Florida AVICATION Part II: The Glades...

The Florida Everglades are pretty much on every birder’s ‘Must-Bird-There-Before-I-Die List’. The habitat is unique, endemic species abound, and it’s relatively affordable. But most importantly to a Mainer and an Upstate New Yorker  –  the place is warm AND has a crazy variety of bird species to skulk during the winter. That’s why the place deserves it’s very own part in the FL AVICATION Chronicles...

 Little Blue Heron, 3-16-11

We drove to Florida City after flying into Miami, and checked into the local Travelodge. This place was clean, comfy, and friendly - and after redeeming rewards points that I had accumulated, only cost us something like 15 bucks a night for three nights. Damn, it feels good to be a thrifty birder.

We awoke the first morning ready to EXPERIENCE the Florida Everglades.  But we got so hung up looking at roadside birds on the way in that we got a pretty late start. The sky was a steady-streamed freeway of Turkey Vultures mixed with some Black Vultures...

There was a particular Northern Mockingbird worthy of closer study...we couldn’t just write off any ol' NOMO in this area – there was always a chance for a rare FL lifer in these here parts - Bahama Mockingbird, which sadly skunked us this time. We eventually progressed down the yellow brick road through ag fields and dry scrubbies, stopping “quickly” at various canal crossings...BOOYAH – Indigo Bunting, Eurasian Collared Dove, Little Blue Heron, and this Loggerhead Shrike...

A pale-headed American Kestrel led us down a side road, and a Northern Harrier quartered by to distract us from an unidentified flitting warbler...

Oh My Bird – we were winter-worn Yankees in Avian Paradise...and we were only standing by a ditch on the road leading to the Park! Could we even fathom, let alone handle, what the Everglades were about to bring?

20 species later, we were nearing the Park entrance – wait, let’s go check those Cattle Egrets over there real quick...

Okay, 21 species later, we arrived!  The moment was here – entering Everglades National Park for the very first time...right after we stopped for the Eastern Phoebe at the gate and this Red-shouldered Hawk just beyond...

"First" stop - Royal Palm and the Anhinga Trail. This place was akin to visiting Disney’s Epcot Center in the 1980’s when I was a child. Except these weren’t animatronics, these were wild critters that apparently had been habituated to the point of indolence...

Sadly, we watched a guy actually touch this Anhinga - I had to bite my tongue, I didn't want to have a throw-down on the boardwalk with some dude while alligators swam around us. I thought snapping a quick photo as I scooted by was much better. Really the saddest part is that the Anhinga didn't seem to mind. I guess I was hoping to witness it snapping the hand off the molester like in these gator signs...

As fascinating as the close-up critters were at Royal Palm, there were really just too many people there for either one of us to deal with. I mean we're talking about two relatively reclusive, unsocialized bird-nerds smack in the middle of copious amounts of loud humans – no wonder these critters weren’t afraid, they’re used to hearing people yelling around them every day.

The worst part, and please excuse the rant, was our apparent inability to consult our Sible’s (Sibley’s guides) without blatant interruption from some pushy know-it-all. For many birder’s, looking birds up for more info – range maps, quirky things to look for – is one of the best parts of birding. Never before had I been amongst people that would actually walk over to a stranger who is privately consulting their obviously well-worn field guide, and identify something FOR that stranger: “It’s a Palm Warbler” or “It’s a Purple Gallinule". Yeah, no-shrike-Sherlock, thanks. I'm looking at it through my binos from four feet away because the colors are blowing my bird brain - not because I'm incapable of identifying one of the most distinct birds in North America. But you have to smile and force your public tolerance to its limits. If I were a bird, I’d go hang out at one of the less visited spots (or one altogether inaccessible to humans) in the Park.

Despite the crowd, which was the biggest we saw during our 2.5 days there, we powered on through the Anhinga Trail where Double-crested Cormorants were available for side-by-side comparison to the trail’s namesake...

Plus we got good looks at some preposterous heads, like these Wood Storks and Black Vultures...

And as if finally heading to the parking lot wasn't enough in itself, we were graced with a close flyby of a Short-tailed Hawk, followed by Swallow-tailed Kites that provided photos of front, back, and feeding on the wing...

We made multiple stops at the various roadside ponds to 'get me a Black-necked Stilt lifer' and to see all the crazy waders and waterfowl...

We skulked through Mahogany Hammock hoping for a White-crowned Pigeon - yes, this is an uncommon Florida specialty pigeon...but we had to settle for a personal conversation with a White-eyed Vireo instead. Low and behold on the way out of Mahogany Hammock we both gasped aloud as a White-crowned Pigeon flew in front of the car...I cried out "was that a crow with a cookie in it's mouth!?"...I may never live that one down. Lifer, check.

The Snake Bight Trail offered up another lesson in human behavior. Though we never saw another soul on the Snake Bight, we came upon a plastic water bottle discarded in the middle if the trail. Grumbling to each other about land ethics and leaving no trace, we went to pick the litter up and found a dollar bill tucked under the bottle. Was this "Conscience Littering"?! Was someone unable to carry their refuse out, felt guilty about it, and left money as a reward for someone else to pack it out for them?! Again, I had never experienced such a thing. We brought out the bottle, recycled it, and put the dollar in the Park donation box. C'mon folks, how hard was that? Fortunately the Snake Bight trail was also peppered with Black-and-White, Prairie, and Palm Warblers, not to mention more White-eyed Vireos and this Red-bellied Woodpecker...

  
Deeper into the park, at the very tip of the state lies Flamingo. Here we saw loads of Brown Pelicans, Laughing Gulls and White Ibis - and it was here that I added Black Skimmers to my life list. You can't see them so well in the picture below, but there really is a whole flock of them in the sky...

The Flamingo area buildings gave the place kind of a creepy, post-apocalyptic feel because of hurricane damage, but that didn't stop us from using their facilities, busting out a leftover pizza from the trunk, and napping under the breezy, moss-laden trees...

Ospreys were everywhere - and deafening. Coming from coastal Maine, I have heard and seen my fair share of fish hawks, but this was ridiculous. I've never seen a concentration like that. It was awesome...

We explored parts of the Coastal Prairie Trail and admittedly turned back to beat the midday heat after we got good looks at a Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow near this area...

We gazed out at the Keys, longing to bird there, dreaming of a nextimus to the Dry Tortugas (see Florida AVICATION Part I post for definition of 'nextimus')...

We put in some long hours in the few days we had allotted to Everglades National Park. Overall I totaled 17 lifers and we saw over 60 species in the Park alone. We had some up close and personal lessons in human behavior and we birded ourselves down to the bone. We were exhausted and hungry but it was amazing, and I need to go back...