Mathesson Hammock Preserve

 Friday, May 28th

Earlier, this month was my trip to the Florida Keys which concluded with a stop at Mathesson Hammock Preserve in Coral Gables. I always like to stop here to see the variety of lizards and birds.

Pot Bellied Air Plant is an uncommon species

Red-masked Parakeet

I delayed my posting on this visit due to the birders ethos to not report on active nesting birds, for their well being. Came across nesting Orange-winged Amazon Parrots, Red-masked Parakeets and Common Hill Mynahs at that time. 

Several parrot species and mynahs can be seen or heard in the area, which includes the neighboring Fairchild Tropical Botanic Gardens. Two species of mynahs are seen in south Florida, from from their native homes in Asia. The smaller Common Mynah and the larger Common Hill Mynahs with their yellow facial waddles. The common mynahs seem to be stable and are often seen around shopping centers and gas station.  But the Common Hill Mynah is reportable losing ground and close to extirpation locally for unknown reasons. Mathesson and Fairchild seem to be the home for the last remnants. So seeing a Common Hill Mynahs nesting is a positive for them. Don't know how or if they were successful.

Common Hill Mynah

Common Hill Mynah

The royal palm snags were also hosting Starlings and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, with a particular snag hosting both Orange-winged Parrots and the red-masked Parakeets.

Orange-winged Parrot

Orange-winged Parrot

Bark Anole

Counted over 35 Green Iguanas sunning themselves on the mowed grass, plus spotting lots of Brown Anoles, a Bark Anole and several colorful Agama Lizards. All are invasive species.

Agama Lizard

Agama Lizard

Green Iguana

A Few Exotics in Miami

Tuesday May 26th

The semi-tropical climate in South Florida lends itself well as a new home for exotic plants and animals. A great many are considered to be pests and the most successful can be quite harmful to our local ecology. The rise of the Burmese Python population in the Everglades is a prime example. Ornamental plants and trees have also overtaken local flora like the expansion of the Melaleuca and Brazilian Pepper. Their is a bounty on the Lionfish, which has rapidly prospered on our Florida reefs, upsetting the ecological balance by becoming an aggressive top predator, prolific breeder with no known predators in the Atlantic Ocean. Iguanas have become established in most of South Florida with some getting  to be over four feet long.

 Not all invasives cause great ecological harm. Just a few minutes ago I spotted the House Gecko that has moved into my apartment. I don't mind its presence at all as he'll consume most any insect pests.  Many of the exotic bird species have not become major issues. The Monk Parakeet though builds huge nests artificial structures and have created damage such as electrical outages. But most of the many parrot species in south Florida aren't as disruptive the ecology as originally feared.

This past week-end Bob Pelkey and spent four days birding the Miami and Florida Keys area for exotics and came up with several.

Red-whiskered Bulbul in Kendall

Red-Whiskered Bulbul -  A native of eastern India,

Purple Swamphens - A common native in Africa, southern Europe, much of Asia including Indonesia, and Australia.

Purple Swamphen at Chapel Trail in Broward Count

Common Hill Myna - The Common Hill Mynas are a species of starlings and a very popular cage bird coming from the hill regions of southern Asia. 

Common Hill Mynas seen on the campus of the University of Miami

Egyptian Goose - These geese were once considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians, but are currently a popular ornamental waterfowl. Escapees and there offspring have become more common in southeast Florida's parks and golf courses.

Egyptian Goose seen at Baptist Hospital campus in Kendall

Muscovy Ducks - The Muscovy Ducks we find all over south Florida are actually feral specimens of domesticated Muscovy ducks. 

Muscovy ducklings seen at Baptist Hospital in Kendall

Mitred Parakeet - Mitred Parakeets come from Peru, Bolivia and northern Argentina. A large number of these birds can usually be found around the Baptist Hospital in Kendall.

Red-masked Parakeet - Red-masked Parakeets come from the western area of Peru.

Red-masked Parakeet seen at the University of Miami campus

Scaly-headed Parrot - Scaly-headed Parrots range from Brazil through Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina. 

Scaly-headed Parrot seen on the University of Miami campus

White-winged Parakeet - Once a very common species in Miami, but its numbers have been falling as the Yellow-chevroned Parakeets.have been increasing.  Both species were once known as canary-winged Parakeets. White-winged Parakeets came from the northern Amazon River Basin.

White-winged Parakeet at the University of Miami campus.

Iguanas - Both Green and both species of Spiny-tailed Iguanas are found in south Florida. Theses populations have there start when iguana pet owners either loose or release the big lizards.

A spiny-tailed Iguana seen at the Snapper Creek Canal

Green Iguana seen on Key West

Other exotics seen included Common Mynas and a Brown Basilisk lizard

Owl to Owl - Birding in Dade County

Owl to Owl

Birding in Dade County
Monday January 18th - Day #1 of my birding vacation

Along Tamiami Trail

This is to be day #1 on my birding vacation week. Starting out with a very long day trip to Dade County to seek out seasonal South Florida specialties, plus any exotics I can locate. Left home about 5:30am and traveled the Tamiami Trail heading first to the campus of Florida International University. As dawn brightened the new day hundreds of wading birds could be seen lining the parallel canal, but my first bird sighting of the day was a Barred Owl who’s silhouette was easily seen in a bare tree along side the highway. Did stop to confirm the sighting and knew it would be a good day.

Florida International University

FIU is located along the Tamiami Trail outside of Miami and is were the Florida Rare Bird Alert had noting the unusual sighting of a male Western Tanager. One reason I chose Monday for this trip is that it was a holiday and the school would be closed for the day allowing easier access to parking, which is a big deal here. Ran into Trey Mitchell here, who along with a couple of other local birders, put me onto the tanager.

 The Western Tanager was a life count for me. This is link to Trey Mitchell's tanager photos.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher







Also observed a pair of White-Crowned Pigeons leaving the campus preserve as I arrived. The noisy monk parakeets were easily notice and did find a couple of Blue-Headed Vireos. The other birders were mostly heading up to the Miami Beach area to looking for the red-footed booby and common eider reported there. Another choice was Bill Baggs to look for the La Sagra Flycatcher . But my plans were to head over to Lucky Hammock for hawks.

 My FIU list - Cooper's Hawk, Rock Pigeon, White-crowned Pigeon, Monk Parakeet, Loggerhead Shrike, Blue-headed Vireo, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Western Tanager, Boat-tailed Grackle.

Florida City

Checked out the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher site on 314th SW in Florida City and was able to get a single flycatcher and no western kingbirds on this stop.

Lucky Hammock

 Contractors were busy at the Lucky Hammock location as they were prepping the area for the C-111 canal Everglades Restoration project, to divert the canal drainage effect by spreading the water flow across more land. This project should not effect the birding at this location. This morning not much was happening at the hammock, but a couple of Swainson’s Hawks and a couple of Short Tailed Hawks were easily located. A Northern Harrier was very active in the fields as well. Moved on to the Cutler Wetlands from here, but I plan to return at dusk to look for Lesser Nighthawks and Short-eared Owls.

Homestead
In as stop in Homestead for gas had a pair of Common Mynas foraging about the gas station. I have found this location to be pretty reliable for mynas. The corner of West palm Drive and Krome Ave.

Cutler Wetlands and Cutler Marsh
The lighting was awful at Cutler Wetlands and it was difficult to id a lot of the ducks and the water was high so there were almost no shorebirds or waders. About a dozen American White Pelicans were present.


American White Pelicans at Cutler Marsh

 Thought that I would give the nearby Cutler Marsh area a try. Found more than a hundred white pelicans and a few ducks like Blue-winged Teal, Green-Winged Teal and Mottled ducks, plus a few Glossy Ibis. Hundreds of vultures can be seen soaring over the near ‘Mt Trashmore’ garbage dump.

My list for Cutler Wetlands - Mottled Duck, Blue-winged Teal, American White Pelican, Common Moorhen, American Coot, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Ring-billed Gull, Eurasian Collared-Dove

My list for Cutler Marsh- Mottled Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, American White Pelican, Great Egret, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Red-shouldered Hawk, Common Moorhen, American Coot, Belted Kingfisher, Eastern Phoebe

Kendell

Headed from here to Kendall Baptist Hospital campus. This is a good area to look for exotics like red-Whiskered Bulbuls, Spotted Orioles and various parrots. Walked the ponds and had hits on Red-Masked and Mitred Parrots. The ponds are also home the a great many White Ibis, Muscovy Ducks and a couple of domesticated geese. Also drove around the neighborhood across Kendall Avenue from the hospital for the Bulbuls, but got a dip on them. I understand that it is best to patrol that area in the early morning, like about 8:30am.


My list - Muscovy Duck, Double-crested Cormorant, White Ibis, Monk Parakeet, Red-Masked Parrot, Mitred Parrot, Fish Crow, European Starling, House Sparrow.

Back to Lucky Hammock

Got back to Lucky Hammock about 5:00 and met a veteran birder named Dave who was in from Naples. He had pretty much followed the same itinerary as I had. He put me onto the pair of White-tailed Kites commonly seen here as they came in to hunt the fields. These birds would soar over the area and then hover in place as they scoped out any likely meal options. They hunted just up till dusk. I was able to sight a Western Kingbird inside the hammock. Usually we’d see them wire sitting, but I guess it had gone to roost. One interesting sighting was for Dave, when he walked across the field to the tree-line, as we waited for the short-eared owls, he nearly stepped on a Whip-poor-will which flushed at his feet. Lots of raptures were still about including a Broad-winged hawk, Red-Shouldered Hawk, a Merlin, several Kestrels, the Northern Harrier and a Swainson’s Hawk. Finally at dusk a pair of Lesser Nighthawks rose above the trees to the west. They were a life count for me. As the mosquitoes came out and it was getting a bit dark we chose to leave, I thought that I had heard the short-ear’s call but nothing was seen. But finally an owl made its appearance. Its silhouette could be seen landing atop a power pole and a second owl flew up to it and then flew down low and out of sight. So we had an owl, but it was not the sought after short-eared, but a Great Horned Owl.

So at the conclusion of this long day my last bird was also an owl. Started with an owl and ended the same.

My list for Lucky Hammock - Cattle Egret, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, White-tailed Kite, Northern Harrier, Red-shouldered Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Short-tailed Hawk, Swainson's Hawk, Merlin, Sandhill Crane, Mourning Dove, Common Ground-Dove, Great Horned Owl, Lesser Nighthawk, Eastern Phoebe, Western Kingbird, Tree Swallow, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Palm Warbler, Savannah Sparrow, Eastern Meadowlark.

A total of 69 species were counted for the day

Muscovy Duck, Mottled Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, Common Mynah, American White Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Anhinga, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Egret, Tricolored Heron, Cattle Egret, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Wood Stork, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, White-tailed Kite, Northern Harrier, Cooper’s hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Short-tailed Hawk, Swainson’s Hawk, American Kestrel, Merlin, Common Moorhen, American Coot, Sandhill crane, Killdeer,  Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Ring-billed Gull, Rock Pigeon, White-crowned Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Mourning Dove, Common Ground-Dove, Monk Parakeet, Mitred Parakeet, Red-Masked Parakeet, Great Horned Owl, Barred Owl, Lesser Nighthawk, Belted Kingfisher, Eastern Phoebe, Western Kingbird, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Loggerhead Shrike, White-eyed Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo, American Crow, Fish Crow, Tree Swallow, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Palm Warbler, Western Tanager, Savannah Sparrow, Eastern Meadowlark, Common Grackle, Boat-tailed Grackle, House Sparrow.