Florida 2009 – The Keys

We began the day in the hardwood hammocks (above) and mangroves of the Upper Keys. Our search for a Mangrove Cuckoo seems to become tougher with each passing year. It has been another dry year and the canopy is mostly bare. This at least makes it easier to see singing Black-whiskered Vireo, who never seem to sit in one place. The migrant warbler count was especially low with only Cape May, Black-throated Blue (below) and Ovenbird.

Black-necked Stilts and Least Terns were busy courting in a limestone tidal pond half way down the Keys where we also saw Reddish Egret and a closer view of a Great White Heron. We took our picnic lunch along the bayshore in Marathon with a pair of Roseate Terns sitting on a wooden piling and a Spotted Sandpiper working its way through the wrack. Brown Pelicans loafed on boats and docks and the first of many Magnificent Frigatebirds soared overhead.

On an early afternoon drive along No Name Key we found a Key West Deer (above) in the shade of a fruiting tree that was filled with Blackpolls, Redstarts, Indigo Buntings and a Baltimore Oriole.

The well vegetated Indigenous Park (above) shows how a tiny urban oasis can be a magnate for birds. On this day we had a sprinkling of warblers, Redstart, Black-throated Blue, Black-and-white, Common Yellowthroat, Worm-eating and Mangolia, Gray Kingbird, Bobolink, and the fruiting figs attracted White-crowned Pigeon. The gorgeous male Western Spindalis (below) put in a brief appearance but unfortunately not all of us were in the right place at the right time.

The other spot that the spindalis had been reported at was Fort Zachary State Park. A search around the bathrooms and along the berm only yielded new sightings of Wood Thrush, female Painted Bunting and Blackpoll.

Next…..The Dry Tortugas