Florida Jackpot, 6 Lifers added!!

Who knew vacation would take so much out of you!?! Back from a full week in south Florida

•  over 800 miles driven, 31 MPG average
• staying on both coasts, Bonita Springs & Pompano Beach
• wake up everyday at 6am
• stop to bird the same place again on the way to the airport to leave(it paid off, big-time)

Mazda2 100hp

There was so much to the trip, that my next post will be about highlights from the week. This post is only about my 6 life birds I got on the trip, which was my main goal. Wow did it payoff.

Tuesday morning, the mail goal was for 2 life birds that day. First we arrived in North Ft. Myers looking for the newly added ABA species, the Nanday Parakeet. We drove around between two spots reported on ebird.org. Usually these parakeets are farther north in Sarasota, St. Pete, Clearwater areas.

Birds on a wire

Over an hour later, we where ready to leave and give up, we went back to the 2nd spot one last time(2400 Kennesaw St), and team member JK heard the squwak of a parakeet. Bam, look up and guess who's sitting on the wire? Nanday Parakeet. As of November 2012, this is now a countable species for ABA

Life Bird #533

Nanday Parakeet

They feed on vegetable matter, live oak, acorns, magnolia blossoms & seeds, sea-oats and grass seeds, and commercial bird seed.





Whoo, almost blew that one. Glad we got the parakeets, but now onto North Cape Coral. We crossed the bridge north, then up to Littleton Rd & Kismet Parkway west. Welcome to NW 25th Terrace. Like a scene right out of Full Metal Jacket, sniper scene. It's all calm and quiet. There are no houses in this neighborhood. Only grass grown over streets, telephone poles with wires, and a couple of trees. No humans. Just the wind and the sounds of Eastern Meadowlarks calling. Very eerie. But right on schedule, sitting on the wire is a large Florida Scrub Jay.

Life Bird #534

In 1998, the ABA split the Scrub Jay

Florida Scrub Jay

into three different species, which vary by location. Now you have the most common Western Scrub Jay, seen in 9 western states. I saw one last year in Calif. Then you have a  Florida Scrub Jay(lifer!)-a code 2 bird only in certain areas in Florida. Then the hardest one, Island Scrub Jay-a code 2, only seen on Santa Cruz Island, in southern California. I mean, you have to take a boat to see a jay. Funny. Someday I'll take that boat ride and scrub jay out.

He's scrubbing

That was it for the first day not bad+2. The second morning we went to Marco Island, and the dreaded Tiger Trail Beach. The goal was for a lifer, Snowy Plover, but it was not meant to be. We were not prepared with the right equipment and enough time to try shorebird hunting that day. See Biking for Birds blog on Tiger Trail Beach. http://bikingforbirds.blogspot.com/2014/03/day-67-111-miles-and-few-new-birds.html Maybe next time, "giving us a reason  . . . to travel the country"  Ed Vedder quote.
   Team SnowBlunting member JK took off back to Ohio on Thurs, while I had four more nights on the east coast of Florida, based in Pompano Beach. Friday the 28th was a great FOY bird day, and one surprising lifer.
    Green Cay wetlands is the place to be, epically if your a walker. It is Palm Beach counties newest nature center, with over 100 acres of wetlands, and a 1.5 mile boardwalk. See, mall walkers and birders have something in common . . . we walk!! The nature is so close here, great for beginners or photography people. Coming out of the back Hammock, after I see a Sora rail, I see this larger bird, different colors. Turns out to be the Purple Swamphen, code 2, lifer!! I had planned to try another

Life Bird #535

location later to see this bird, but turns out a pair have nested here
 at Green Cay the last two years. Lucky for me again. This bird
 was another exotic that has been in Florida for years, but was
 not added to ABA listing until 2013.

Purple Swamp Hen

Saturday the 29th was a day I'll never forget. I convinced the wife to wake up at 6am, and head with me south to Miami. First stop was to see the White-Winged Parakeet, code 2, Lifer #536. I saw this parakeet on 6/26/90 in Kendall, FL with Red&Louise. Back then it was called a Canary-Winged Parakeet, and was non-countable exotic. This was the only life bird I did not get a picture of. Then on to Matheson Hammock Park, near Coral Gables, to see a rare code 3 lifer, called the La Sagra's Flycatcher. It is a tyrant flycatcher that breeds in Cuba, Bahamas and Grand Cayman. It is a causal vagrant to south Florida.

Life Bird #537

 This bird is identified by it's "wink, wink" call. And that is exactly what I heard from the parking lot. I ran over to see the bird behind the pond calling. I got some great pictures. I forgot to record some audio though. Then I heard a second "wink, wink", What? A second La Sagra's? No, it is birding guide Carlos Sanchez playing his recording, and he has two birders with him that need it too as a life bird.

They where a nice couple from West Virgina. It turns out, they had visited Uncle Mikes house in the winter for the 3 winter birds. See my blogpost from 1/11/14. Uncle Mike ended up with over 600 birders, from 5 states visit them this past winter. Then I tell them that I am Red&Louise's grandson, and they say "we know R&L, we've birded with them in south Texas."  Bingo, another deja vu moment in my life, of why I am doing this blog. Retracing the Steps of my dad's and grandparents' life and all the birds and people they've meet. Now I get to fulfill that journey. 

My records show that Red&Louise got the La Sagra's only once, 6/26/92 in Sugar Loaf Key, FL bird #766. My records of Buddy do not show that he ever saw the flycatcher, but I will cross check another data source.

Life Bird #538

My last life bird, was the elusive Oriole. I would like to thank ebird.org and my Green Mountian Digital phone app, Audubon Guides for helping me locate this one. On Sunday 30th early morning, I drove down to Wilton Manors, FL and checked on some neighborhoods where it had been reported.
It rained the night before, so I knew
the birds would be out slowly

hangin' like an Oriole

and trying to dry off. Again,

Spot-Breasted Oriole

after over an hour driving around, and getting ready to leave, I hear an Oriole type
call. Similar to Baltimore we
get in Ohio. I look up into a palm, and there it is, a
Spot-Breasted Oriole, Code2, lifer #538. It stayed put a while and I got lots of pictures. Then a second one show up, hangin' upside down. Later the male flies into a closer tree and I got the best pictures. You can see the spot-breasted and white wing bars.

So that was it folks, show's over. 8 days, 7 nights, 800 miles got me 106 total species, 75FOYs, 6 Lifers for #Florida2014. Yes, there was life bird dancing.

Next post:  Florida shines again