Tropical Kingbird

Sunday July 23rd

Tropical Kingbird in Sarasota

Today I ran up to Sarasota to look for the breeding Tropical Kingbird. As in past years it was located behind the shops at St Armands Circle.

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks

are becoming quite common

But my first stop of the day was at the Celery Fields off of Fruitville Road in Sarasota.  Arrived at dawn.  Found the expected species including Barn Swallows, Purple Gallinules, Black-belled Whistling-Ducks, Purple Martins, Nanday Parakeets and Red-shouldered Hawks.

Then onto St Armands Circle. Started out with large flock of foraging Fish Crows. Gray Kingbirds were calling and after some searching I did locate the Tropical Kingbird.  Other sightings included Chimney Swifts, Eurasian-collared Doves and House Finch.

Tropical Kingbird

Gray Kingbird

House Finch

Went onto check the beach (access #5) on Siesta Key, but not much to really see there. So I added an extra stop to head north to Anna Maria Island to look for any Blue-Crowned Parakeets.  Which I did find. A small flock was observed in the parking lot of the Manatee County Beach Park.

Blue-crowned Parakeet

Least Sandpiper

Still Looking for Birds

Tuesday, April 25th


Rose early on the final day in the Keys to make a final look for Roseate Terns at the Marathon Government Center. Arriving at sun rise, the site was fairly quite with a Least Terns and Magnificent Frigatebird flying over head. But shortly a large flock of Roseate Terns flew in. A White-crowned Pigeon seen in the parking lot. Time to move on.

Cape May Warbler seen at Key Largo Hammock State Park

Made a return stop nest at Key Largo Hammock State Park and walked the one mile Loop Trail. Aside from Cardinals, White-eyed Vireos, Palm Warblers and a lone Cape May Warbler the location was fairly quite.

Key Largo Hammock

Sight along the Loop Trail at Key Largo Hammock Park

Before leaving the Keys made another return stop to look for the Cuban Golden Yellow Warblers at Card Sound Road toll booth area. After parking, was immediately rewarded with a singing yellow warbler with in a few feet. The Golden is a Yellow Warbler sub-species from Cuba and the Caribbean and barely reaches into the mangroves of the Florida Keys.

Cuban Golden Yellow Warbler

Northern Curly-tailed Lizard seen at Card Sound Road

Next made another return stop at Lucky Hammock, just outside of Everglades National Park. The site was loaded with Flycatchers. Eastern Kingbird, Western Kingbird, Gray Kingbird, Tropical Kingbird, Great Crested Flycatcher and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers.

Western Kingbird

Eastern Kingbird

Tropical Kingbird

From Lucky Hammock headed up to Coral Gables to Matheson Hammock Park were American Redstarts were dominate.  Other warblers seen included Blackpoll, Prairie, Ovenbird, Black-throated Blue, Cape May and Black-and-White. Other birds included Short-tailed Hawk, Chimney Swift and Red-bellied Woodpeckers. As for exotics birds seen a pair of Common Hill Mynas and a trio of Yellow-chevroned Parakeets.

Common Hill Myna

Matheson Hammock Park also hosts numerous exotic lizards - Basilisk lizards, African Rainbow Agamas, Green Iguanas, Crested Anoles and Knight Anoles.

Knight Anole

Crested Anole

One last stop, a return visit to the Snapper Creek Canal Cave Swallow Colony. On Sunday it was too rainy, but today Cave Swallows were zipping in and out of their nesting site below the Sunset Ave bridge. This wraps up my birding vacation. Lots of good sights , missed some too. Maybe next year.

Tropical Kingbird and Common Terns

Monday June 27th

Royal Tern bathing at Lido Beach

Today, Bob Pelkey had planned a return visit to the beach at Siesta Key, near Sarasota, in search of Common Terns. Last week he had been successful in locating a White-tailed Sandpiper at this location and maybe it'll still be around today. So I joined Bob on this trip, but we didn't see either species at this location. But we did see several Snowy Plovers that nest in this location. One surprise was a lone Greater Yellowlegs busy search the tidal pool for breakfast in the company of a pair of Rosette Spoonbills, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, White Ibis, Mottled Duck, Tricolored Heron, Semipalmated Plovers and a Western Sandpiper. We also had four Red Knots flyby as well as flyby Gull-billed Tern.

 

Mottled Duck at Siesta Key

Yellow-legs seen at Siesta Key Beach

Western Sandpiper at Siesta Key Beach

Rosette Spoonbill at Siesta Key Beach

We left here to search for another uncommon bird. A female Tropical Kingbird. This individual bird has been returning to a favored location at St Armonds Circle in Sarasota for several years now. This species belongs in Texas, especially in the summer. We do see occasional Tropical Kingbirds wintering in Florida, but this bird runs backward. It reportedly has been nesting with a Gray Kingbird. We first located a Nanday Parakeet and then found several Gary Kingbirds. The Tropical Kingbird did show, but took off before we could get any photos.

 

Tropical Kingbird

Tropical Kingbird

First Summer Common Term at Lido Beach

First Summer Common Term at Lido Beach

Black Skimmer Chick

Black Skimmer with chick at Lido Beach

So we elected to take to move on to nearby Lido Beach for another try at the Common Terns. Here we located six young birds in the company of numerous Sandwich Terns, Royal Terns, Laughing Gulls and hundreds of nesting Black Skimmers. Other species seen included Fish Crows, Sanderlings, Ruddy Turnstones. a Reddish Egret and a Magnificent Frigatebird.

 

Fish Crow at Lido Beach

Now we returned to St Armands Circle. As we waited for  Tropical Kingbird returned for a photo session, we encountered the Gray Kingbirds again, a couple of House Finches, a Chimney Swift and several House Sparrows. The Tropical Kingbird did show and gave us the photo opportunities we were waiting for.

It was a good trip 

Gray Kingbird

House Finch

House Finch

Some Vagrants are Still Hanging Around

Friday, May 30th

Recently Charlie Ewell posted that the Cape Coral Eurasian Wigeon was still to be found on its pond on Del Prado.  Had expected that the duck would have been drawn northward to seek a mate. I suppose it is possible that it has bonded with a resident Mottled Duck, which are not migratory.  I did check the pond last Monday and found it in the company of several mottled ducks, mallard-mottled duck hybrids and several pekin ducks. A Pied-billed Grebe was also on-site. Maybe the wigeon will stay the summer.

Pekin Ducks located on Wigeon Pond

Tuesday I birded Babcock-Webb in Charlotte County. I quickly located the Big Three - Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Bachman's Sparrow and Brown-headed Nuthatch.  Other interesting sightings included Eastern Bluebirds with their fledglings, a Sandhill Crane with a colt and a late Eastern Kingbird.

After visiting Babcock-Webb I elected to retry for the Tropical Kingbird at St Armand's Circle in Sarasota County. Seems that it frequents the parking lot area mat Adams and Monroe Streets. Here we have another vagrant in the tropical kingbird, who seems uninterested in migrating to its normal breeding range. It has been posited that this individual has been on-site here since back in 2013.

Tropical Kingbird at St Armands