South Florida Winter Weekend Jan 11—15, 2007
Posted by Brennan Mulrooney
Brennan Mulrooney
Brennan Mulrooney was born and raised in San Diego, California. Growing up, his heart and mind were captured by the ocean. He split his summer days between helping out behi...Related Trips
When Victor first told me about VENT’s new “Relaxed and Easy” tour program, our South Florida Winter Weekend tour immediately came to mind as a great candidate. It’s a nice short tour that doesn’t require any super early morning departures or any vigorous hiking. There is only one change of hotel, and the birding is, well?relaxed and easy. Not that this tour doesn’t offer any exciting opportunities! Here is a sample of some of the highlights from this year’s tour.
We began with a leisurely (some might say relaxed and easy) walk along the boardwalk of Wakodahatchee Wetlands. Of course with the profusion of wildlife to view, it would have been hard to move any faster! It probably took us 15 minutes to walk the first 100 feet! Tricolored and Green herons hunted right at our feet, while Blue-winged Teal paddled around under the boardwalk. Wood Storks stalked around at close range giving us unbelievable views of their ghastly heads and necks. These close views also allowed us to observe their distinctive feeding behavior, methodically shuffling a foot next to their open bill in hopes of flushing a fish into it. Closer inspection soon revealed some of the more secretive inhabitants of the marsh. First was a cooperative Sora scurrying around right next to us, and then Purple Gallinules so close we had to back up to focus on them. But the stars of the show had to be the Limpkins. Most years this bird makes us work a little bit, but not this year. We figured that we probably had about eight, including one sitting quietly within 20 feet of us, but with so many flying back and forth past us and several calling from out of sight, it was hard to be sure.
Wakodahatchee was a hard act to follow, but Everglades National Park was up to the challenge. Having nicely recovered from the hurricanes of two years ago, all of the good birding areas were open again and we took advantage. Anhinga Trail is always a memorable stop and this year it didn’t disappoint. We saw alligators large and small alongside the trail, Double-crested Cormorants perched close enough to touch (literally), and Anhingas on nests, some with big fluffy white chicks. Perhaps the most memorable sight at Anhinga Trail was the disappearing bittern. We watched in amazement as an American Bittern seemed to appear and then disappear right before our eyes. Though it sat just 15 feet from the trail, its camouflage was so effective that if we took our eyes off it for a second, it would melt back into its surroundings as if it were never there at all. Eventually we had a crowd gathered around us, all admiring this fantastic bird, except for those who were never able to see it!
Last year, with all of the damage from Hurricane Wilma, we weren’t able to bird the Flamingo area, and the famous Eco Pond was closed. This year we found Flamingo open and full of birds. At one spot we stood and watched an amazing mixed passerine flock that became active after a brief shower. In the span of about 10 minutes we spotted multiple Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and Western Kingbirds, Great Crested Flycatcher, House Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Gray Catbird, Northern Parula, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Palm Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, Northern Cardinal, Indigo Bunting, Painted Bunting, Orchard Oriole, and Baltimore Oriole. Talk about a whirlwind of activity!
On our last morning we visited the suburbs of Miami in search of introduced species. We had great luck with both Spot-breasted Oriole (giving us three oriole species for the trip) and Red-whiskered Bulbuls. Both of these species have been found in Florida for a long time and are considered to be established and countable. We had great looks at Monk Parakeets and their enormous stick nests. We also saw two introduced, but not countable, species of myna. The Hill Myna has been seen in Miami for years, but is not an expanding population. The Common Myna is a different story. This species seems to be rapidly increasing and expanding its range. It seems like only a matter of time before this bird will be just as countable as European Starlings and House Sparrows.
Other bird highlights included Great White Heron (the white morph of Great Blue Heron), Roseate Spoonbills, Snail Kite, and both light and dark morph Short-tailed Hawks. All in all it was a fantastic trip. We had a wonderful group and fantastic weather (temperatures in the 70s). We saw over 130 species of birds, a new trip record, and we did it relaxed and easy?