which retains the name of Common Moorhen, and the American species, which is now to be known as Common Gallinule. I still haven't gotten used to that change yet, and have found my self still calling the American species by it's old name of Common Moorhen more than once!
From Viera, it was south on I-95 to a place known as Wakodahatchee Wetlands. This is one of two adjacent sites (the other is Green Cay Wetlands) described in the Florida Birding Trail: East guide. I was referred here by a photographer whom I met at Jackson Park (Hendersonville, NC) several weeks before. He apparently lives part time at Beech Mountain, NC and part time near Lake Ocechobee, FL so has a lot of experience down there. Wakodahatchee is a small wetland complex containing a quarter mile long boardwalk. It is an oasis of sorts, for it is surrounded on all sides by suburbia- the extreme outer reaches of Miami. A few warblers, Yellow-throateds and Prairies, were in the oaks by the boardwalk entrance. Walking the boardwalk gave us nice views at a number of waders- both ibis, all three white egrets, and a number of herons (including Black-crowned Night-Herons). Anhingas as well as Double-crested Cormorants were everywhere. We once saw a Florida Softshell Turtle, a species which belongs to a group of very odd-looking creatures. I love 'em. At one spot along the boardwalk, a large alligator had his head above the water directly beside and below the boardwalk. We stood on the boardwalk and looked almost directly down, a distance of about 3 or 4 feet, into the eyes of the majestic beast.
One thing that we were surprised to come across at Wakodahatchee was a three and a half foot long orange iguana feeding in the top of a bush on an island in a pond! We were to see more of these in the Keys, but were partially dumbstruck at the time.
Florida Softshell Turtle- Wakodahatchee Wetlands
Anhinga- Wakodahatchee Wetlands
large, orange Iguana- Wakodahatchee Wetlands
With some daylight still left, we decided to head to Brian Piccolo Park in the Miami area to try for Burrowing Owls. This is supposed to be a great place for them, and from what I had read beforehand they should be almost a sure thing here. We were not disappointed. The park is little more than an expansive conglomeration of sports fields and open space, and there were people everywhere upon our arrival. I had read that the owl burrows were roped off to protect them from mowing, so we drove through the park looking for small, staked and roped off areas. When we got to the backside of the park, jackpot! Four burrows in close proximity to one another each contained a pair of Burrowing Owls. This was in and around a large mowed open area surrounded by jogging and dog-walking paths with a couple of children's playgrounds nearby. The light was beginning to fade, so I mounted my camera and flash setup on a tripod and got to work. For the better part of an hour, I was able to get some nice photos and videos of the owls at point blank range. My approach to this was to the select the most photogenic burrow and to concentrate on that pair of owls for the whole time. Occasionally, the two birds would squabble with each other or one catch a grasshopper, but for the most part they stayed in relatively the same positions. The birds were completely unafraid of people, both Brent and I as well as passing joggers or dog walkers. When I had to put my camera up as a result of the impeding darkness, all eight owls in the immediate area began to actively feed. Burrowing Owls are small birds, only slightly bigger than a screech-owl, and their diet consists of mainly large insects. They would pluck grasshoppers and other insects from the grass as well as snatch moths and other flying insects out of mid air. One thing that struck me most profoundly about these birds was their eyes. Huge, and bright yellow. Here are a couple of shots:
A scattering of migrants greeted us the next morning at Bill Baggs Cape Florida Sate Park, our first stop for the day. This is one of the largest passerine migrant hotspots in south Florida, and has served historically as a good rarity attractant as well. We did not see anything unusual here, neither in terms of species of individuals. The next several days, however, would prove to be epic in terms of sheer numbers of passerines in the Miami area and the Florida Keys. Prevailing strong southerly winds, in conjunction with lots of rain, stopped southbound migrants when they hit the end of the road before open water. Migrant traps in the area would turn up incredible numbers of warblers, cuckoos, vireos, etc. over the next few days, as well as rarities like Tropical/Couch's Kingbird, Thick-billed Vireo, and Bananaquit. A few other quick stops in the area netted us a handful of new trip birds, and then it was on to the Keys!
I was greatly excited about the prospect of visiting the Keys. Of course, there are lots of awesome birds to be seen there, but taking a few moments to soak in the whole essence of Key West was sure to be an experience in and of itself. Regretfully, our scheduled itinerary did not allow us much time there at all. If we were going to visit the Everglades and then proceed to bird up the gulf coast while still arriving back at WCU before classes resumed, then we would not have more than an afternoon to spend in the Keys.
A decision we made, ultimately quite beneficial, was to drive straight down US1 through the Keys until Key West, where we would first stop at the Key West Botanical Gardens, which officially closes at 4 every afternoon. This is known as an excellent place to view migrant passerines, and a good spot for rarities to show up on occasion. It is also known to be a reliable place to find White-crowned Pigeons.
That afternoon of the 14th yielded one of the more impressive flights of raptors over the Florida Keys in an already epic season of fall raptor migration. Curry Hammock State Park runs an annual hawk watch, and has recorded absolutely staggering numbers of many species this year. However, Curry Hammock is not the only place to see migrating raptors in the Keys, or for that matter, south Florida in general. We observed an astounding number of raptors flying overhead while simply driving south along US1 in the western half of the keys, including several peregrines, Merlins, and two Swainson's Hawks soaring underneath a kettle of Broad-wings. Swainson's Hawks are a widespread western species that, like the Broad-winged Hawk of the east, stage dramatic migrations every fall to South America. Usually, one would have to be exceedingly lucky to find a Swainson's Hawk in the east, period. But in south Florida, particularly the Keys, small but regular numbers of Swainson's Hawks, maybe 1 to every 30-40 or so Broad-wings (according to Curry Hammock SP's hawkwatch data), pass through in the fall.
We arrived at the Key West Botanical Gardens about 3:30 or so, allowing us a little bit of time to speedily bird the area before closing time. The trees at the parking area contained a few migrants, all common species that we had seen plenty of already in the last two days. Then, we turned to check out the small pond beside the parking area. Brent and I put our binocs on the bird at the same time, and I was dumbfounded. He said: "What kind of duck is that"? After taking a few seconds to collect my wits, replied- MASKED DUCK! It was an astoundingly gorgeous adult male with a blue bill bright enough to blind a person upon close enough inspection. Now, Masked Duck is a pretty rare bird. I have seen the species once before, during my previous trip to Florida in January, 2010. A male had been wintering at Viera Wetlands for several consecutive years, including the winter of 2009-2010, so going to look for it was a no-brainer. I made the trip down there from Titusville a couple of times, with a couple of different birders each time, and had a 100% success rate. Upon discovering the bird at Key West Botanical Gardens, I was dumbfounded because I had checked the TAS (Tropical Audubon Society) Bird Board not too long before and saw no mention whatsoever of this bird. The TAS Bird Board is the main outlet in which birders in south Florida quickly spread the word of recent bird sightings and rare birds, similar to the familiar CarolinaBirds Listserv. Thus, while trying to contain my excitement about our find, Brent and I went into the Gardens office and asked the two volunteers present about the status of the bird- was it captive or wild? if wild, has it been seen before? and if so, why hasn't it been reported? I thought the chances of it being a captive bird were extremely remote, for I have not heard of Masked Ducks being kept in captivity and the Key West Botanical Gardens seems like an unlikely place to host a domesticated tropical duck species, but wanted to ask anyways just to be sure. The response was surprisingly non-chalant, and went something like this: "Oh yeah, it's wild, and has been here for two weeks. Lots of birders have stopped by and seen it." WHY WASN'T it reported then? They didn't know. Anyways, I had a couple decent photos of the bird, and would spread the word of it as soon as I could. We then made a quick round through the rest of the gardens, finding a couple of new trip species (Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Ruby-throated Hummingbird) but striking out on White-crowned Pigeons, our main original target. Those last few words would prove to be painfully repetitive over the next day or two. A nice bonus bird here was a dark-phase Short-tailed Hawk that allowed me a few photos as it passed overhead. First lifer of the trip!
Masked Duck- the photo doesn't quite capture how blue that bill really was
From here, we went to Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, at the far western edge of Key West. This, literally, is where the road ends. This park is known for being an astounding migrant trap, and we were hopeful for warblers and other migrants as well as frigatebirds. Sure enough, soon after stepping out of the car and scanning the open water, we found up to 3 Magnificent Frigatebirds! How spectacular they are. Another lifer! A number of raptors were also flying overheard, including both Accipiters, handfuls of Peregrine Falcons, Merlins, and especially American Kestrels, and good numbers of Broad-winged Hawks. A large group of swallows feeding low over the water contained two Cave Swallows. A couple of other brief stops heading back N/E along US1 didn't turn up anything different for the trip.
The next day, we got up early and headed from the Miami area to the Everglades. I can say the same thing about the Everglades as I did about the Keys, in that the overall experience of being there would be just as great as the birds we may see. Before actually getting into the Everglades, however, we had planned a stop at a local hotspot known as Lucky Hammock, a quarter acre haven of trees surrounded by ag fields just outside of the park boundaries. This serves as an exceptional migrant draw, as well as a reliable location for rarities to show up over the years, such as a Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher a few years back. A Tropical/Couch's Kingbird had been seen here in the day or two preceding our visit, but we did not see it during our two hour or so morning visit. It was relocated later in the day, however. With all the open spaces in the immediate area, that bird is bound to have a large area that it routinely feeds in, instead of just sticking to one immediate spot. I am always wary of relating flycatchers for this reason, as well as that they don't USUALLY tend to stick around for long.
The mosquitoes were absolutely frightening upon our arrival at Lucky Hammock about 6:45 AM. With the humid air and impending rain, they were out in full force. Several "bug zappers", of sorts, that we had failed to even make a dent. So, we found ourselves driving 10-15 minutes back to the Wal Mart in Florida City to pick up some bug spray. I had thought that I had some in the trunk of the car originally, but was mistaken. Anyways, after drenching ourselves with the stuff, we were finally able to bird. Handfuls of cranes and various raptors continuously flew over early in the morning, and neotropical migrants were literally everywhere. Palm Warblers were by far the most common bird, with my written count of 150 being a gross underestimate. Probably more along the lines of 400-500. Indigo Buntings and American Redstarts were pretty common as well. We picked up several new trip birds, including Black-throated Blue and Black-throated Green Warblers, and Great Crested Flycatcher. As we were about to leave, we ran into Paul Bithorn, a big-time birder from Miami, and a friend of his just pulling in. After exchanging words for a little while, and telling them about our trip so far, we informed them (and I showed them some photos on my camera) of the Masked Duck we saw down at Key West. They were in awe of this bird, and absolutely mortified that nobody had gotten the word out about this rarity before. Soon thereafter, they got the word out about it via the TAS Bird Board and many birders were able to relocate it. A group including Larry Manfredi was birding down the road from us at the time, and soon informed all of us that they had found a Least Flycatcher, Blue-winged Warbler, and Yellow-breasted Chat at "the Annex", which is the edge of a larger stand of woods about a quarter mile farther down the road. The winds had recently picked up quite a bit, but Brent and I headed down there anyways in hopes of relocating one of these fairly uncommon migrants. We only stayed for about 15 mintues or so, but werent able to find any of the aforementioned birds. I have seen all these species numerous times in North Carolina, as well as other states, in the past, so was more intent on moving into the Everglades, even though all those species would be Florida state birds for me. Paul Bithorn graciously offered to lead us around Miami looking for countable exotics in the afternoon, but we had to respectfully decline. We were on a tight schedule as it was and really wanted to at least spend a little time in the Everglades. If we had an extra day to tack on to the trip, then we probably wouldve taken him up on his offer.
Entering the Everglades, it began to get windier and rain. We stopped at most of the established pulloffs, short loop trails, and overlook areas on the way to Flamingo, and did not see too awful much except at Mahogany Hammock, where we located several nice warbler flocks. In these flocks we picked out several new trip birds, including Bay-breasted, Tennessee, and Orange-crowned Warblers. I got a brief look at a possible Blackpoll, but was never able to relocate it to confirm.
By the time we arrived at Flamingo, it was pretty much a downpour, so searching for passerines was pretty much out of the question. Our hopes to find a Shiny Cowbird on the Flamingo Visitor Center lawn, which reportedly is a reliable spot for them, was dashed as well. Instead, we spent a lot of time on the second floor covered walkway of the visitor center scoping birds on exposed mud flats at low tide. We added a number of shorebirds to our trip list here, all of which were pretty common, expected species. Our plan for the night was to camp at the Flamingo Campground, where camping was free at this time of year, but arriving there we saw that the grass throughout the campsites was unmown and soaking wet. We would be constantly soaked to the skin if we camped here. Instead, after leaving the Everglades prematurely, we headed west all the way to Naples where we got a cheap room at a Super 8 for the night.
