Sunday May 11th
Fort Jefferson and the Yankee Freedom in the Dry Tortugas 
Florida Key Deer
Conducted my annual springtime trip to Florida Keys. Four days and three nights on the birding trail. Day one was spent checking out birding venue in the Miami - Everglades area. Missed a lot of the Miami specialties, but did add White-tailed Kite, Swallow-tailed Kite, Egyptian Goose, Chestnut-fronted Macaw, Common Mynah, Scaly-breasted Munia, Brown-headed Cowbird, Peafowl and Gray Kingbird. Missed on any other parrots, bulbul and spot-breasted oriole. Will have to return soon.
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| Inside the fort |
Day Two was spent investigating the Keys. Made stops on Key Largo, Marathon, Big Pine Key and on Key West. My attempts at locating a black-whiskered vireo this year have been futile so far t and that status continued this weekend. Should have had several sightings. It goes that way sometimes. Did have several White-crowned Pigeons, Gray Kingbirds and pair of Rosette Terns, Least Terns, lots of White-eyed Vireos, American Redstart, Short-billed Dowitchers Biggest miss was not getting any Antillian Nighthawks.
Mike Perrin's Dry Tortugas eBird Report
Mike Perrin's Whimbrel eBird Report
Mike Perrin's Flamingo eBird Report
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| Sooty Tern with chick |
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Day three featured a trip to the Dry Tortugas National Park, where an abundance of Sooty Terns, Brown Noddies, and Magnificent Frigatebirds provided excellent photo opportunities. Bush Key serves as the sole nesting location for these terns within the United States, hosting thousands of them. A Masked Booby and a few Bridled and Rosette Terns were also observed. The highlights for visiting birders included a pair of rare-to-the-U.S. Black Noddies and a Red-footed Booby, which was among the nesting frigatebirds on Long Key Without a scope, locating these were challenging. Another visiting birder from Boston, Mike Perrin, captured remarkable photographs of the Black Noddy and reported sighting a White-tailed Tropicbird. To my knowledge, no one had previously reported a tropicbird from the Fort Jefferson. Other sighting at the fort included Sharp-shin and Broad-winged Hawk, Cattle Egrets, Palm, Hooded, American Redstarts, Northern Parula, Blackpoll and Black-throated Blue Warblers, Barn Swallows.
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| Brown Noddy |
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| Brown Noddy |
Spent the ride out and back scanning the waters for any seabirds. Sargasso shearwaters were expected, but instead a flock of six Whimbrels flew past the boat as we were nearing the dock at Fort Jefferson. But even better was a large flock of American Flamingos that flew past by the boat near to the Marquesas Keys on the way back to Key West. Way Cool...
Day Four made a few stops on my way home. Went looking for Key Deer on Big Pine Key and checked out the Cave Swallow colony south of LaBelle. Added Crested Caracara today too.
Probably will return to Keys soon to find the elusive black-throated vireo and antillian nighthawk.
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| Bridled Terns |
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| Palm Warbler |
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| Agami Lizard in Coral Gables. Becoming very common across Florida |
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| Northern Curly Tailed Lizard at Blue Hole - Big Pine Key |
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| Florida Tree Snail on Key Largo The shell coloration varies from Key to Key |
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| Black-necked Stilt near LaBelle |
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| Marathon |