10,000 Birds

After a couple of hours spent at Crandon Park wondering - it has to be said - where all the birds were, I decided to hop a bus down to the end of Biscayne Key for a look around Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park [BBCFSP] (which isn’t much larger than its mouthful of a name actually). Buses from downtown Miami cost just 1.5USD each way at time of writing, and the last stop - by the Towers of Biscayne housing development - is within 100 metres of the Park gates. The Park consists of 412 acres of what is technically called a sandy barrier island, and since 1992 when Hurricane Andrew devastated much of southern Florida and tore up over 90% of the park’s vegetation the staff here have (according to info on the Bird List you can pick up at the entrance kiosk) been re-establishing the indigenous plant communities and increasing habitat diversity: now in addition to beach and coastal grassland, there is maritime hammock, seasonal freshwater ponds, and tidal wetlands. Sounds amazing, doesn’t it!

In fact if you were to see every bird species ever recorded here you’d have had one majorly superb day, and would have picked up a mess of rarities and localised species including Swallow-tailed Kite, White-crowned Pigeon, 38 species of warbler (29 regulars, 9 seen less frequently),Mangrove Cuckoo, Zenaida Dove, Key West Quail-Dove, La Sagra’s Flycatcher, Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, Northern Wheatear, Thick-billed Vireo, Bahama Mockingbird, and Western Spindalis. However, no-one would believe you as - like any bird list - the park’s has been compiled over many years. And not too many of those tasty birds have been found on a warm cloudy day in early January (or, as it turns out, by a slightly footsore English bloke…)

No-name Harbour, Cape Florida

Still, BBCFSP is a beautiful and accessible place, and even if you are on foot it’s worth visiting at any time. Trails are well-marked, there is a open-air restaurant overlooking No-name Harbour (where I saw Little Blue Heron), and there are birds to be found if you look hard enough. The last time I was here (a few months ago when my camera stopped working after about ten minutes of use and I spent most of the time musing about how I’d feel if I’d actually found a major rarity and couldn’t prove it to anyone) I found a very small flock of overwintering warblers, and going by the make-up of the species I may well have found the same birds again: a lovely male Prairie Warbler, a Northern Parula, and several Blue-grey Gnatcatchers.

Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe and Prairie Warbler Dendroica discolor

Magnificent Frigatebird Fregata magnificens

This time though they were at least joined by a very wary Blue-headed Vireo, a Common Yellowthroat (the seventh warbler of the morning), two Eastern Phoebes, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, a Northern Mockingbird (yes, of course I looked closely to make sure it WAS a Northern), and a Grey Catbird. I also spooked up a couple of Common Ground Doves, a party of Boat-tailed Grackles sailed over (see what I did there? ‘Boat-tailed’ and ’sailed’…oh, forget it), and just as I was getting ready to go home six Magnificent Frigatebirds drifted over at about 30,000′ (perhaps they were lower, but they certainly seemed intent on heading south as fast and as directly as possible).

Not exactly heart-stoppingly exciting birding, but when all was said and done it was enjoyable, I’d been to “one of the Top 10 Beaches in the U.S”, I wasn’t lost on some clogged highway worrying about being late for our pick-up from the hotel, and I got to see my third lighthouse of the year - the “oldest standing structure in Miami-Dade County” (having said that some of the tiles that fell off my roof recently may well have been older, so it’s not really saying much). And I did get to see some gorgeous butterflies. BBCFSP is an excellent place to see the Zebra Longwing/Heliconian Heliconius charitonius (one of four longwing and fritillary butterflies found in Florida), which in 1996 was designated Florida’s official state butterfly, and the pale orange Julia Heliconian Dryas iulia. How do I know this? I found a superb set of photos at http://www.pbase.com/tmurray74/florida_butterflies that’s how - well worth a look folks.

Zebra Longwing/Heliconian Heliconius charitonius

So, after a long slog I’d only added a few more birds for the Year List - and I could perhaps have gone to the Everglades and charged around like an idiot before rushing back to the hotel (I’ve done something similar many times before I guess) - but it’s only January and I’ll be here again when the daylight is longer and the migrants are back…

Access to BBCFSP:
State park. Admission $5/vehicle, $3/single-occupant vehicle, $1/bicycle or walk-in. Open daily, 8 a.m. to sunset.

All photos copyright Charlie Moores

Day List (including Crandon Park):
Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps 1; White Ibis Eudocimus albus c)30; Green Heron Butorides virescens 1; Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias 1; Tricolored Heron Egretta tricolor 1; Little Blue Heron Egretta caerulea 1; Magnificent Frigatebird Fregata magnificens 6; Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis c)10; Double-crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus 20+; Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura 10+; Osprey Pandion haliaetus 1; Red-shouldered Hawk Buteo lineatus 1; Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus 3; American Coot Fulica americana 1; Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola c)50; Semipalmated Plover Charadrius semipalmatus c)20; Piping Plover Charadrius melodus 20+; Short-billed Dowitcher Limnodromus griseus c)20; Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres 2; Sanderling Calidris alba 10+; Dunlin Calidris alpina 1; Ring-billed Gull Larus delawarensis 30+; Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus 1; Laughing Gull Larus atricilla 20+; Royal Tern Sterna maxima c)10; Eurasian Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto 1; Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura c)10; Common Ground Dove Columbina passerina 3; Monk Parakeet Myiopsitta monachus 4; Red-bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinus 2; Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe 2; Blue-headed Vireo Vireo solitarius 1; Fish Crow Corvus ossifragus 3; Blue-grey Gnatcatcher Polioptila caerulea 3-4; Grey Catbird Dumetella carolinensis 2; Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris 4; Northern Parula Parula americana 1; Yellow-rumped Warbler Dendroica coronata 3-4; Yellow-throated Warbler Dendroica dominica 1; Prairie Warbler Dendroica discolor 1; Palm Warbler Dendroica palmarum 4-5; Black-and-white Warbler Mniotilta varia 1; Common Yellowthroat Geothlypis trichas 1; Boat-tailed Grackle Quiscalus major 6; Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis 2

New for the Year: 39
Life Birds: 0
Total for the Year: 158

Should you be interested the full Year List is at “Old Friends, New Friends World Tour 2008″ Year List