Florida: Scrub-Jays and lots of Exotics

 On the fourth full day of our Florida adventure, January 3rd, Caleb and I went south again from Port St. Lucie toward Miami.  Our objective of this day was to go to Miami and find as many established exotic species as we could.  In birding, there are escapes or introduced exotic species that establish feral populations in the wild.  When these populations grow, they become part of the wild avifuana and are considered countable on birders lifelists if they are detected in places where they are countable.  In the greater Phoenix area here in Phoenix, we have the Rosy-faced Lovebird as a countable established exotic.  Florida has many more, especially in Miami.  Exotic birds we would be looking for included Common Myna, Egyptian Goose, White-winged Parakeet, Nanday Parkakeet, Monk Parakeet, Mitred Parakeet, and the rather-cool Spot-breasted Oriole (my favorite exotic).  Others that are in Florida include Scaly-breasted Munia and Red-whiskered Bulbul.  Birding for exotics is far from being my favorite, and on the way to Miami we had something much more fun to start the day off with as we would search for the Florida Scrub-Jay.  When birders visit Florida, this well-named jay is one of the most obvious targets.

Florida Scrub-Jay is a threatened species who's range is restricted to the central portion of Florida.  In the 20th century, the population of this bird declined by 90 percent due to the destruction of the low oak scrub habitat that it requires.  The optimal habitat for the Jays is produced by fire, as the habitat they need is burned every 10 to 15 years or the scrub habitat will overgrow beyond the requirements of the birds.  What they prefer is a maximum height of 10 feet with small openings in the oak scrub.  The place we started at with the Jay as the main target was at Jonathan Dickinson State Park.  This location is said to be one of the best spots in Florida to see the Florida Scrub-Jay.  Caleb and I searched for about thirty minutes before we heard and then saw a Scrub-Jay, and eventually it was joined by a second jay and the pair came very close to the path.  We had great looks at the birds, both of which were banded.  To keep tabs on the populations of this bird, most of the other ones are banded too and one is actually less likely to find one without bands.  Florida Scrub-Jays differ from other scrub-jays with the field marks of a whitish forehead and eyebrow, shorter and wider bill, paler back, distinct collar, and a longer tail.  It was great to get this bird as a lifer!  Something else that was cool was getting to see a little bit of Jonathan Dickinson State Park, which contains a wide array of different habitats that include oak scrub, pinewoods, and wetlands.  Many other birds were present while we looked for Florida Scrub-Jays.

 

Florida Scrub-Jay.  Yes!

Florida Scrub-Jay habitat

Up close!

Blue Jay

Northern Cardinal

Myrtle Warbler

Pine Warbler

After we finished up at Jonathan, we headed south for Miami and we had a little over an hour's drive before we would start looking for exotics.  It took awhile to start finding them, but we 6 of them that we were looking for (I got 6 lifers, and Caleb got 5.  He already had 1 of the 6 that I did though in Egyptian Goose).  We walked over a mile through the city and some neighborhoods where Parakeets were reported often.  There were no Parakeets detected, but we did see plenty of the established Muscovy Ducks.  In ways I wish these birds weren't countable, I love the remote chance of seeing a true wild one in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.  Now that these Florida birds are countable, I fear that maybe the Texas ones won't matter as....nevermind.....

 

Muscovy Ducks

As we spent some time at the first stop, we got lunch and then went to a gas station parking lot to try for Common Myna at the next stop.  We were successful!  Common Mynas are pretty cool-looking and are in the Starling family.  They are a South Asian species.  Up next we went to a golf course at a hotel, and the eBird hotspot is called "Country Golf Biltmore Hotel".  Parrots were flying around the hotel and golf course, but they were the uncountable Red-masked Parakeets.  We were trying for countable ones, with the White-winged Parakeet being one of them.  As we searched for them, we walked out on the golf course which had a huge tournament event going on.  We saw spectators walking around the course, and technically we were qualified "spectators" too.  And then we accidentally interfered with the tournament itself and were told to get out of the way.  Ha ha, whoops.  We did find a few Egyptian Geese though, a lifer for me.  These geese are native to Africa, and are established and countable in southern Florida.  After some patience, we did see the flock of White-winged Parakeets, an established exotic that is native the Amazon area south to east-central Peru.  Following the golf course event birding, we ended up at A.D. Barnes Park, which is a great birding location that features a variety of habitats and is great for a variety of birds.  Our main target here was Spot-breasted Oriole, which didn't take us too long to find as Caleb detected a singing male.  Spot-breasted Oriole is a Middle American bird and was introduced to Florida.  It was first found nesting in the state in 1949 and is now established.  To me, this bird is as good as an exotic can get.  After the oriole, we birded for native species in some of the trees in the park and had an awesome flock of vireos and warblers.  This flock included a few Cape May Warblers.  As we walked out of the park we got another lifer, Monk Parakeet.  A few of them called loudly and flew by as we were almost done birding.  Monk Parakeets are native to South America, and are the most widespread of the established parrots in Florida.  Our last stop of the day came from the neighborhood areas were we first started the day.  Parrots become noisier toward the evening, and this was certainly the case.  We saw some species that aren't established, weird ones, and then we got one more established one for a lifer, which was the Mitred Parakeet.  Mitred Parakeets are native to western South America, and while in this Florida neighborhood, we probably had a flock of about 8 of them.  And that concluded the exotic search.

Common Myna

Egyptian Goose

White-winged Parakeets.  On the trailing bird you can see it's wing pattern.

Some weird established lizard.  You might as well introduce everything into Florida...

Spot-breasted Oriole, really a cool bird.

woah, a Black-and-white Warbler in midst of it all!

Mitred Parakeets

Scrub-Jays and lots of exotics are an interesting mix for a day of birding.  On the way back to Port St. Lucie we said, "at least we got these exotics out of the way so we don't have to look for these species in the United States again".  And there are a few more south Florida established exotics we didn't have time to get to as well on January 3rd...

Florida: The Everglades

When January 1st, 2022 rolled in, Caleb and I hit the road early and headed for southern Florida.  Our plan while heading down was to bird Everglades National Park for a day, and the Florida Keys for another day.  In this extreme southern part of Florida, we had it in mind that we could potentially find Caribbean vagrants such as Grassquits, La Sagra's Flycatcher, Key West Quail Dove, and more.  There was also a shot of scarce Florida birds such as Mangrove Cuckoo and American Flamingo.  White-crowned Pigeon was an expected one that both of us were expecting to get as a lifer.  After a 2.5 hour drive from Sean's house, we arrived at Everglades National Park just after sunrise.  It was awesome to drive into a new National Park that neither of us had been to before.  In the early morning hours, the park wasn't very crowded.  But as the holiday would go on, more and more would come later and crowd the place up as more than a million people visit the park annually.  

The Everglades are interesting, and are a shallow and wide expanse of water moving south through sawgrass and cypress prairies.  While often referred to as a "River of Grass", this river is about 50 miles wide and is only a few inches deep.  The Park also has hardwood hammocks, mangrove forests, pinewoods, sawgrass and cypress prairies, lakes and ponds, and the open salt water and shoreline of Florida Bay at the southern stretches of land.  What I was most impressed with were the hammocks.  Florida has a lot of woodlands known as hammocks, which are isolated stands of trees that include palms, cedars, and a variety of deciduous trees.  In the Everglades the hammocks consist of vegetation that is of West Indian origin with trees like Gumbo Limbo, Mahogany, Dogwood, palms, and figs.  Hammocks are surrounded by more common and extensive habitats, such as pinewoods, marshes, and prairies.  Birdwise, the are great for a variety of species, and we would enjoy mixed flocks of passerines the most in the hammocks and mangrove stands.

 

Florida Panther Country!

 

Royal Palm Hammock was our first stop after we entered the Everglades.  This is a popular spot for birders and tourists.  When we got to the parking lot, many Black Vultures were in the parking lot hanging around.  They were getting on vehicles and trying to rip things apart.  Some people weren't happy with the vultures.  The park even built a vulture "playground" to distract the birds from the vehicles.  Aside from that, it was said to park at users risk.  Trails in the area were awesome, and the first we walked was called the Anhinga Trail.  A boardwalk went for about a half-mile over the marshes of Taylor Slough.  A variety of birds were present and viewable, including plenty of Anhingas.  I was freaking stoked at seeing them, even though I knew many more were to come.  Boardwalk trails are awesome, and create great viewing.  We also walked along the Gumbo Limbo Trail, which entered through the thick woodlands of the Royal Palm Hammock.  While walking this trail we were in habitat that featured trees that are of West Indian Origin, (including Gumbo Limbo), which southern Florida is the only place such habitat is found in the United States.  Warblers and other passerines were abundant in the woodlands, and Caleb picked up his lifer Worm-eating Warbler.  Two Barred Owls called back and fourth at one point, and I was able to track them down and get obstructed visuals.  At another location nearby we detected a few Pigeons being flushed higher up in trees.  At the angle Caleb was at, he could see that they were our lifer White-crowned Pigeons.  I saw the shape of the birds to know they were pigeons, but I hoped I would see one much better.

 

Black Vulture playground

Black Vulture invasion

   

Male and female Anhingas

Tricolored Heron

Eastern Phoebe

Black-and-white Warbler

 

Female Anhinga giving me a show!

Purple Gallinule

Male Anhinga

Palm trees-common perching spots for cormorants and vultures

Gumbo Limbo Trail

White-eyed Vireo

Blue-headed Vireo

Barred Owl pair

Black-throated Green Warbler

Great-crested Flycatcher

Some people (non-birders) unhappy with Black Vultures

Later in the morning our route took us to Mahogany Hammock, which featured a neat boardwalk trail about a half-mile long.  It was cool to see a Wood Stork soaring overhead.  Once walking the path through the thick trees we had highlights of Short-tailed Hawk circling overhead, 2 Barred Owls calling back-and-fourth, and a variety of passerines and with good warbler numbers that included a male Hooded Warbler.

 

 

Yellow-throated Warbler

Short-tailed Hawk

Northern Parula

Wood Stork

Hooded Warbler

Short-tailed Hawk

Barred Owl

After lunch, we got to see some of the views of the Florida Bay.  We hiked two trails: the Coastal Prairie Trail and the Snake Bight Trail.  The Coastal Prairie Trail was awesome, as we really started to hike through and along mangrove forests.  We were hoping we would hear the elusive Mangrove Cuckoo, but we did see a variety of other birds.  The Snake Bight Trail was a 1.8 mile hike one way as it traveled through mangrove forests and ended with a good view of Florida Bay coastline.  Although American Flamingo requires luck, they have been found in the past at this view.  We did get to see our first Great White Heron of the trip, which was cool.  Something we also kept in mind were rarities that have been found along this trail in the past, such as Key West Quail-Dove and Western Spindalis.  

Anhinga or "Snake Bird"

Great-crested Flycatcher

Northern Parula

Black-and-white Warbler

Prairie Warbler

Dense mangrove forest, can you spy Caleb in there?

Picnicing Red-shouldered Hawks

Wood Stork

Willet

Black-necked Stilt

Great White Heron

Tricolored Herons

Northern Waterthrush

Aside from these mentioned spots, we stopped at many other spots during the day.  Some of the stops were short, but we really got a taste of how fun the Everglades are.  My pictures on this post will show more of the bird diversity than what I've written about.

 

male Anhinga

When we went back to town after exploring the Everglades, we were originally planning on going to the Florida Keys and down as far south as Key West.  Caleb felt like the Keys didn't have the best reports, and that we would have better luck in exploring Everglades National Park for a second day.  And we would explore the Everglades again and skip the Florida Keys for this trip.  

On January 2nd, we headed to the southern part of the park to explore the Coastal Prairie Trail.  In the research Caleb did, he realized that Saltmarsh Sparrows were found in some of the grassy coastal habitats that were near the mangrove forests.  We walked out to the area with Saltmarsh Sparrow habitat first, and I was impressed that it didn't take long to hear several Sharp-tailed Sparrow species start calling.  One of them popped up, and dark streaks on the breast, sides, and white contrasting throat with the orange and gray on the head meant that it was a Saltmarsh Sparrow!  This was a lifer for me, and a highly wanted one.  It was the last regularly occurring sparrow I needed for the United States.  These sparrows winter in low numbers along both Florida coasts, where they are local.  They are restricted to saltmarshes along the Atlantic Coast for breeding, and they are endangered due to rapid loss of habitat.  

 

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Saltmarsh Sparrow!!

 

Saltmarsh Sparrow Everglades coastal habitat

After the quick success with Saltmarsh Sparrow, we went to walk the Guy Bradley Trail.  This trail went along the Bay, and through Mangrove forests.  An impressive diversity of 55 species of birds were present for us, including several shorebird species that were Florida firsts for us.  During the morning we also realized that a Christmas Bird Count was taking place in Everglades National Park.  We started to see many birders in teams of two, and we did see a few birders walking the mangrove woodlands while we were looking at Saltmarsh Sparrows.  On the Guy Bradley Trail we saw two birders participating in the CBC, a man and a women.  The man seemed cool, but the lady asked us if we were doing the CBC.  We said no, and she seemed annoyed with us and snapped back, "Well, we can't double up and have two teams".  What a perfect bitch she was.  Minutes after that, Caleb flushed a White-crowned Pigeon.  I was pumped, and I hung out with this bird for about 15 minutes after I got poor looks the previous day.  White-crowned Pigeons are large pigeons that are wary and often shy, and will often stick to the tops of trees.  This bird is a Caribbean species that is common in coastal lowlands, and especially in mangroves.  It has a limited range in the United States, where extreme southern Florida is the only region where it can be found.  Also, it's white crown that sharply contrasts with the rest of it's dark body means that the bird is named well.  This one was truly my lifer-neat bird!  We also scanned the coast for some time too which was nearby, and we added more shorebirds to our Florida lists.  Many folks camped along the shoreline, and Red-shouldered Hawks utilized many perches, including tents.  A Manatee also made an appearance in a boating area, a lifer mammal!

 

White Ibis

young Red-shouldered Hawk

Osprey

Prairie Warbler

White-crowned Pigeon!

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

young and adult Yellow-crowned Night Herons

Manatee getting air

Red-shouldered Hawk at camp

Black and Turkey Vultures

The Flamingo Campground was a fun spot to bird.  It had lots of interesting habitat, one that held good potential for rarities like Grassquits.  

 

White-eyed Vireo

female Painted Bunting

Prairie Warbler

Osprey

White-eyed Vireo

  

 

Once we reached the afternoon, we hit a variety of spots.  The Long Pine Key Campground and Trail was a fun spot, and was right in midst of pinewood habitat.  A Cuban Pewee was found here before.  Lucky Hammock, part of a place called Frog Pond Wildlife Management Area just outside the Park, was a fun place to bird.  We went there to find a Brown-crested Flycatcher, which is scarce Florida species.  There even ended up being two Brown-crested Flycatchers.  We closed the Everglades out at a place called L31W Canal.  It featured classic Florida birds such as Wood Stork and Anhinga, and we also got to see several White-tailed Kites, which are quite scarce in Florida.  

 

Little Blue Heron

Double-crested Cormorant

Anhinga

 

Wood Stork

White-tailed Kite

Turkey Vulture

A great way to spend the first two days of 2022, in Everglades National Park!