Specialties of Florida, April 2017
Florida has a few specialty birds. That is, bird species that are found only in Florida within USA. I had seen three of them at Ecuador - Smooth-billed Ani, Short-tailed Hawk, Shiny Cowbird. I wasn't interested in the introduced birds that are ABA countable now. I had already seen Limpkin in a previous trip while I was kayaking near Orlando, but I decided to target it for better looks. I did not want to target the pelagic birds that breed at Dry Tortugas, and Antillean Nighthawk for this trip. So that comes to seven birds including Limpkin. I also wanted to see American Crocodile, which can reliably be found at Everglades NP.
Looking at ebird, I came up with the following classification:
- Limpkin - easy
- Snail Kite - hard
- White-crowned Pigeon - easy
- Mangrove Cuckoo - hard
- Gray Kingbird - easy
- Black-whiskered Vireo - hard
- Florida Scrub-jay - moderate
I kept one day each for the hard and moderate ones. I expected to find the easy ones while looking for the hard ones. I kept one and a half days as buffer for anything missed. In case I found everything, I thought I could relax at one of the famed beaches. So that came to five and a half days. I did not book any motels, and decided to just plan for the next day based on what I needed. Except for the Scrub-jay which is in central FL, the others are in the south.
Day 1:
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| Florida Scrub-jay |
I took an early morning flight from ATX and arrived at Ft Lauderdale at 9:30 am. I took a rental car, and had a Cuban sandwich and coffee at a restaurant rated well at Yelp. I wanted to finish off the FL endemic 'Florida Scrub-jay'. I saw the southernmost reliable spot for them at Jonathan Dickinson State Park. I drove one-and-a-half hours north from the airport to reach the State Park. I got info from the park ranger to walk a trail that had the most likelihood of seeing it. The place was dry with shrubs and no shade. It was 12:45 pm and hot. I slowly walked on that trail, and within 10 mins found the bird. I was happy to walk back to my car to escape the sun, and try for other birds. The bird which I classified as moderate turned out to be easy.
I wanted to try for the harder ones first, and saw reports of Black-whiskered Vireo at Spanish River Park. The park was about an hour south, and charged 20$ for entry! I walked the trails slowly, pausing at various places to look for the Vireo. I took a break and went through a beach access tunnel to the nearby beach to see the shorebirds. Then I continued the slow walks along various parts of the park. I saw good birds, but none of my targets: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35930025. After three hours, I decided to quit the search. Miami was one hour south, and it was not possible to reach before sun-down. I decided to try my luck for one of the countable parrots and headed to Richardson Historic Park and Nature Preserve. The place wasn't birdy. I made the plan for day 2, dedicated to Black-whiskered Vireo. I chose Bill Baggs Cape Florida SP for it. In addition I could get a Magnificent Frigatebird along Key Biscayne.
Day 2:
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| From Lighthouse at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park |
I walked a trail at Bill Baggs Cape Florida SP. A Merlin fly by, a few Palm Warblers, and a Prairie Warbler which was a lifer, kept me interested initially. It was hot and humid. I did the full trail, which did not produce any more birds. I had a huge lizard 'Black Spinytail Iguana' on the way back. I learnt that it was an introduced lizard. I drove to another section of the park, and got closer to the sea. I saw a male Magnificent Frigatebird, which was my third lifer of the trip. There were a lot of tourists on this section, and I climbed up a lighthouse for the sake of it. I got good views of the park from it. I did not get the Vireo I was looking for. I decided to head to Everglades for a change.
I arrived at the NP sometime in the afternoon, and walked the Anhinga Trail. I have seen all the birds that I could see in that area in the Texas coast, but anyway wanted to do it since it is one of the top things to do within the NP. There were a lot of fishes and I tried some fish photography. The best sight was a Florida Gar with a Blue Gill in its mouth. I stopped at various view points and reached Eco Pond, which is the place the park visitor center recommended for the American Crocodile. I forgot to carry insect repellent, and as a consequence got bit by huge mosquitoes. If I stopped walking they were all over me. I did not change to hiking shoes and got uncomfortable with the mosquitoes. I pricked my foot on some stick while walking along some brushes and bled a little. I started running to escape the mosquitoes and with the humid weather I was sweating. For all this effort I was not rewarded with the Crocodile. I went to Flamingo Visitor Center to consult someone to find a Croc. The guy recommended West Lake area and called out to his wife to get her opinion. In a good fortune another lady overheard and told me she had a Croc just there. We walked a few steps and she showed me one floating!
I wanted to catch the sunset at Pine Glades Lake, and was on the road. I saw a couple of birds which appeared like Doves/Pigeons. White-crowned Pigeon was on my list. I turned around and headed back to the tree where it landed. It was indeed a couple of 'White-crowned Pigeons'. It was the first bird of the day that was in my target list. I stopped at various points on the way to the sunset spot from a general national park visit point of view. I was hoping for a Mangrove Cuckoo due to the vast Mangroves present at a couple of spots, but did not even hear it's call. So, I made plans to see Mangrove Cuckoo and Black-whiskered Vireo the next day.
Day 3:
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| White-crowned Pigeon |
I started a little late and went to Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park. I walked a 2 mile loop trail and an extra 1 mile along a spur trail. I got to see White-crowned Pigeon at a closer range. Apart from that it was completely unbirdy.
I then went to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park for the Cuckoo. The mangrove trail was closed due to flooding, but there were a few spots with mangroves. I looked around for a while and turned back in my car when a Kingbird flew past me. I turned back and got better looks to id it as a 'Gray Kingbird'. One more tick on my target list. I talked to a ranger who happened to drive around and he recommended a trail and a spot for the Cuckoo. I spent some time at the spot and had no luck. I walked the trail with no luck. I went back to the spot and had bread and Choc-hazelnut spread for lunch, wishing the Cuckoo makes an appearance.
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| Gray Kingbird |
There was loud music being played, and I decided to go to another State Park - Long Key State Park, which had reports of a Black-whispered Vireo. I took a 2.5 mile trail, which started with a section of boardwalk over Mangroves. I was keeping an eye for the Cuckoo. Then the trail went close to the sea and a drier area. It was hot and humid in the afternoon. There was little bird activity. There was a calling White-eyed Vireo, and a lone male Merlin perched at a distance. The trail continued to an area with short trees and shrubs which meant no shade. There was a lot of water at some point on the trail. I did not know if the trail continued until a European tourist mentioned a path through the water to what appeared like the continuation of the trail. Since I had slippers I was OK to walk on water, and continued. I was tired after the walk in the humid sun. I reached a point where I ended up on the road. When I was tired and droopy, I heard the Black-whiskered Vireo!
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Black-whiskered Vireo
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I went to the tree where it was calling from and searched for a good few minutes. Then I saw something of the correct size fly to another tree. I couldn't locate it and it stopped calling. Now at least I knew the bird was in this locality. I waited. It started calling again from a nearby tree which was short in height. Now at least I need not have to look up and search. I took some time to locate the bird which was very still and calling from right in the open. I was relieved to find this bird after searches spanning across three days. Now I felt some enthusiasm and decided to try for the Mangrove Cuckoo again. I went back to the places I went earlier but in the reverse order.
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| Prairie Warbler - male |
Day 4:
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| American Alligator with kids |
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| Cycling the 15 mile loop at Shark Valley |
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| Limpkin |
I saw reports at a couple of places for Kites that were on the west. In particular Hans Marsh had sightings whenever people visited. Gulf-coast visitor center of Everglades was a few miles detour from my route to Hans Marsh. I also saw some sightings of the Mangrove Cuckoo on the west coast. So I decided to explore this side of Florida the next day. After A pitstop at the Gulf-coast visitor center, I headed to Hans Marsh. I put a gps location and drove to find no proper access. I saw little bird activity in the place except low flyovers which meant birds were nearby. I tried to walk over what I thought was hard clay only to find my legs sink in. I headed back to the car and washed my slippers with water. On looking at google maps street view, I found an access to a water body. Snail Kites feed mainly on Apple Snails which are near water. There was a huge smoke nearby and soon a lot of vehicles with sirens arrived. Looked like another wild fire broke out. I headed to the new location which had people fishing or walking. I walked a little and found a family of Sandhill Cranes. It was good to see a chick feed with its parent. After a while I could see another adult and a chick. The two adults walked with one of the chicks, constantly feeding. The other chick was busy pecking on the ground and did not notice the rest. After a while it made a dash to join it's family! I saw group feeding by Tri-colored Herons, Little Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets, and Glossy Ibis. Glossy Ibis is rare in TX and it was the first time I saw one in US. Of course I have seen a million of them at Chennai. There were a few shorebirds, but I had seen them all earlier. I scanned the trees for any sitting Snail Kites and walked around. There was no sign of them. I saw a non hotspot area marked on eBird which was near this river but further up. I put the coordinates in gps and drove
towards it. I was crossing a bridge when I notied a raptor sitting on a wire. I immediate parked on the side of the road after I crossed the bridge. It was indeed a female Snail Kite. I went a little close for pics but the angle and lighting weren't good. I decided to leave, but then thought I can try for better photos. After a while a couple of other Kites joined and the one I was looking at initially flew to a Pine tree, where I could get a relatively better photo. One of the other Kites was a male. I observed the Kites for a little more time just because I spent three hours cycling, 2.5 hours driving, 1 hour walking! Dark clouds were gathering and I decided to go to Fort Meyers for the night. 'Mangrove Cuckoo' was the only one left. I thought I had a whole day to get it tomorrow. I went to the Fort Meyers beach to watch the sunset, and was met with showers on the way. The sky to the west did not clear up when I reached the beach. The beach had whitish sand and a good number of people, and appeared touristy. After cycling and driving I was tired and decided to sleep well.
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| Snail Shells thrown by Snail Kites |
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| Snail Kite - female |
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| Snail Kite - male |
Day 5:
I woke up late and still sore on the legs. I realized that I cycled after years. I went to Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. There were a lot of Mangrove trees and Calusa Shell Mound Trail was my best chance for Mangrove Cuckoo. It wasn't a guarantee though, but I had the whole day to explore. I slowly drove through the wildlife drive, which had a potential too. Ospreys were nesting at various places. I did not see anything much of interest and arrived at the trail head. The trail itself was only a 0.3 miles loop. I did it thrice before giving up. I decided to try another location 'San Carlos Bay (Bunche Beach Preserve)' which was crowded with people. After a 30 minute search for the Cuckoo, it was time for lunch. I drove a little to the east to have some non-buffet Indian food which was surprisingly good! I decided to try Ding Darling NWR again. This time I changed my mindset to not think of the Cuckoo but to just relax and enjoy nature. I drove even more slowly along the wildlife drive, looking at the common birds, photographing Common Ground-doves, making stops at various points, one of which had a lot of 'Tree Crabs'.
I saw a Brush Rabbit and some warblers, fishes jumping. I did the Calusa Shell Mound Trail for the final search of the day. I did it once and decided to do one more. No luck. I decided on a third and final loop. This time I saw a male 'Cape May Warbler'. I had seen one many years ago at Raleigh,NC. I photographed a Raccoon for the first time. This day was dedicated for the Cuckoo and it was a no show.
After sundown, I started planning for the next day. A place close to Miami called 'Black Point Marina' had a sighting of the Cuckoo recently. I had to catch a flight at 4 pm. The buffer of 1.5 days was turning out to be useful. I decided to get up early to maximize my chances. I had some pizza (with eggplants) slices and took the rest as togo. I drove for about 3 hours, which was the longest stretch of driving on this trip.
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| Tree Crab |
After sundown, I started planning for the next day. A place close to Miami called 'Black Point Marina' had a sighting of the Cuckoo recently. I had to catch a flight at 4 pm. The buffer of 1.5 days was turning out to be useful. I decided to get up early to maximize my chances. I had some pizza (with eggplants) slices and took the rest as togo. I drove for about 3 hours, which was the longest stretch of driving on this trip.
Day 6:
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| Mangrove Cuckoo |
I had time, so I went to Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park to see if I could get a Whimbrel or Northern Gannets migrating over the sea. I had no luck, but I can always get them in TX coast (two weeks later I got the Whimbrels at TX). It was windy and sand was striking my face. I decided to move on. I saw a large green lizard 'Green Iguana' on the way to the car. On reading further it is also a non-native invasive species. I called up the local temple to know the timings and made it in time before they closed. After thanking the gods for the successful trip, which could have gone the other way, I headed to an Indian restaurant for some food, and tea mainly. There was absolute crap for buffet, and fortunately they had ala carte. I wasn't impressed with that either and had some bhel puri and a huge cup of Chai.
At the end of the trip, I was exhausted. Except for one night I did not do a crazy amount of driving. It was walking in the humid weather which made me tired. Walking 8 miles or 10 miles even with 1000 or 2000 feet elevation gain at some of the national parks in interior USA did not tire me this much. Running 10 miles at Austin wasn't this tiring, but walking 1 mile in the humid and hot weather was harder. It reminded me of my home town where walking a km or two in hot days would tire you. In short, this was a tiring trip. There wasn't much in terms of bird diversity or numbers. I had to work hard for three birds. Like I hoped I got the easy targets while I was looking for the harder targets. This trip gave me eight lifers, six of which can be found only in Florida within USA, including one bird endemic to Florida. Two weeks later I was to find the Black-whiskered Vireo in High Island,Texas! Apparently a strong wind from the east blew it off course while migrating to Florida. Three weeks later I was to find eight lifers in a few hours of birding at Victoria County, Rockport and Port Aransas in TX. Such is birding.
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