PERSONAL TRIPS


Florida 05-18-01 through 05-28-01

I had heard for years how wonderful the birding in Florida was, yet the state, and specifically the Everglades had been only a fantasy for me, home to scores of mysterious birds that I knew someday I would have to see.

Armed with a list of 35 possible lifers, many of which would be extremely challenging, my friend Jesse Conklin and I set out to tackle the southern half of the state. We landed in Miami and quickly went to Everglades National Forest to occupy ourselves for the day before we had to be at the dock in Key West. That first morning at Royal Palm in the Everglades was truly wonderful. Not only did we have the much-anticipated Swallow-tailed Kite, and King Rail, but a long-time dream bird for me, the Limpkin. All three of these lifers appeared within minutes of eachother and the trip quickly seemed like it would live up to all our expectations. We felt prepared to find every bird on our list, strong and informed! Even the insects seemed to understand how invincible we were. They left us alone... That is until we arrived in Flamingo, the very center of mosquito hell! Unless I am fully covered with a bug proof body suit, there is no way I will ever return to this area. The merciless biting insects that lived along the winding narrow trails through the mangrove hammocks could be heard from the trail head. As we entered the grove, mosquitos began digging into any and all exposed flesh. They seemed to care nothing for the layers of repellent we had applied. They didn't care we were fiersome birders. I was practically in tears, driven insane by the swarm of biting, flying things.

Anyway... From there we travelled down the Keys, stopping at various mangrove swamps in search of rare tropical species such as Mangrove Cuckoo, Black-whiskered Vireo and Shiny Cowbird. All three species were found by our second day. Soon after these victories, we travelled to Key West were we totally ignored the colorful historical attractions and concentrated on loading our camping gear onto the enormous catamaran that would take us to Paradise! First, however, we managed to find the very rare Antillean Nighthawk at the local airport.

Dry Tortugas is legendary among birders. The tropical atoll looks like nothing else I can remember. White sands, crystal blue waters, a huge civil war fortress (Fort Jefferson), and a noisy flock of 60,000 Sooty Terns. Mixed in among the clouds of noisy Sooties we saw a few thousand Brown Noddies as well, and hanging over the hexagonal fortress were perhaps 100 Magnificant Frigatebirds, poised for the chase. We spent nearly three days in this amazing place and were rewarded with fantasic views of this only North American breeding colony.

We were sorry to leave the island, but we had to press on for the remaining inland stops. John "Ding" Darling was a major highlight as was Loxahatchee. We flushed a Least Bittern and saw countless White Ibis but never found the Smooth-billed Ani. A fast paced drive to the northern reaches of our journey produced a few Florida specialties such as the Snail Kite which we found along the main road so we stopped on an overpass to observe amid the noise of the traffic. We found the Florida Scrub Jay in an urban park and it seemed comfortable with people and approached quite close. One day we spent nearly all our time in such urban parks and residential areas to locate introduced species such as Spot-breasted Oriole, Red-whiskered Bulbul, Yellow-chevroned Parrokeet and Hill Myna (a remarkable ventriloquist...)

At this point in the trip, we were growing tired which made the remaining targets all the more difficult. We headed back to the Everglades to search again. Chuck-will's-widow presented itself to us by voice only in a campground. Soon after that, and perhaps the most spectacular prize was among the most non-discript birds--Seaside Sparrow. We inquired at every stop we made and finally got a good lead. Along the longgrass bordered road near Mahogany Hammock we finally got good looks at this most difficult bird of the trip. We were so happy, we scarely noticed the vicious biting insects that once again decided out-of-state birders made easy targets...


Pied-billed grebe L -
Magnificent frigatebird KTA +
Brown booby T -
Masked booby T -
Northern gannet T -
American white pelican A
Brown pelican *KT +
Anhinga *K +
Double-crested cormorant *KT +
Least bittern L -
Black-crowned night-heron L
Yellow-crowned night-heron LAG
Green heron *KT +
Tricolored heron *K
Little blue heron *K
Reddish egret LK -
Cattle egret *KT +
Snowy egret *K
Great egret *K
Great blue heron *K
(Great white heron) EK
Wood stork EL
Glossy ibis GL
White ibis *K +
Roseate spoonbill E
Fulvous whistling duck K -
Black-bellied whistling duck L -
Wood duck A -
Mallard LU
Mottled duck L
Turkey vulture *KT +
Black vulture * +
Osprey *KT +
Swallow-tailed kite *
Snail kite UL -
Bald eagle KEUR
Sharp-shinned hawk T
CooperÕs hawk L
Red-shouldered hawk *KT +
Broad-winged hawk E -
Crested caracara N -
American kestrel EL
Northern bobwhite E
Limpkin EKL
King rail E -
Sora (hrd only) L
Purple gallinule EL
Common moorhen *
American coot LU
Sandhill crane BE
Black-bellied plover T
Semipalmated plover T
Killdeer *
Black-necked stilt AL
Willet K
Spotted sandpiper T
Ruddy turnstone KT
Sanderling T
Semipalmated sandpiper T
Western sandpiper T
White-rumped sandpiper T
Laughing gull *KT +
Great black-backed gull T
Sandwich tern G -
Royal tern EKTG
Roseate tern T
Least tern *K +
Sooty tern T +
Brown noddy T +
White-crowned pigeon KE
Rock dove U
Mourning dove *KT
Eurasian collared-dove *K +
White-winged dove U
Common ground-dove *
Yellow-chevroned parakeet U
Monk parakeet U
Mitred parakeet U
Mangrove cuckoo EK -
Yellow-billed cuckoo EKT
Great horned owl (hrd only) L
Common nighthawk *K(T?) +
Antillean nighthawk K(T?) -
Chuck-willÕs-widow (hrd only) ED
Chimney swift *
Red-bellied woodpecker *K +
Northern flicker (Yellow-shafted) LEN
Downy woodpecker *
Pileated woodpecker ELC
Great crested flycatcher *K +
Gray kingbird *KT
Western kingbird E -
Loggerhead shrike *
White-eyed vireo *K
Red-eyed vireo NB
Black-whiskered vireo K
Blue jay *
Florida scrub-jay AR
American crow *K +
Fish crow LD +
Purple martin *KT
Northern rough-winged swallow U
Barn swallow *KT
Cave swallow U
Tufted titmouse C
Carolina wren NCEB
Eastern bluebird E -
Northern mockingbird *K +
Red-whiskered bulbul U
Common myna UK
Hill myna U
European starling *K
Northern parula NCE
Black and white warbler E
Black-throated blue warbler T
Yellow-throated warbler N
Prairie warbler EK +
Pine warbler ENA
Palm warbler T
Yellow warbler (hrd only) K
Northern waterthrush T
Common yellowthroat *KT
American redstart KT
Eastern towhee ECNA
Seaside sparrow E -
Northern cardinal *K +
Indigo bunting T
Eastern meadowlark *
Red-winged blackbird *K +
Common grackle *K +
Boat-tailed grackle *K +
Shiny cowbird E -
Brown-headed cowbird E
Spot-breasted oriole U
House sparrow U


E: Everglades
T: Dry Tortugas
K: Keys
L: Loxahatchee
U: Urban
G: Gulf coast
A: Atlantic coast
N: Northern inland
C: Corkscrew swamp
B: Big Cypress
D: Ding Darling
* : Anywhere on the mainland
+: try to miss it
-: requires power