Cranford Park, Miami. 07 November 2004

South Beach and Crandon Park Beaches take up the north and eastern shore of Key Biscayne all the way from the Village of Key Biscayne boundary (where the residents of Key Biscayne live) to the Bear Cut Bridge.

At the southern end of South Beach are the Crandon Gardens and Crandon Park. The Park was once home to the Crandon Park Zoo, which opened in 1947 as part of Dade County’s plans to turn the area into a major tourist destination. Fortunately the zoo is now long gone, and where it once stood is now a well-tended park, home to cages without bars and picnic tables, and an eclectic mix of exotic and native waterfowl.

At the southern end of an unneccessarily huge carpark is a strange little park that was once the Cranford Zoo. What sort of sadistic mind would think it a good idea to cram animals into small cages in a humid, tropical garden on the edge of the ocean - an environment, remember, that hordes of city-dwellers visit to “escape” - I’ll never understand, but fortunately the beast responsible is long gone, and the cages - though still standing- are thankfully empty…

A far more interesting mind has ensured though that the old fountained ponds run with clean water, what extant habitat there was left after the developers had had their fun is left pretty much alone, and the empty cages are painted with flower motifs and thrown wide open. This same mind has also built up an eclectic waterfowl collection that includes ducks from as far apart as Australia, Northern Europe, and Canada. Why is anyone’s guess, though with the fauna of Miami slowly being transformed by what seems to be a huge and ongoing pet-release scheme maybe this pleasantly eccentric (I imagine) individual is just doing what everyone else does here, and releasing free-flying Egyptian Geese onto a small key surrounded by beaches and palm trees is just “entering into the spirit of things”…maybe there’s a more serious point? Feel free to email and put me right….

(…I was going to point out here by the way - at some length - how all these additions are in such stark contrast to the restrictions on e.g. importing sandwiches rabidly enforced by the officers of US Customs - but no doubt I’ll be in Miami again soon, and who knows who is reading the internet these days…)

Anyway, though the aforementioned ducks, Turkeys, Helmeted Guineafowl, and a couple of Sandhill Cranes (honestly) are a little distracting, this small park looks pretty good for birds - it’s not the Everglades of course, but with only a couple of hours to spare I figure I could do worse…

The ponds themselves - fringed with drooping Palms and some good cover - attract migrant waterfowl occasionally, are the usual haunt of the White Ibis that were paddling around in the mini-swamp outside, and are good for Tricoloured Heron and the occasional Anhinga.

Tricoloured Heron.

The most promising area is tucked back off the main path that runs through the park (now a well-used cycle route incidentally, so don’t expect to ever get that “wilderness feeling”). It’s a hint of how the place must have looked before it became a tourist destination and was ruined - some fetid waterways buzzing with mosquitoes the size of wasps, creaking palms and tangled creepers alive with Grey Catbirds…just the stuff that stirs a birder into thinking that anything is possible, and the next bird seen will be the vagrant that he’s asked about for years to come…

In fact, the next bird I did see threw me into a complete spin. Perhaps I’d been dwelling too long on feral parrots and old stories I’d read of American listers coming to Miami hoping to see Red-vented Bulbuls (or more likely it was just the lack of sleep) but I was suddenly looking at what I was certain was a New Holland Honeyeater Phylidonyris novaehollandiae - widespread in southern Australia but not really so likely in Florida…

I’ve had many moments over the years where I’ve had to consciously work out what continent I’m on - most birders who travel will have had the same experience - but it’s very disconcerting nonetheless: one minute you’re in Miami listening to Catbirds, the next you’re in Sydney - looking at a honeyeater but still listening to Catbirds, only Grey ones not Green ones…

Yellow-throated Warbler.

Only of course, it’s not a New Holland Honeyeater, but the equally stunning but far more likely Yellow-throated Warbler - a truly beautiful bird, and surprisingly like - well, like a honeyeater. Normally a mistake like this is something you silently vow never to repeat to ANYONE - but I’m mentioning this because apart from one having a yellow throat and one not, the honeyeater having bright yellow primaries, a curved bill, a brush-like tongue for nectar feeding, and a black mantle instead of a grey one, they could be confused - really… That’s what I’m sticking to anyway…

Palm Warbler

Red-bellied Woodpecker.

On this occasion there weren’t that many other birds: a scattering of very approachable Palm Warblers (very grey-looking, so presumably individuals from a western breeding population), a Black-and-white Warbler, a couple of Red-bellied Woodpeckers, a Cooper’s Hawk…but the place feels like it has potential, is easy to get to, and feels safe (safety of course is very subjective, and never guaranteed - ie don’t sue me if you get mugged)…

Talking of safety, there are signs all over the park warning of the dangers of alligators - but no matter how hard I looked I couldn’t find any - besides, that is, the two full-size stone ones that some bright spark decided in a moment of great japery to hide in some grass where a tired birder was just bound to stumble over them and nearly have a heart attack…

Hmm…what you’re far more likely to see or hear crashing through the undergrowth or plopping into the water are the literally hundreds of iguanas that live here. There are so many, and they look so at home, it’s quite amazing to learn that in fact they aren’t native, but were brought here from Central and South America as pets and are all descended from escapes or deliberate releases.

Like Grey Squirrlels in the UK they seem - judging by stories on the internet - to be loved and loathed in equal measure. An article in the Miami-Herald (Krystle Fernandez, Miami-Herald, 06/19/2004), for example, began “Giant lizards overrun us: A growing population of iguanas is invading South Florida yards, parks and gardens, munching on foliage and sunning in backyards by pools and canals.” Dramatic stuff, particularly when read with an American accent…

Personally I think they look great - but I guess if I were ever to see one raiding the nest of some dwindling warbler species I could easily change my mind…

Common/Green Iguana

All photographs © Charlie Moores