FLORIDA EVERGLADES & KEYS
April 17-28, 2010 - Trip Report
Greg Smith, Guide with 8 participants
Trip Report by Greg Smith
Saturday, April 17 - Arrival in Miami, FL
Everyone in our group made it to Miami on time with no problems so we hopped in the van and headed to Bill Bagg Cape State Park to see if the recently reported LaSagra’s Flycatcher and Western Spindalis might still be in the neighborhood. No luck, but we got to see our first warbler (a female Hooded) before heading off to Everglades City.
After checking into our hotel, we headed off to the Camille Street Grill for dinner. As an Osprey chirped from a nearby tree, we ate some tasty fish entrees while indoors, a couple played duet covers of some classic country and western music.
Sunday, April 18 – Naples and Marco Island
After breakfast, we drove past flooded stretches of the Everglades canning flocks of different species of waders. We were on our way to Marco Island to do some shorebirding at Tigertail Park. When we arrived, there were scattered shorebirds and waders. With ten species of shorebirds and six species of waders to study, the pair of Osprey on the goal posts were probably wondering why we weren’t looking at them. Truth be told, we had probably seen over fifty Osprey in the first 24 hours.
We then headed to Sugden Park where we spent a little over two hours dodging rain, while getting excellent views of male and female Painted and Indigo Buntings. Views of a male Painted Bunting at fifteen feet were exceptional.
The rain would not be cheated and at 3:30 it just poured as it only can in Florida or the tropics. It rained and rained, so we headed to our hotel to tally up our species, and then on to our formal welcome dinner at a local Italian restaurant. Very tasty!
Monday, April 19 – Sanibel Island
This morning, we crossed over the causeway to Sanibel Island on our way to Ding Darling NWR. Before arriving at the refuge, we stopped on the beach and watched Bottlenose Dolphin feed in the shallows.
We arrived at the refuge and did the loop road taking in lots of waders (including a Roseate Spoonbill) and a family group of three River Otters. Nesting Osprey were everywhere as we wound our way through the mangroves.
We decided to visit another section of the refuge called the Bailey Tract. Here Palm Warblers ruled the land, with small flocks busily guarding the trail as we looped around.
At the end of the loop we looked ahead and saw another River Otter standing in the middle of the trail. On the other side of the otter was a bicyclist, which caused the otter to pause even longer as she tried to figure out which way to go. She eventually went off to the side followed by four nearly full grown young. What a treat, one that was followed two minutes later by two adult male Bobolinks!
We still had one more stop, and that was the lighthouse and fishing pier. Eastern Kingbirds graced the treetops, while more Palm Warblers guarded more trails. Given that it was perfect tropical weather, Art and Sylvia decided to buy us all the perfect tropical treat for our ride home – ICE CREAM!
Tuesday, April 20 –Babcock-Webb MWA & Audubon’s Corkscrew Sanctuary
We made it out the door early so we could head up to the wildlife management area to look for Red-cockaded Woodpecker. It took us about 45 minutes before we had our first long look, but it was worth it to see this Florida endemic that is listed as Endangered. A male clung to a pine and gave us great looks in the early morning light.
This area is at the southern limit of Bachman’s Sparrow and we were lucky enough to hear one, but could never coax it out of its cover. This loss was made up by very close looks at the Florida subspecies of Sandhill Crane.
Off to Corkscrew where we saw a male Shiny Cowbird feasting on the feeders. Stunning looking bird, but not quite the same as the Swallow-tailed Kite we saw a short time later. Amazing, we saw this one, and by the end of the day, we had seen close to twenty!
The pond and bald cypress in the preserve are just amazing. Cloaked with Spanish moss and festooned with other Tillandsia, the trees looked graceful with shields of air plants. Audubon’s Corkscrew Sanctuary hosts a magnificent plant community that made our day!
Wednesday, April 21 – Fakahatchee Stand & Shark Valley
We started the day at Fakahatchee birding the 2000’ boardwalk. A juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk screamed from its nest searching for a parent to bring it a mid-morning snack. Below, Carolina Wrens were belting out their song and hiding out in the brush. The sky was overcast and the air hung like a curtain as it saturated the multitude of Tillandsia. Black-and-white Warblers searched the bark for hidden treats, while White-eyed Vireos chattered at us for intruding into their space.
Next we drove to Shark Valley, while constantly scanning the Everglades for the elusive Snail Kite. We hopped on the tram and toured this north part of the Everglades for two hours. White Ibis fed along the road as alligators sunned themselves.
Lots of Green Herons and assorted turtles seemed to prefer the shoulder of the road over the warm waters, likely not the best idea given all the Red-shouldered Hawks soaring around. There were a couple of Wood Storks foraging adjacent to the tram route as we headed back to the Visitor Center and the next leg of our trip – The Everglades proper.
Thursday, April 22 – Eastern Everglades
We started our first morning with a Starbucks stop and drove into the park on America’s National Park Week (where parks charged no entrance fee). Our first destination was Anhinga Trail where it seemed waders, alligators and turtles had no concerns with us, only with their neighbors.
A huge American Alligator sunned himself as a Great Blue Heron foraged nearby. We spyed a Wood Stork, several White Ibis, loads of Green Herons, grackles, more alligators and then more Green Herons, growling at one another. All this and the early morning light made for a surreal start to our Everglades day.
We continued on to Long Pine Key, where Pine Warblers made their first appearance, singing from the pines. Eastern Bluebirds perched on favored hunting perches and while Red-bellied Woodpeckers looked out of nesting cavities
Then it was off to the Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow location looking for these little guys. No luck, so we birded Mahogany Hammock as the sun was reaching its zenith. We found a few warblers and vireos, but today’s heat seemed to quiet things down.
We decided to shop in the cool of the Visitor Center before heading back out to the Anhinga Trail. A good strategy, as this trail was just magical in this late afternoon light. We saw the same cast of characters, but more warblers including a Northern Waterthrush and that golden-headed gem, an adult male Prothonotary. He was absolutely glowing in this light. We headed back towards the parking lot, very slowly, as we didn’t want to leave.
And then this adult, male Rose-breasted Grosbeak had the audacity to perch in the open for most of the group. He just sat there in all his glory until we heard this eerie call that sounded so much like a Barred Owl. And then a second one called, but it was when the birds started a call and response that we hurried over to Gumbo Limbo trail to find one of the owls still calling and sitting next to the trail. What a treat to finish a wonderful day with these coolest of birds!
Friday, April 23 – Western Everglades
We headed out west to see the other side of the Everglades with Flamingoes on our mind. Our first stop was to try for the Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow where we lucky enough to see three of this endangered race. Not long looks, but enough to identify them. It was certainly easier to hear them singing, than to see them…
Our next stop was Paurotis Pond where we found a surprising spectacle – Wood Storks building nests. Wood Storks usually nest in winter and fledge their young in early spring. But here in Florida it was a wet spring, and that was not conducive to a normal, successful nesting . Maybe a second try???
So we watched as the storks and Roseate Spoonbills took turns gathering nesting material from the trees right next to us. Throw in a few White Ibis that felt they had to do the same thing, and we were watching nature do her best to make sure these species would be around in later years.
Our last stop of the was at Flamingo where we boarded Inland Waters Tour Boat. Our first sighting was two American Crocodiles floating along side the edge of the channel. This is the furthest north that this species occurs, so within a couple of hours we saw the two largest reptile residents in North America.
After catching glimpses of different terns and other species, we headed back to Florida City where we finished the day at an outstanding Cuban restaurant named Mario’s!
Saturday, April 24 – Greater Miami
We headed back to Miami to search for a number of the introduced bird species that reside in this semi-tropical city. We drove through a number of neighborhoods and walked the exquisite grounds of the Fairchild Botanical Gardens looking for some of these different species and with some success. In the end the only sought after species we didn’t find was the Spot-breasted Oriole.
We did sneak back into the north side of the Everglades in the afternoon to see if we could find a few of the species we had missed in our earlier days. And we did! Crested Caracara, Limpkin, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck were at the top of the list for this day!
Sunday, April 25 – The Keys
Today we headed to the Keys to look for some of the specialties found in these the southern-most islands of the U.S. We searched different parks and shorelines looking for Gray Kingbird, Black-whiskered Vireo and Mangrove Cuckoo.
We found the kingbird at Pennekamp State Park, perched on a wire almost overhead. Next we found the vireo in a flock at Windley State Park. But the highlight of the day was the flock of warblers at Windley.
We had Black-and-white, Worm-eating, N. Parula, American Redstart and Prairie Warblers. This to go along with the earlier Black-throated Blue we had on the grounds of the wildlife rehab center made for an excellent warbler day.
We finished the day with an excellent meal at the Parrotdise restaurant after checking into our lodging at Parmer’s!
Monday, April 26 – Middle Keys
We started the day at Bahia Honda where we still had the great weather and the same cast of characters from a bird perspective. Next we headed to the Key Deer National Wildlife Refuge where we saw Key Deer. We also got good looks at Gray Kingbird and Summer Tanager and walked the beach where a large flock of White Ibis were terrorizing the rack line.
We went up to a road on the northeastern side of the refuge to look for Mangrove Cuckoo. No luck on the cuckoo, but we saw a number of the deer and finally got some looks at the White-crowned Pigeon, one of those secretive mangrove denizens. A group of six perched on some dead snags and waited long enough for all of us to get good looks. More Black-whiskered Vireos in there, but that was about it.
We tried this location again in the afternoon, but again had no luck so we went back to the beach, where bird life was still minimal. It was time to call it a day as we were heading out to the Dry Tortugas early in the morning.
Tuesday, April 27 – Dry Tortugas
We arrived in Key West by 0730 and spent little time waiting for our high-speed catamaran to leave the dock. It took us about 2.5 hours to arrive at Fort Jefferson, but when we did, it was dripping with birds. Highlights included Antillean Nighthawk, Scarlet Tanagers, Yellow-billed Cuckoos, at least 18 species of warbler, buntings, grosbeaks, orioles and more. We spent most of 4.5 hours ashore going through all these birds, what a treat! And everything was in its finest alternate plumage. Stunning…
We spent some time going through all the Noddy’s, but Brown was the only one we could see. We also worked the Sooty Tern flock and were able to turn up a couple of Bridled Tern. Not too bad.
But we had a date at the Square Grouper and, as the boat wouldn’t wait for us, we loaded up for our ride back to Key West. As we motored through the Gulf of Mexico we all got to see Masked and Brown Booby, two new birds for the list.
We had an outstanding goodbye dinner at the Square Grouper before heading off to our rooms. We had to pack…
Wednesday, April 28 - Departures
It took us a few hours to get to the Miami airport, but with little traffic we arrived in time for everyone’s flight and a little to spare. We said our goodbyes and off we flew. See you on the next adventure!
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