Scrub-Jay Birding

Yesterday ended up becoming a new type of tour for me. A nice birder from NYC came asking to help him find Burrowing Owl and Sandhill Crane, along with spending some time butterflying for the other winged specialties of Florida.

I've personally never done it, but I figured I could help him find his main targets, all pictured in this post. Needless to say, I might have found a new niche to explore and if anyone has tips about it, please share!

Busiest busy in a long time, with 27 hours in the field and nearly 1,000 miles covered with two lovely folks, but the highly targeted tour helped us clock in many of the specialties that call South Florida home, including a few surprise migrants, bringing us a total of 108 species.

Starting early on Saturday, we went to Jonathan Dickinson in hopes of finding the pineland specialties, along with the endemic Florida Scrub-Jay, and while the Red-cockaded Woodpecker quickly cooperated for us, the other pineland targets would not be seen here.

This led us to a late morning turn midday stop at Dupuis, where after a much of hard work, we connected with a Bachman's Sparrow gave us the opportunity to enjoy its presence before we headed south around Lake Okeechobee. The original plan involved us going through some STAs in hope of adding Snail Kite to the trip list, but the surprise report of a male Golden-winged Warbler had us making a big U-Turn for the coast where we eventually had amazing views of this rare migrant.

For the afternoon fare, we went straight south to Miami, where a stop at Pinewoods Park got us 5 exotic species in less than 10 minutes, including the often difficult, Spot-breasted Oriole. A quick stop by Brewer Park gave us a trio of Chestnut-fronted Macaws, before ending the day scanning among Yellow-chevroned Parakeets to find one of the few remaining White-winged Parakeets in Florida.

For the second day, we had a 4AM pickup, since we wanted to spend as much time owling within the Everglades, thankfully the Chuck-will's-widow were common and vocal around the pinelands, but sadly, none could be seen. From there, we picked up a beautiful sunrise that became a battle against the mosquitoes and deer flies while being reminded that the dry season affects the birds like everything else in the landscape.

A stop at Mahogany Hammock didn't yield the often reliable Barred Owl, but in its place, a mixed flock gave us Black-whiskered Vireo, Black-throated Green and Black-throated Blue Warbler. Our southernmost point had us in Flamingo, where the Shiny Cowbirds cooperated, while a singing Prairie Warbler gave a show.

The final stops in the park had us connecting with Brown-headed Nuthatch to finish the pineland specialties, while a single Purple Gallinule helped add this widespread species into my group's US list. The heat of the day had us leaving the Everglades for the Miami air, and thankfully the Mitred Parakeets didn't mind the heat, unlike the species we targeted afterwards.

Eventually, we attempted for the Mangrove Cuckoo but the rain pushed us out, and the consolation prize was a loud party of Orange-winged Amazon that didn't give the best views before the rains came again. Final stop was for the Burrowing Owls of the Executive Airport, and these gave us great smiles as we were all ready for a shower and a nice sleep that night!

Been a while since I got to lead a tour around the Everglades, but today was a great time to do so. Spring migrants are returning to the park, every animal is either making babies, taking care of babies or just finished raising their babies!

Highlights included over 60 Roseate Spoonbills on a mangrove island, a sleepy Barred Owl, nesting American Crocodile and Florida Softshell Turtle, a baby Florida Manatee, and a Merlin hunting and eating a Mangrove Cuckoo over Florida Bay!

It's nice to take a break from the usual. I had a wonderful day yesterday with an avid birder that required a special list of targets and no parrots involved.

The target list included many iconic Florida specialties, but the highlights included seeing 3 different Kite species (White-tailed, Swallow-tailed and Snail), 3 different Wren species (Northern House, Marsh and Sedge), 3 different Kingbird species (Tropical, Western and Cassin's), the favorite exotics of Red-whiskered Bulbul and Spot-breasted Oriole, and thanks to the company of a great friend, we managed close-up views of a roosting pair of Eastern Screech-Owl and 15 Painted Buntings coming to her feeders!

Every day can't be like this, but when they are, you can only smile and be happy they happened.