Finding South Florida's Specialty Birds
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Finding South Florida's Specialty Birds 4/13/2014 South Florida Specialties Home Contact TAS About TAS Birds Birdboard Conservation Store Events Membership Newsletter Volunteer! Original version compiled by Steve Mumford and Jeff W eber, updated by John Boyd and Brian Rapoza. If you have comments or suggestions, email the webmaster. Picture/IDs linked from: USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter More Bird Info Directions to many of the locations listed below can be found on the Birding Locations page. Bird and Nature Where Can I Find? Books Bird Feeding Tips Black-bellied W histling-Duck Limpkin Gray Kingbird Bird Rehab Info Fulvous W histling-Duck Snowy Plover Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Birding Locations Mottled Duck Lesser Black-backed Gull Bell's Vireo Masked Booby Brown Noddy Black-whiskered Vireo Specialty Birds Brown Booby Sooty Tern Florida Scrub-Jay STA-5 and STA-1E Magnificent Frigatebird Roseate Tern Cave Swallow Schedules Least Bittern W hite-crowned Pigeon Brown-headed Nuthatch TAS Birdboard Reddish Egret Mangrove Cuckoo Red-whiskered Bulbul Walk Schedule Roseate Spoonbill Smooth-billed Ani Common Myna Bird Links W ood Stork Burrowing Owl Hill Myna Breeding Bird Atlas American Flamingo Lesser Nighthawk Cuban Golden W arbler Swallow-tailed Kite Antillean Nighthawk Prothonotary W arbler W hite-tailed Kite Chuck-will's-widow Yellow-breasted Chat Birding Snail Kite Red-cockaded W oodpecker Bachman's Sparrow Locations Bald Eagle Monk Parakeet Sharp-tailed Sparrows Great Black-Hawk Nanday Parakeet Seaside Sparrow Northern Miami-Dade Short-tailed Hawk W hite-winged Parakeet Painted Bunting Crested Caracara Other Parrots Shiny Cowbird Southern Miami-Dade Black Rail Brown-crested Flycatcher Bronzed Cowbird Everglades main park King Rail Alder Flycatcher Spot-breasted Oriole road Purple Swamphen Vermilion Flycatcher The Florida Keys Purple Gallinule Tropical Kingbird Broward County Palm Beach What about West Indian vagrants? Tamiami Trail W hite-cheeked Pintail Zenaida Dove Thick-billed Vireo Other south Florida Masked Duck Key W est Quail-Dove Bahama Swallow locations Least Grebe Ruddy Quail-Dove Bahama Mockingbird W hite-tailed Tropicbird “Arawak” Short-eared Owl Bananaquit Local Red-footed Booby Bahama W oodstar W estern Spindalis Neotropic Cormorant Cuban Pewee Yellow-faced Grassquit Checklists Black Noddy La Sagra's Flycatcher Black-faced Grassquit Loggerhead Kingbird Miami-Dade County Monroe County Need More Info? Bill Baggs Cape A variety of birding and nature books are available through the TAS Store on Florida amazon.com, including Brian Rapoza's Birding Florida, which covers many birding A.D. Barnes locations throughout the state. Cutler Wetlands Elaine Gordon Park The Birds Lucky Hammock BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCK Black-bellied W histling-Ducks are most likely at Stormwater Treatment Area 5 (STA- 5), in Hendry County, but are also possible in the Everglades Agricultural Area and at STA-1E and W akodahatchee and Green Cay W etlands, in Palm Beach County. Pic/ID Return to birdlist. FULVOUS WHISTLING-DUCK Fulvous W histling-Ducks are most likely at Stormwater Treatment Area 5 (STA-5), in Hendry County, but are also possible in the Everglades Agricultural Area and STA-1E, in Palm Beach County. Pic/ID Return to birdlist. MOTTLED DUCK http://www.tropicalaudubon.org/specialty.html#grbh 1 / 11 Finding South Florida's Specialty Birds 4/13/2014 Mottled Ducks are likely at Dump Marsh and Cutler W etlands, and are resident at W akodahatchee and Green Cay W etlands, in Palm Beach County. Pic/ID Return to birdlist. WHITE-CHEEKED PINTAIL W hite-cheeked Pintails are resident throughout much of the Caribbean, but are only occasionally seen in Florida. It's also difficult to determine if individuals are escapees or true vagrants. The most recent sighting in south Florida was from Grassy W aters Preserve in Palm Beach County in 2011. Return to birdlist. MASKED DUCK Masked Ducks are resident in scattered locations throughout the Caribbean, but are only occasionally seen in Florida. The most recent sighting in south Florida was from the Gate 15 area of Everglades National Park in 2010; others have been found recently at locations in central Florida. Pic/ID Return to birdlist. LEAST GREBE Least Grebes are resident throughout the Caribbean, but are only occasionally seen in Florida. The last verified sighting in south Florida was in Fall 2008 at Yamato Scrub in Palm Beach County. The previous one was at Key Deer National W ildlife Refuge in 1988. Pic/ID Return to birdlist. WHITE-TAILED TROPICBIRD W hite-tailed Tropicbirds breed throughout the Caribbean, but are only rarely seen in Florida. Most sightings have been from the Dry Tortugas. Pic/ID Return to birdlist. MASKED BOOBY Masked Boobies nest on Hospital Key in the Dry Tortugas. Pic/ID Return to birdlist. BROWN BOOBY Brown Boobies often perch on Fowey Light, in Biscayne National Park. A boat is needed to reach this location. Brown Boobies can sometimes be seen on channel markers in the Dry Tortugas. Pic/ID Return to birdlist. RED-FOOTED BOOBY Red-footed Boobies breed on remote islands in scattered locations throughout the Caribbean, and are seen only occasionally in Florida. The most recent sighting in south Florida was from Fowey Light in Biscayne National Park in 2011. Pic/ID Return to birdlist. NEOTROPIC CORMORANT Neotropic Cormorants are resident in the Bahamas and Cuba. The first verified sighting in Florida was from Boca Chica Key, near Key W est, in 2007. Another was present there in spring 2009. Since 2012, Neotropic Cormorants have been found during winter at W akodahatchee W etlands in Palm Beach County; one or two have been seen on nests. Pic/ID Return to birdlist. MAGNIFICENT FRIGATEBIRD Magnificent Frigatebirds are most common during summer in the Florida peninsula and are easy to see on Key Biscayne. They roost on an island off Crandon Marina, to your right after you cross the Bear Cut Bridge onto Key Biscayne. They may be seen year-round in the Florida Keys and the Dry Tortugas. Pic/ID Return to birdlist. LEAST BITTERN Least Bitterns are more often heard than seen at locations such as Anhinga Trail in Everglades National Park. During spring and summer, they are often conspicuous at W akodahatchee and Green Cay W etlands in Palm Beach County. Pic/ID Return to birdlist. REDDISH EGRET Reddish Egrets prefer coastal beaches and mudflats. A reliable location is at the Flamingo visitor center in Everglades National Park. Pic/ID Return to birdlist. http://www.tropicalaudubon.org/specialty.html#grbh 2 / 11 Finding South Florida's Specialty Birds 4/13/2014 ROSEATE SPOONBILL Roseate Spoonbills can usually be seen at Paurotis Pond and Flamingo, and sometimes at Shark Valley, in Everglades National Park. During late summer, they often congregate in large numbers in the Everglades Agricultural Area in Palm Beach County. Pic/ID Return to birdlist. WOOD STORK W ood Storks nest at Paurotis Pond in Everglades National Park, but can often be found during winter at Anhinga Trail, Mrazek Pond, Shark Valley and other locations within the National Park. It is also not unusual to see them feeding in wet areas along highways. During late summer, they often congregate in large numbers in the Everglades Agricultural Area in Palm Beach County. Pic/ID Return to birdlist. AMERICAN FLAMINGO American Flamingos have become scarce since the hurricanes of 2005, but are still reported occasionally in Florida Bay or in the Keys. They have been most recently seen in Snake Bight and at Lake Ingraham in Everglades National Park. These locations are most easily accessed by motorized boat, though Snake Bight can also be reached at high tide by canoe or kayak. They are no longer likely to be seen from the boardwalk at the end of Snake Bight Trail. Pic/ID Return to birdlist. SWALLOW-TAILED KITE These beautiful raptors arrive in Florida in late February and return to their wintering grounds in South and Central America by September. Look for them anywhere along the main park road in Everglades National Park, as well as at Royal Palm Hammock, Long Pine Key, Paurotis Pond, W est Lake and the Flamingo area. Swallow-tailed Kites may also be seen in suburban Miami-Dade, especially the South Miami area. Pic/ID Return to birdlist. WHITE-TAILED KITE W hite-tailed Kites are occasionally seen in Southwest Miami-Dade. Places to check include over fields, around Lucky Hammock on Aerojet Road, the C-357 sparrow fields on SW 168 Street and along SW 237th Avenue, in the East Everglades near the Chekika Unit of Everglades National Park. In the main portion of the national park they are most often found in the restoration area at the end of Research Road. They seem to prefer prairie-like areas, including some farm fields. Pic/ID Return to birdlist. SNAIL KITE Throughout the year but especially during winter, Snail Kites can be found on the north side of U.S. 41 (Tamiami Trail) near the Shark Valley section of Everglades National Park. Good vantage points are the parking lot of the Miccosukee Indian Restaurant (across from the Shark Valley entrance), and the abandoned airboat concession just across the road from the Everglades Tower Motel, a mile west of Shark Valley. Snail Kites can also be found in the W ater Conservation Area west of Markham Park in Broward County, and can be common at Stormwater Treatment Area 5 (STA-5) in Hendry County. Pic/ID Return to birdlist. BALD EAGLE Bald Eagle may be seen soaring overhead anywhere in Everglades National Park, but are more likely in the Flamingo area. They are often seen over Dump Marsh and Cutler W etlands. Pic/ID Return to birdlist. GREAT BLACK-HAWK Although not ABA-countable, Great Black-Hawks of unknown origin have been seen in the Miami area since the 1970's.