Rotary Park

 Sunday October 20th

Coming to the end of the fall migration season.  I headed over to Rotatory Park in Cape Coral to see what's up. Here, Eary Warren was kind enough put me on the location to spot Mangrove Cuckoos and it was a success with an individual seen within a few feet.  Nice!!

Mangrove Cuckoo

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Other migrants seen today included Ovenbird, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Black-and-White Warbler, American Redstarts, Cape May Warbler, Northern Parula, Rose-breasted Grossbeak, Indigo Buntings and Scarlet Tanager

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Ovenbird

Scarlet Tanager

Monarch Butterfly

Birding at Home

Saturday, April 10th

Mangrove Cuckoo 

was very reluctant to pose for the camera

With the beaches, parks and preserved closed to enhance social distancing, birding during Spring Migration has become very frustrating.  Locally the wildlife drive at Ding Darling NWR on Sanibel Island  remains open and one can bird by car.

I recently did bird from the Ding darling Wildlife Drive and was rewarded with a with a few interesting birds. Not much in the way of any neo-tropical migrating birds though on that day.  Did spot and heard a Mangrove Cuckoo, plus a soaring Broad-winged Hawk and several Red-breasted Mergansers were still present.

Lots of Cedar Waxwings dining on figs

House Sparrow

At home I have a couple of feeders set up under a huge, old and fruiting Laurel Fig tree.  Cedar Waxwings are a constant these days, feeding on figs and several Gray Catbirds have been hanging around, plus numerous European Starlings are preparing nesting sites in that big, old tree. But, again not much in the way of interesting migrants yet. The feeders are very popular with the expected resident birds.

Northern Cardinal

Gray Catbird

Brown-headed Cowbird. 

Only a single cowbird visits these days, but in earlier days flocks of 30 or 40 were common visitors

Starlings

Common Ground Dove

Common Ground Dove

Blue Jay

Starling

Eurasian Collared-dove

Boat-tailed Grackles don't visit the feeders very much

Gray Catbird

Birding the Keys

Friday May 3rd

Mangrove Cuckoo seen on Key Largo

 Began birding this morning with a stop on Card Sound Road near the former toll booth. The old toll booth is gone now and replace by computer tag readers to digitally collect the toll.  When I arrived at the location I was greeted by a calling Yellow Warbler. Not much else was active though besides some gulls, brown-headed cowbirds and more curly-tailed lizards. 

Made my next stop on Carysfort Circle on Key Largo. On my last visit to this site, I was rewarded with Bobolinks. This was a goal for today, but dipped on  the bobolinks.  However there were several White-eyed and Black-whiskered Vireos calling, plus Palm, Northern Parula and Cape May Warblers. A female Brown-headed Cowbird popped up, Northern Cardinals were very active and a Great Crested Flycatcher was flitting about the canopy.  The best bird was the arrival of a calling Mangrove Cuckoo who would even give a couple of brief poses for he camera.

With a very successful stop here, it was time to head south to Marathon.

Least Tern found at Marathon, Florida 

Roseate Terns are nesting atop the local government building in Marathon

Roseate Tern seen at Marathon, Florida

 Next was a stop at the Marathon Government Center to check-out the Tern Nesting Colony using the flat roof tops of these buildings for nesting sites.  Least and Roseate Terns have arrived on site and can  be seen flying about the area. The access I used in the past to photograph these birds, at rest on the dock behind the buildings,  has now been posted. So from the parking lot I walked behind the building to the shore and found a spot to take my pictures.  Several huge iguanas did not appreciate my presence, as they scrambled into the mangroves.

Gray Kingbird photographed at Key Deer Refugee at Big Pine Key

From Marathon, I moved south on the Overseas Highway and past the Seven-mile bridge to reach Big Pine Key.  Big Pine Key is the home for hundreds of Key Deer who have benefitted from the creation of the National Key Deer Refugee and Protection as an endangered species. These small deer are a subspecies of the White-tailed Deer, but are isolated on the Lower Keys. These diminutive deer are examples of what is described as the Island Effect or Foster's Rule, were large animals will genetically reduce in size when isolated on an island.

I didn't stay around till dark to find any Antillean Nighthawks, but my friends were able to see and hear several of the birds as they staked out a spot at the north end of Big Pine Key.  

Key Deer are found living on the islands of the Lowered Keys 

and benefit from the protection at the Key Deer Refugee

Another popular activity here in the Lower Keys is Star Gazing. With the wide open skies and low light pollution, winter time astronomy can draw hundreds of amateurs and professional astrometry to the Keys   The Southern Cross Astronomy Society of Miami,  sponsors the Annual Winter Star Party at Big Pine Key The Lower Keys are one of the few places within the US were the Southern Cross Constellation can be observed. 

After locating a couple of key deer I began heading back to the mainland. Made a couple of stops at Curry Hammock SP and Long Key SP. Neither location was very birdy today. At Long Key State Park the damage from Hurricane Irma was still evident, as the camp ground structures were  still being repaired and acres of mangroves had been killed by the storm surge. 

Hiked the Golden Orb Trail at Long Key, despite the uncomfortable temperatures and lack of shade. Was interested in finding any Six-lined Racerunner Lizards to photograph.  Maybe another time as these guys can quickly scurry away.

 Also noticed a couple of other points of interest along the path.  One was the signage warning to avoid touching the Poisonwood Trees. Relatives of poison ivy, many people can have a bad skin reaction. The other were point of interest was the Miami Blue Butterfly introduction project. The Miami Blue is a species on the edge of extinction and biologists from the University of Florida are endeavoring to establish a population here on long Key.

Red-bellied Woodpecker nesting at Curry Hammock State Park on Florida Keys.

Down to Key West

June 20th and 21st

Roseate Tern seen in Marathon
Photo by Bob Pelkey

Day One

Bob Pelkey and I headed down to The Keys to look for several specialities that make a home in the Keys. Also hoping that we could come across any vagrants from the West Indies. Like the Antillean Short Eared Owl or the Bahama Mockingbird recently sighted in Key West. 

 Actually we are at least a month late for the best spring-time birding. But logistics delayed us till late June. One positive was that June is a slow time for tourism making travel a lot easier. 

We arrived in Key West at sunrise to the sounds of crowing chickens and calling White-eyed Vireos. Ft Zachary Taylor State Park was our first stop were we quickly tally White-crowned Pigeons, Magnificent Frigatebirds and a Great White Heron ( the white morphed form of the Great Blue Heron).  A short-eared owl had recently spent some time here was now long gone and a recently reported Bahama Mockingbird was also not located.  Just saw a report that the day following our visit a smooth-billed ani was seen. 

We then made several stops in the lower Keys to find and photograph several Black-whiskered Vireos, Gray Kingbirds, more White-crowned Pigeons and the famous diminutive Key Deer, a sub-species of the white-tailed deer.

At Bahia Honda State Park we added Least Terns, Black-bellied Plovers, Wilson's Plovers, Semipalmated Plovers Ruddy Turnstones and a trio of Killdeers.

By the early afternoon we had arrived in Marathon and located a flock of a least twenty beautiful Roseate Terns in their best breeding colors. Bob noted in his photography that several were banded. I noticed a strange little lizard that I found was a Northern Curly-tailed Lizard which originally came from the Bahamas.

After a muched needed break we later regrouped at the Marathon Airport to await the arrival of a pair of Antillean Nighthawks. Before their arrival we watched several birds working the wet areas at the west end of the air strip.  They included Laughing Gulls, Black-bellied Plovers, a dozen Short-billed Dowitchers, a trio of Black-necked Stilts, White Ibis, a Glossy Ibis, Grackles and Starlings.

Day Two

From Marathon we headed back toward home with stops at Long Key State Park, John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and Dagny Johnson State Park. Not much new was added with these stops except for Bob's success in photographing a Mangrove Cuckoo, which later review turned into a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, at Dagny.  I dipped on the cuckoo as it flew of before I could get a look.

We tried to investigate the mangroves at the Card Sound Road tollbooth for cuban yellow warblers, but the deer flies drove us to quickly  retreat to Bob's car. In Homestead we added Mynah birds. At this point we bailed on heading over to the University of Miami campus for parrots and other exotics.  Instead we took a quick run over to the Lucky Hammock area outside of the entrance to Everglades National Park. Here we added Swallow-tailed Kite, a sleeping Common Nighthawk resting on a telephone line and a calling Northern Bobwhite sitting in a tree.

Here we ended the trip and headed back to Ft Myers. Our over-all count, as expected for this time of year, was low, but we did find all but one of our target birds on this trip. Plans are to repeat again next year in May and to add a trip out to the Dry Tortugas. 

Surprising Find at Bunche Beach

Wednesday, February 13th

Mangrove Cuckoo at Bunche Beach, Lee County
Photo by Ruth Parks - February 9th

The Mangrove Cuckoo is a coveted species to locate in South Florida and is just now becoming a species of interest by researchers. Much needs to be learned on behavior, breeding, seasonal migrations etc. on this species. There recent presence in the mangroves at Bunche Beach Preserve, in Lee County this winter has been a pleasant surprise. Usually we find the birds locally, that being Ding Darling WMR on Sanibel Island when vocalization begins in May. There has been an assumption that we only see them here through Spring and Summer, before they return to the Caribbean. Hopefully this pair of birds will stick around.

The photo was taken by Ruth Parks, whose party was able to see and hear two cuckoos. I have been there twice this week to look for it, but only heard a brief croaking at the spot where a party of birders, visiting from Minnesota, had just seen one. These birders were having a successful Florida birding trip with finding Nandays in Ft Myers and LaSarge Flycatcher and Western Spinellis in Miami. 

Please note that recordings are discouraged to avoid stressing these birds. It is tempting and I have witnessed their use at Bunche, but the calls could drive them out of the area.

Bunche Beach  is a great location for birding for shorebirds and is an important rest stop for migrants.

Wilson's Plover

Reddish Egret

Piping Plover

Long-billed Curlew

Mangrove Cuckoo at Ding Darling

Thursday, May 24th

Mangrove Cuckoo seen about May 22nd by Dr Jose Padilla-Lopez at Ding Darling

Went back to Ding Darling with Vince McGrath (Lee County Master Birder) to take another stab at finding the elusive mangrove cuckoo. Even with the help of John and Rachael, of the Ecostudies Institute, we could not  come up with one today.  Rachael is heading a research project at Ding Darling on the Mangrove Cuckoo living there. She has banded three or four including attaching radios for relocation of these birds. Other birds seen and heard included Black-whiskered Vireo, White-eyed Vireo, Prairie Warbler, Magnificent Frigetbird, Great Creasted Flycatchers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Roseate Spoonbills and Yellow-crowned Nightherons

Links:

http://www.oceansreach.com/sanibel-island/mangrove-cuckoo/

http://www.ecoinst.org/index.html (Ecosudies Institute website)

http://www.ecoinst.org/ecostudies_pages/publications.html (Published Report on Declining Mangrove Land Species)