Re: Florida Wish List

Norm Saunders (osprey@ARI.Net)
Fri, 9 Oct 1998 20:13:02 -0500 

<color><param>0000,0000,FF00</param>That's quite an ambitious list you have there, Joe.  Here are some notes on 
the species I'm familiar with in Florida.


I would strongly suggest at least a day at the Loxahatchee NWR, not far from 

</color>Boca Raton, and well described in Pranty for the following species and 
many others:


> Least Bittern 

<italic><color><param>0000,0000,FF00</param>> Wood Stork 

</color>> Fulvous Whistling-Duck 

> Snail Kite 

> Purple Gallinule 

> Limpkin 


</italic>With any luck at all you may locate Smooth-billed Ani there as well.  While 
you're at Loxahatchee, you may want to take the time to run over to Florida-
Atlantic University, on Glades Road, in Boca Raton.  Burrowing Owls nest on 
the campus and can generally be found at all times of the year.  
Loggerhead Shrikes are common here and at Loxahatchee, as well.


Another location where we've had great luck with Snail Kite is Markham 
County Park, on SR 84 (runs parallel to I-595), west of Fort Lauderdale.  
This park borders the Everglades.  Go into the park, park at the entrance to 
the nature trail, ignore the nature trail (it has a tendency to lead you into 
suppurating mudholes) and look for the maintenance road that runs along 
the edge of 84.  Walk this road a half-mile or so until it reaches a dike and 
turns north.  Walk north till you see a gate, climb the gate, climb the dike, 
and behold...the Everglades stretching out in front of you.  We've had Snail 
Kites flying here as close as 50 feet away!  


<italic>> Greater Flamingo </italic>


For this one you need to brave the Snake Bight Trail in the Everglades.  
Look through the messages posted on MDOsprey (www.ari.net/mdosprey) 
over the past month or so for a discussion of flamingo tactics.


<italic><color><param>0000,0000,FF00</param>> White-crowned Pigeon 


</italic></color>In the Everglades and at several stops in the Keys.  See Pranty for ideas 
about locales.  Your best bet is to be EARLY along trails in the good spots.  
If someone else flushes the birds before you get to them...that may end 
your chance for the day.  We've never had great luck with these birds for 
some reason.


<italic><color><param>0000,0000,FF00</param>> Eurasian Collared-Dove 


</italic></color>This one should be hard to miss from Fort Lauderdale on south.  The 
Collared-Doves and White-winged Doves seem to be outnumbering 
Mourning Doves now in residential areas around Lauderdale and Miami.


<italic><color><param>0000,0000,FF00</param>> Monk Parakeet 

> Canary-winged Parakeet 


</italic></color>Try the Curtiss Parkway nursing home (map on pg 221 of Pranty).  If you 
miss Monk Parakeets here I will be surprised.  White-winged and Yellow-
chevroned Parakeets are a tad more problematic (these are the two species 
that have been derived from splitting the Canary-winged) but Marcia Watson-
Whitmyre (of Cecil County fame) had them here this past summer...we 
dipped on them.


<italic><color><param>0000,0000,FF00</param>> Red-whiskered Bulbul 

<color><param>0000,0000,FF00</param>> Spot-breasted Oriole 


</italic></color>We've had great luck for these two species in the neighborhood surrounding 
Kenwood Elementary School.  There's also a small Monk Parakeet colony 
on the radio tower behind the school.  See pg. 228 of Pranty.


<italic><color><param>0000,0000,FF00</param>> Common Myna 


</italic></color>Are these birds countable?  I'm not sure whether they're on the ABA list.  
We saw a pair of them at an intersection on Rt 27, maybe a mile or so west 
of the turnoff to Curtiss Parkway.


You should make every effort to expose yourself as much as possible to the 
Everglades...what a wonderful place to bird!  On the west coast check out 
Sanibel Island and the Corkscrew Swamp.  In the farm fields surrounding 
Lake Okeechobeee look for Sandhill Crane and Crested Caracara.  On your 
way down the coast, don't miss Merritt Island NWR (Titusville/Cape 
Canaveral) and consider the Avon Park Air Force Range (near Seibring) for 
Red-cockaded Woodpeckers and the possibility of Whooping Cranes (not 
sure if these latter are considered to be established inthe wild yet).


The timing of your trip is going to rule out many of the migratory or nesting 
species on your list.  I'm not sure if there are any organized pelagics going 
out of Florida ports at that time of year, but it is well worth contacting Florida 
Audubon in case there are...you had a lot of pelagic species on that list.


I have to say I have NEVER been disappointed in Florida.  We have visited 
South Florida and the Keys in February, March, April, May, June, 
November, and December.  Our favorite time is April, of course, when we 
always have a hard time staying away from the Keys and from the Dry 
Tortugas.  If you do track down the Canary-winged Parakeets (in either 
variety) we'd be interested in hearing about the locales.


Good luck on your trip!  About the same time Fran and I will, hopefully, be 
sitting in the Brownsville Dump looking for Tamaulipas Crow!


Best,

Norm

<nofill>
===============
Norm Saunders
Colesville, MD
osprey@ari.net