The Florida Keys

 May 12th

On a recent trip down to The Keys. I had gone to the Dry Tortugas but did some birding around the Keys a bit in the Miami area.  Target birds that lures birders to the Keys included Roseate Terns, Antillian Nighthawks, White-crowned Pigeons, Gray Kingbirds and Black-whiskered Vireos.

Marathon can be a good location for the terns and nighthawks. Historically Roseate Terns nest on the roof of the Marathon Government Center. I dipped on the terns as had some of my friends. Not sure why we couldn't find them then, but they have been reported. Plenty of Least Terns nesting on the roof of the building. There are a number of locations around the Keys to find them. At Marathon, be at the Marathon Airport at sundown. This year we had a pair of Antillean Nighthawks flying over the airport with Common Nighthawks to give contrast to the sights and sounds of the two species.

Key Deer
a diminutive subspecies of white-tailed deer found mostly on Big Pine Key

At Fort Zachiary Taylor State Park on Key West is a place to look for migrating birds and Carribean vagrants. I lucked out with spotting a rare Fork-tailed Flycatcher. As I was walking the path along the moat, a black & white bird trailing a very long tail fly overhead. I immediately considered it to be a fork-tailed flycatcher and dismissed it because of its rarity and lack of any prior reporting from here. But other birders in the park were seeing and photographing the bird. Seems only a handful of folks who were already on site spotted the bird which quickly disappeared.

Other species seen here included several Black-throated Blue Warblers, American Redstarts, Bay breasted Warbler, Dickcissels, White-crowned Pigeons, Gray Kingbirds, Ovenbirds, Black-whiskered Vireo.

Egyptian Goose at Kendall Baptist Hospital

Egyptian Goose goslings at Kendall Baptist

On my final day on this trip I checked out what's happening at Pine Woods Park and Mathesson Hammock Park in Miami-Dade. At Pine Woods Park the Scaly-breasted Munies were easy to find and a Red-whiskered Bulbul was seen along with a pair of nesting Monk Parakeets. Mathesson was a bit quiet. Spotted a red-masked Parakeet pocking its head out of a nest hole and an Orange-winged Parrot doing the same. Its also a place to look for reptiles. Today we had lots of Green Iguanas, African Agamis and Curly tailed Lizards.

Common Yellowthroat up in an
Australian Pine at Ft Zachiary Taylor State Park in Key West

Fork-tailed Flycatcher
made a surprising and very brief visit to Fort Zachiary Talyor

White-crowned Pigeon
Fort Zachiary Taylor, Key West

Red-masked Parakeet at Matthesen Hammock Park in Coral Gables