Heading north

We are finishing up our three month stint here in the Sunshine State and are trying to get in those last few Florida birds before we head north. Today we returned to Viera Wetlands preserve just north of Melbourne. We've had many a fine sighting here over the past three months and figured it would be worth our while to give it one more look. We were not disappointed as we made the loop of the park and spotted over 30 species. Many of these we will no doubt follow up north and will see them once again on new territory in New York. But some of these birds are not about to leave these friendly environs and we will have to wait until next year to get good looks at them. We say good-bye for now to the beautiful Crested caracaras which were flying over head today. We will miss the anhingas and their handsome chicks. The Loggerhead shrikes will no doubt be replaced by their Norther cousins as we head back home. Most of the egrets and herons will soon be found back in more northern haunts as will the warblers we now chase back home. All in all, it was a wonderful winter with 8 new life-birds being added to the list. Our next entries will be from our last stop in Florida, the St. Augustine Alligator Farm where we find hundreds of nesting birds. From there, it's northward bound. See you in the Empire State.

Wakodahatchee wetlands

Well, we're back from our jaunt to the Florida Keys. Several things to note.....the Everglades are really dry! For the past several years, we've visited the glades in hopes of new species like the Cape Sable Sea Sparrow, but lately the conditions are so dry that it's difficult to find an abundance of anything. To make this point more salient, consider the last leg of our Florida Keys trip as we stopped along the route north heading back to New Smyrna Beach. We stopped at three locations in Delray Beach. The two most productive sites by far were the Wakodahatchee wetlands and the Green Cay wetlands. Both of the preserves have been created by the waste water treatment facilities in Delray and thus have plenty of water at their disposal (poor pun). At these two facilities, we walked the boardwalks and had the best-of -the-year looks at Purple gallinules, Least terns, Black-necked stilts, Green herons, Black-bellied whistling ducks and a myriad of other birds. The added attraction at this time of year is that many of the birds are with their young and can be photographed at close proximity. The sad part of the story is that when we visited Loxahatchee National Wildlife Reserve later in the day, it was "dead". There was so little water in the impoundments that we had to really search for ibises and herons. Our thougt is that many of the birds usually found here are now comfortably nesting at the two water reclamation plants mentioned earlier. Bottom line, when in the Delray area of Florida, don't miss the two wonderful birding sites of Wakodahatchee and Green Cay.

Dry Tortugas

We spent Tuesday travelling to the Dry Tortugas via some pretty rough seas. Even though the waves were only 4-5- feet, it felt like much higher. The periodicity of the waves seems to cause each wave to arrive a bit faster than anticipated, so the waves felt much larger. The trip was well worth the effort (thousgh there were those aboard who might refute that) with several new life-birds being the spoils of the victory. The winds were heading out of the north, and as luck would hve it, those are the conditions birders hope for when spending the time and money to visit these outermost isles. Among our "lifers" for the day were the Brown noddy and the Masked booby. That makes the second booby for our Florida trip and we are thrilled to have gotten these two ellusive birds. We also were treated to some excellent photo-ops of the American avocet, the noddy, and a merlin which was taking advantage of the fact that a number of worn-out warblers were huddled at the water feeder in the campground. For the merlins and the peregrines, this was HOJO's on a Saturday morn. Just sit back and watch the buffet line grow richer and richer in "delicasies". All in all, one of the more productive days in Florida....and that's saying something.

The Keys trip

We're off and running on a trip to the Florida Keys and out to the Dry Tortugas. When you want life birds, you have to go search them out in places you've never visited before. We've been to the Keys, but not since we started birding together some 10 years ago. And so.....off we go. We travelled down to the gateway of the Keys, Florida City, today. Having several hours to bird, we went down to the Everglades. The height of the birding down here right now is the spring migration. We ran into some old friends.....the warblers on their way back north. Hearing the familiar song of the Prairie, we sat pat and waited the birds out. Sure enough, two beautiful Prairies flew right in next to us and posed as pretty as could be. They were both in beautiful breeding plumage as seen in today's photo. Tomorrow, it's off to find some new "lifers". We'll let you know how it goes.

Migration

Here in the Sunshine state of Florida, we are seeing the evolving migratory pattern of our "avian friends" moving from their familiar haunts to ports northward. The last of the ducks is always the Blue-winged teal. Several months ago, we could literally walk across the backs of the ducks from one shore to the next. Now, however, there is a completely different scenario. Bluewings, Shovelers, and an occasional Scaup are the only "northern" water fowl still hanging on. We'll head north in the next couple of week, following warblers, the other fowl, and the sparrows. But we have a feeling that the Blue-winged teals will follow us. They seem unusally content here in the warm climes of the southeast. Tomorrow, Sharon and I head south for the Keys and the Dry Tortugas in seach of those birds which are in the midst of their journey north as well as those who don't feel the compulsion or the need to come any further north than the warm (very warm) climate of southeast Florida. We'll keep you abreast of what we find down in the deepest southern realms of our beautiful country.

Persistence

Every once in a while, a report shows up on the Rare Bird Alerts about some exotic or rarely seen bird right in your own back yard. Such was the case yesterday when reports of a Purple sandpiper right here in our neighborhood in Florida were posted. A friend from New York is visiting, and he had never photographed the bird. So, off we went in search of the sandpiper as well as Piping plovers which I had seen recently in the same spot. When we arrived at Smyrna Dunes, there were several listings of recent sightings, but no report of the sandpiper. Still, with our hopes raised, we ventured out to the south jetty of Ponce Inlet. We searched the sand dunes for the plovers with no luck. Much of the activity we witnessed last week at this same location had abated. There were plenty of Brown pelicans, sanderlings, and Ruddy turnstones working the surf, but darn if we could find the plovers or the target bird.....the Purple sandpiper. We searched the jetty with our binoculars and photographed the turnstones and a lone Royal tern to while away time. I finally turned to my friend and suggested we head on back. At that point, he excitedly told me he had a "different" bird in view. Not far off at all, climbing along the boulders of the jetty was our bird. The sandpiper was indeed here as promised. He had obviously been here all along, but was elluding our sight until now. A little persistence goes a long way.