BIRDQUEST2004

After the Tortugas, Sue and I spent a lovely day in the Everglades, stopping frequently along the road to the Flamingo Visitor’s Centre.  The bone dry conditions, accompanied by blistering temperatures, horse and deer flies, made getting out of the car very difficult.  Early morning and late in the day are the best times for birding this area.

The entry fee for the park  is $10 and its good for 7 days a real steal.

Near the entrance visitor’s center, I saw my first ever Soft-shelled Turtle.

Anhinga Trail

This short boardwalk trail never disappoints, there is always something to see and photograph, as Sue’s photo’s below show’s.

I had never seen the water levels so low, during my trip here in January the exposed roots, were under water.

Alligators were having a field day in the low water, fish had nowhere to go and were easy pickings.  This gar was about 3 feet long and was a tasty morsel for this 12 footer.

A Purple Gallinule came in for a landing and gave me my closest photo to date of this species.  Too bad about the harsh lighting but it is what it is.

There were Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers everywhere and this a large colorful grasshopper the individual below is about 3/4 of an inch.

This one stretched out was about 6″ long…..

I have always been a bit squeamish about bugs, love seeing them but hate touching them.  This young lady, accompanied by her Mom and Dad (who said I could post this photo)  had no problem helping me.   She delicately picked it up and held it out, so I could get a better photo.

This hunting Green Heron almost at my feet, didn’t even take notice of me.

American Coots were very common everywhere in the glades…another best photo to date.

We moved on after a walk around the boardwalk, happy to get back in our air conditioned car.

As we went through this pass, I believe the temperature cooled down by 1/1000th of a degree as we crested the hill.  😉

Stops along the way included Nine Mile Pond, Mrazek Pond and the Eco Pond but again not much was happening in the heat of midmorning.

Things began to pick up at the Flamingo Visitor Center, a hunting Swallow-tailed Kite gave us great views.

This bird even came in to check us out.

By far one of the loveliest raptors in the ABA.

Red-shouldered Hawks were hunting the area around the parking lot.

I finally got a decent photo that showed how the Red-bellied Woodpecker got its name, over by the amphitheater area.

A female Shiny Cowbird had been reported at the Visitor’s Center a few days before.  There was a flock of about 50-75 Brown-headed Cowbirds in the area.  Half of them were female, no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t turn one into a Shiny Cowbird female.

There were at least a dozen Ospreys,  nesting with two young, birds migrating north, many at eye level.

A few other images from our visit to Flamingo

Eastern Meadowlark

Forster’s Tern

Great-crested Flycatcher

Turkey Vultures stopping for a drink.

At this point we turned around an headed out of the park, back to our hotel, a good day had by all.

Ciao for now

Our first trip to the Tortugas was in 2008 and we’ve always wanted to return.

In February when Sue suggested we make a return trip in April, I was all for it.   First thing I did was check eBird to find the best week in April for migrants.  All things pointed to the 3rd week, unfortunately this year, the birds had other ideas.

We parked the car at 300 Grinnell St, and walked the short distance to the ferry terminal where we’d board the Yankee Freedom for our trip to the Dry Tortugas.

After a long speech about what we could and couldn’t do on board and at Fort Jefferson, Sue and I boarded at 8:30am.  We were underway within minutes, all 175 people.

After leaving the harbor, there were a few birds on the water but within a few miles we didn’t see another bird until we were within 2 miles of the fort.  After breakfast (supplied), we went out on the deck and saw few dolphins and a sea turtle, not much else was moving.

We began seeing boobies on the channel markers when we were within sight of the fort.

Sooty Terns, Brown Noddy’s and Frigatebirds could be seen flying in every direction.

It was 10:30am by the time we docked at Fort Jefferson, we felt the heat almost immediately and after standing on the bow with the wind in our faces, the temperature was getting up near 34.C (94F).

Sue and I realized how hot it was going to get, lots of water breaks, were going to be the order of the day.

The fort grounds are perfect for photography and there’s a photo opportunity at every turn.

The local birds are easily approachable, most really have nowhere to go and they let people approach within feet, with the migrants things are a little different.  They are here to rest and get a drink before they fly on to the mainland and should be viewed from a distance.  The day we visited it was close to 37.5C (100F), any movement the birds have to make, expends much needed energy they need for migration.

Amazing close up’s are possible but remember I use a 600mm lens, it allows me to get extreme close ups without having to get close to the birds.

Have you ever seen a Barn Swallow at eye level?

Fly-by Sooty Tern

The Brown Noddy’s can be seen from shore, they are perched on branches, and old dock supports a few feet off shore.

 

Back in 2008, I was lucky enough to find a Black Noddy on these supports.

Walking along the beach you can see just about anything during migration, over 300 species of birds have been seen in the area.

A climb to the top of the fort allows for an eye to eye with a Frigatebird or its a great spot to scope for birds on the old dock supports.

Moving back down to ground level you can walk over to an area where access past the sign, is not allowed but from the sign you can easily see birds flying to and from their nesting areas.

The shear numbers of birds flying, makes it tough to find rarities without a scope, but carrying a scope, camera equipment, water in this heat is brutal and ferry rules do not allow leaving things onboard.

Sue and I had a wonderful 4 hours on the island but I won’t lie, I was super happy to get back to the air conditioning on the boat.

As the Yankee Freedom leave’s  Fort Jefferson, the Captain always goes by Hospital  Key so birders on board can get binocular views of Masked Booby Colony.  This is the only nesting site in North America for this species.

From a moving ferry my Tamron 150-600, coupled with my D800E, did its job.

I can’t wait until the next time Sue and I set foot in the Dry Tortugas

Ciao for now