South Florida sojourn

Not an international trip, but a very birdy one (and I do want to keep up with the blog). Diana and I had a decadent (childless!) trip to south Florida, specifically, Fort Lauderdale, Miami and the Keys. This was my third trip to Florida, but my first to the ends of continental US, so I was hoping for some really Caribbean specialties - and I wasn't disappointed!

A Palm Warbler beach bum 

We arrived Friday night in Hollywood, FL, and treated ourselves to our beloved Taverna Opa (amazing Greek food and a bat mitzva watching belly dancers (???)), where we were surprised by an unexpected evening Great Blue Heron flying over the nearby canal. The next morning, I tried out a  new hotspot, the wordy, birdy Dr. von D. Mizella-Eula Johnson State Park, a strip of coastal mangrove in Hollywood. Highlights included an American Kestrel, huge numbers of Palm Warblers (including on the beach - never seen that before), a Common Yellowthroat, Northern Parula, and a lifer Prairie Warbler. Plus more Laughing Gulls and Brown Pelicans than you could shake a stick at. The nearby Anne Kolb Nature Center was less exciting, but I did pick up Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (one of my favorite woodpeckers) and a male Black-throated Blue Warbler (only my second sighting ever). Also saw a raccoon sleeping in the nook of a fig tree which was kind of neat, and tons of Green Iguanas.

Green Iguana

An awesome next day in Miami (one of a handful of US cities that I'd really call unique) included a quick diversion to the excellent Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, on the tip of Key Biscayne in the Bay of Biscayne. Didn't have time to fully explore this excellent locale, but did pick up an immature Cooper's Hawk of all things scanning the beach, as well as a Merlin further inland, and several Ruddy Turnstones (first time on the East Coast).

Let's get to the birding highlights - the Keys! The Miami-Key West road trip is one I'd recommend to anyone with the slightest appreciation of the road trip as an experience. Just stunning, varied scenery, including the unbelievable Seven Mile Bridge of True Lies fame. Long Key State Park was devastated by Hurricane Irene a couple of years ago and much of the mangrove is still dead, but the alien landscape is eerie and surprisingly beautiful. We also picked up several new birds for the trip including Tricolored Heron, Little Blue Heron, and a flock of Red-breasted Mergansers (having always seen these birds in freezing cold northern lakes, it was frankly bizarre seeing them in the aquamarine Caribbean Sea). I also snagged the pterodactyl-like Magnificent Frigatebird cruising over the highway.

The feral chickens and White Ibises of Key West 

Key West is a charming town of pastels and pies. I was warned in advance by another birder that I couldn't expect much more than "chickens and palm warblers" in terms of birds (cockfighting was only banned in the 70s and they let all the chickens run free), but in fact, as an island migration stop on the way to Central America, you can find all kinds of interesting vagrants here. I found a rare Wilson's Warbler for example at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, a charming yellow warbler with a black cap, normally found out West. I also picked up a trio of south Florida specialty lifers, the White-crowned Pigeon (a nearly endangered species across most of its Caribbean range, but actually viewable in the middle of Key West town); Common Ground-Dove (a sparrow-sized dove - adorable); and Short-tailed Hawk (another species barely found in the US but easy to see in the  Keys, particularly flying over the Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Gardens).

White-crowned Pigeon

 Our last day back in Broward County was pretty low key, but I did quickly sneak back to the Anne Kolb Nature Center and nearby West Lake Park and Preserve for a quick poke around. I was rewarded with a (technical) lifer, the feral Muscovy Ducks of south Florida, now treated as a "countable" bird due to their success in colonizing the local waterways (along with their fellow exotics, Egyptian Geese). I also got a nice look at an Anhinga, and a very unexpected Wilson's Snipe that landed next to a mud puddle in front of me.

Common Ground-Dove

Juvenile Short-tailed Hawk 

Overall, the trip netted 53 species in less than four days, including 5 lifers! Pretty good for a romantic getaway. Below is a complete checklist (lifers marked with a *). Here's a link to my complete photo gallery as well. [For those keeping track, I did get another lifer - a migrating Blue-headed Vireo - back in October in Maryland, but decided it didn't warrant it's own post]

Florida Life List: 63
US Life List: 367
World Life List: 905

Egyptian Goose (a US lifer)
Muscovy Duck*
Red-breasted Merganser
Indian Peafowl
Rock Pigeon
White-crowned Pigeon*
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Common Ground-Dove*
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Common Gallinule
Ruddy Turnstone
Wilson's Snipe
Laughing Dove
Royal Tern
Magnificent Frigatebird
Anhinga
Double-crested Cormorant
Brown Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
White Ibis

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker destroying this palm tree

Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Cooper's Hawk
Short-tailed Hawk*
Belted Kingfisher
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
American Kestrel
Merlin
Blue Jay
Fish Crow
Tree Swallow
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Red-winged Blackbird
Boat-tailed Grackle
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Parula
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Northern Cardinal
House Sparrow