Monday, May 24, 2010
Goodbye, Florida
Our last day in Florida started much like our first day - in the warm darkness of the early morning. This time, though, the lifting darkness was punctuated by the song of a retiring Chuck-Will's-Widow in the nearby pinewoods of Big Pine Key. It seemed a world and ages from the wailing Limpkins of Kissimmee.. After stowing our luggage in the trunk of our car, we turned west to Sugarloaf Key to look for Mangrove Cuckoos.
We arrived there after the sun was already up, greeted cheerily by Cardinals' and Prairie Warblers' songs. A mixed flock of warblers moved through the trees, including our only bright male American Redstart of the trip. The grassy verges of the road hosted Indigo Buntings, and Red-bellied Woodpeckers noisily made their breakfasts while squabbling with each other over the table scraps.
No Mangrove Cuckoos, however, showed themselves. A single bird called quietly in the distance once, but we never saw it. This was disappointing, as this was our last chance for the birds. As the morning warmed we got back on the road to Key West, hoping for some migrants in the parks there.
We decided to try Key West Indigenous Park, as it had had a Thick-billed Vireo reported about a week previously. There, among the many feral chickens that call Key West home and the hordes of Gray Catbirds, we found our only Red-eyed Vireo of the trip. There was also another Worm-eating Warbler, which was only our second ever. But in general it was pretty quiet. This was the first place in Florida we saw Green Iguana, which was interesting. Several of these giant lizards were hanging out over a pond in the park. And, on the grass, there was a Florida Box Turtle. I'm not sure if it was wild or not.
Alas, we soon had to go. We were flying out of Fort Lauderdale early in the morning, and so we had to get back on the road to make the long slow drive out of the Keys. We did have one last significant bird on the way out, though. Just off the Seven Mile Bridge was a smallish, bright white tern. Its long tail, white wings, and thin bill all marked it as a Roseate Tern - a lifer! Unfortunately we were zipping by at freeway speeds, so it was far from satisfactory. We'll see another one someday, I'm sure.
It was getting to be late afternoon by the time we arrived at our next destination. Since a bit of a storm seemed to be blowing up (it sprinkled that evening and rained the next day after we left), we decided to go back to Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park again, just off of Miami. We were hoping to get lucky and see some more migrant landbirds, or luckier and see the Western Spindalis we had missed earlier.
Well, there wasn't any sort of fall-out due to the weather. It was dead there, except for the one fruiting tree the Spindalis had been visiting earlier. We didn't see that bird, but we did see our first ever female Black-throated Blue Warbler and our first ever male Cape May Warbler. So, that was nice.
We finished our trip in style by eating Cuban-style seafood at the grill in the park before heading to our hotel for the night. The next day around noon we were walking out of LAX into California's blessed weather. It was in the high 50s, cloudy, and an ocean breeze was refreshingly cold as it caressed our faces. It was good to be home.
Just a couple of pictures on Flickr.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
The Dry Tortugas
Well, our experience more than fulfilled our expectations without realizing any of our fears. The boat trip out was wonderful. The catamaran roared along at high speed on a glassy sea with little to no swell. In a few of the channels it would rise to 3 or 4 feet, but that was just fun. Along the way we saw sea turtles, flying fish, and lots of Portuguese Man O' Wars. Best of all we saw several pelagic species - Northern Gannets were flying by in lines, Brown Boobies sat on the water, a Bridled Tern flew by, and a few Audubon's Shearwaters skimmed the water in the distance. As we approached the islands, our first Brown Noddies and Sooty Terns joined in the fray. These species nest only here in the continental U.S.
Once moored on the island we hurried into the fort to look for landbird migrants. Garden Key is a well known migrant trap in the birding world. It provides the only patch of land between Cuba and Florida for trans-Caribbean migrants, and those that stop are concentrated into small buttonwood trees. We immediately started seeing birds. There were Prairie Warblers, Black and White Warblers, a couple of Yellow-crowned Night Herons, and a bunch of Yellow-billed Cuckoos. We covered the parade grounds thoroughly, but were a little disappointed. There were a few migrants, sure, and they were fun to see, but there weren't a lot. We knew the place wasn't living up to its potential.
Ah well, the fort was interesting on its own right! There were original rusting canons, intricate brickwork, molding dark stairwells, and all the time the brilliant tropical sea just outside its buttresses glinted in aquamarine splendor through the canon ports.
Then we had lunch, and walked around the sea wall enjoying the tropical fish. Most people come to the Tortugas to snorkel. That seems like a great idea, and if we'd had a little more time we would have done so, ourselves. Instead, after dropping by the coaling deck to scan for Black Noddies and get close views at Brown ones and checking the nearby bushes for possible migrant thrushes, swallows, and owls (unsuccessfully), we popped back into the fort for one last sweep of the grounds.
Brown Noddy perching on an old piling.By now time was running out. We only had four hours on the island, and we'd used more than three of those. Unfortunately, it turned out. As we took a seat on a shaded bench, we noticed some activity in the trees. Warblers had arrived! There must have been a wave of migration that arrived mid-day because all of a sudden we were seeing multiple Hooded Warblers, our first ever Worm-eating Warbler, a Black-whiskered Vireo, more Prairie Warblers, and a few Summer Tanagers. We took notice, and approaching another birder, I asked him what he'd been seeing. While we were talking, I saw the uniquely golden flash of a Prothonotary Warbler! I beckoned to Libby, and she proceeded to have very satisfying life views of this incredible bird.
Meanwhile, a male Scarlet Tanager had arrived, and there were Orioles and a Yellow-throated Vireo, and another Prothonotary Warbler, and... it was time to go! It was so difficult to pull ourselves away from the feast of birds. There were dozens, and there was no way we'd seen them all. Still, the boat was leaving, and we were leaving with it, so we scurried for the dock as quickly as we could. Along with a pair of birders from Vermont we'd been birding with in the fort, we were the last people on board.
We weren't done with birds, though. On the way out the boat took a stop (just for us!) at Hospital Key to drink in some distant views of the Masked Booby colony. And, just after steaming for home, one came flying right over the foredeck.
We spent most of the trip back resting in the shade, satisfied and worn out by the constant sun and humid heat.
When we arrived back in Key West we followed the advice of the birders we talked to on the trip and dropped by Fort Zachary Taylor State Park. Fort Zachary Taylor was an old Civil War brick fort, too, but it was covered in concrete and updated to hold modern armaments during the world wars, so it's much less pretty. On the grounds, though, we saw our first ever Wood Thrush, and picked up the only Kentucky Warbler we saw on the trip.
We wound up the day with Thai Food and Key Lime Pie - only this time it was a meringue pie. Awesome!
More pictures are on Flickr.
Meanwhile, a male Scarlet Tanager had arrived, and there were Orioles and a Yellow-throated Vireo, and another Prothonotary Warbler, and... it was time to go! It was so difficult to pull ourselves away from the feast of birds. There were dozens, and there was no way we'd seen them all. Still, the boat was leaving, and we were leaving with it, so we scurried for the dock as quickly as we could. Along with a pair of birders from Vermont we'd been birding with in the fort, we were the last people on board.
We weren't done with birds, though. On the way out the boat took a stop (just for us!) at Hospital Key to drink in some distant views of the Masked Booby colony. And, just after steaming for home, one came flying right over the foredeck.
We spent most of the trip back resting in the shade, satisfied and worn out by the constant sun and humid heat.
When we arrived back in Key West we followed the advice of the birders we talked to on the trip and dropped by Fort Zachary Taylor State Park. Fort Zachary Taylor was an old Civil War brick fort, too, but it was covered in concrete and updated to hold modern armaments during the world wars, so it's much less pretty. On the grounds, though, we saw our first ever Wood Thrush, and picked up the only Kentucky Warbler we saw on the trip.
We wound up the day with Thai Food and Key Lime Pie - only this time it was a meringue pie. Awesome!
More pictures are on Flickr.
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
The Keys!
There's a song I learned in elementary school that went something like this:
Well, for the Florida Keys there's a bridge - so that's settled.
Wet set out from the Miami area early on Thursday morning for the drive across said bridge. Actually, though, we took the back route to Key Largo. Instead of taking Highway 1 for free, we shelled out a buck and took the Card Sound Road route. Because Card Sound Road has birds. I'll wait for you to pick up your jaws. Ok, now we can continue.
Our first stop of the trip was at the actual toll booth. Well, just before it. The mangroves in this area are supposed to be a reliable place for the Cuban subspecies of Yellow Warbler. Despite the fact that we arrived in the early morning, they weren't singing. It was just quiet. That was sort of a theme for the day's birding.
Key Largo's best feature is that the state has preserved extensive stands of West Indian hardwood forest. While much of it is inaccessible, Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park (how's that for a place name?) provides access to some of its habitat. The place is also known as a somewhat reliable place to find Mangrove Cuckoos.
Well, I really wanted to see some Mangrove Cuckoo, but we didn't have any luck. We birded our way down Card Sound Road to the Park, stopping here and there at cuts in the forest to look for cuckoos and other songbirds, but nothing much was singing besides Prairie Warblers and Cardinals. Still, it was fun to see White-crowned Pigeons winging overhead. The pigeons were pretty common throughout the Keys, if you had your eye open for them. Usually you'd just see them streaking overhead as they scurried from one fruiting tree to another.
Once in the park we enjoyed good looks on the entrance road of Northern Cardinals and White-eyed Vireos. Then we pressed on further into the park where there were no birds doing anything. At least, if there were birds doing things they were doing them quietly where we couldn't see them.
On the way back out we ran into a couple of birders from New York City. We joined forces, and they pointed out this neat butterfly:
A Julia
How do you get to an island?
An island far away?
You have to cross the water...
'Cuz that's the only way!
Well, for the Florida Keys there's a bridge - so that's settled.
Wet set out from the Miami area early on Thursday morning for the drive across said bridge. Actually, though, we took the back route to Key Largo. Instead of taking Highway 1 for free, we shelled out a buck and took the Card Sound Road route. Because Card Sound Road has birds. I'll wait for you to pick up your jaws. Ok, now we can continue.
Our first stop of the trip was at the actual toll booth. Well, just before it. The mangroves in this area are supposed to be a reliable place for the Cuban subspecies of Yellow Warbler. Despite the fact that we arrived in the early morning, they weren't singing. It was just quiet. That was sort of a theme for the day's birding.
Key Largo's best feature is that the state has preserved extensive stands of West Indian hardwood forest. While much of it is inaccessible, Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammock Botanical State Park (how's that for a place name?) provides access to some of its habitat. The place is also known as a somewhat reliable place to find Mangrove Cuckoos.
Well, I really wanted to see some Mangrove Cuckoo, but we didn't have any luck. We birded our way down Card Sound Road to the Park, stopping here and there at cuts in the forest to look for cuckoos and other songbirds, but nothing much was singing besides Prairie Warblers and Cardinals. Still, it was fun to see White-crowned Pigeons winging overhead. The pigeons were pretty common throughout the Keys, if you had your eye open for them. Usually you'd just see them streaking overhead as they scurried from one fruiting tree to another.
Once in the park we enjoyed good looks on the entrance road of Northern Cardinals and White-eyed Vireos. Then we pressed on further into the park where there were no birds doing anything. At least, if there were birds doing things they were doing them quietly where we couldn't see them.
On the way back out we ran into a couple of birders from New York City. We joined forces, and they pointed out this neat butterfly:
A JuliaI think it's really fantastic. They were great people, and gave us good advice on other places to visit in the Keys since it was our first time down. And they gave us their phone number if we ever need a place to stay in Queens. So, we're talking really nice people.
While we were talking and walking, I heard a singing vireo. We tracked it down and found it was a Black-whiskered Vireo! Not only a lifer, but a Florida specialty. We went through all the sometimes comical but often frustrating motions of getting everybody a chance to see the bird as it flitted about unconcernedly behind leaves above us, but I think maybe half of us got really satisfying looks. Since we were craning our necks anyway, it was convenient we also found a couple of cool tree snails.
Eventually we got back on the road. We stopped at a bird restoration place where Brown Pelicans were walking around at your feet, or perching ominously above your head. I heard Yellow Warblers singing in the mangroves here, but we couldn't see them. But we did see our first ever Great White Heron. In the Keys and the far southern tip of Florida, Great Blue Herons are white. In a fitful exercise of someone's powerful imaginative faculty, they've been dubbed Great White Herons.
Anyway, then we drove for a couple of hours down to Big Pine Key. As we drove, we oohed and ahhed at the beautiful shade of blue the ocean around us was wearing. It was just incredible. We stopped and took some pictures with Drago, but none of them really show the awesome color.
We stopped in Marathon to look for Roseate Terns on the roofs of the government buildings, which weren't showing, before we headed off over the seven mile bridge. While on the bridge we had one of our coolest and least expected experiences in the Keys. A Brown Booby flew right over our car! This is a pretty unusual bird for North America, period, and we were thrilled to see one so close. We saw more later at the Dry Tortugas, but none as close as the glimpse we got of this one. Of course, we were going by it at 60 odd miles per hour, and what with it going the other way it was a brief look, but still very nice.
Anyway, we stopped next at a Bahia Honda State Park, where it was really hot and the water looked really good. Since the birds weren't doing anything, we hurried on to our motel, checked in, changed, and came back to go swimming! Which was fun. Although it was sort of weird swimming in an ocean without waves. What do you do?
That night we had awesome food at Coco's Diner on Big Pine Key. Shrimp and fried Yellow-fin Snapper (whole!) were both very tasty, the hot sauce was all habenero based, I got fried plantains as a side (very interesting), we had Cuban bread for starters (excellent), and Libby's shrimp was just absolutely the plumpest, juiciest, best tasting shrimp we've ever experienced.
So that was alright. Oh, and then, because Coco's Diner was closing already, we skipped on the chance for Key Lime Pie there and went over to the Winn-Dixie to find a slice. Which we obtained through monetary exchange, and then ate. Our first Key Lime pie of the trip. It was good.
And, since the best time of day in South Florida is the early morning or late evening, we took a nice walk in mangrove habitat looking for Mangrove Cuckoos. Nothing happening, but it was very nice. Seeing Key Deer was nice, too. We saw quite a few that evening both on the roads and on our walk.
Pictures on Flickr.
Next day? Dry Tortugas!
While we were talking and walking, I heard a singing vireo. We tracked it down and found it was a Black-whiskered Vireo! Not only a lifer, but a Florida specialty. We went through all the sometimes comical but often frustrating motions of getting everybody a chance to see the bird as it flitted about unconcernedly behind leaves above us, but I think maybe half of us got really satisfying looks. Since we were craning our necks anyway, it was convenient we also found a couple of cool tree snails.
Eventually we got back on the road. We stopped at a bird restoration place where Brown Pelicans were walking around at your feet, or perching ominously above your head. I heard Yellow Warblers singing in the mangroves here, but we couldn't see them. But we did see our first ever Great White Heron. In the Keys and the far southern tip of Florida, Great Blue Herons are white. In a fitful exercise of someone's powerful imaginative faculty, they've been dubbed Great White Herons.
Anyway, then we drove for a couple of hours down to Big Pine Key. As we drove, we oohed and ahhed at the beautiful shade of blue the ocean around us was wearing. It was just incredible. We stopped and took some pictures with Drago, but none of them really show the awesome color.
We stopped in Marathon to look for Roseate Terns on the roofs of the government buildings, which weren't showing, before we headed off over the seven mile bridge. While on the bridge we had one of our coolest and least expected experiences in the Keys. A Brown Booby flew right over our car! This is a pretty unusual bird for North America, period, and we were thrilled to see one so close. We saw more later at the Dry Tortugas, but none as close as the glimpse we got of this one. Of course, we were going by it at 60 odd miles per hour, and what with it going the other way it was a brief look, but still very nice.
Anyway, we stopped next at a Bahia Honda State Park, where it was really hot and the water looked really good. Since the birds weren't doing anything, we hurried on to our motel, checked in, changed, and came back to go swimming! Which was fun. Although it was sort of weird swimming in an ocean without waves. What do you do?
That night we had awesome food at Coco's Diner on Big Pine Key. Shrimp and fried Yellow-fin Snapper (whole!) were both very tasty, the hot sauce was all habenero based, I got fried plantains as a side (very interesting), we had Cuban bread for starters (excellent), and Libby's shrimp was just absolutely the plumpest, juiciest, best tasting shrimp we've ever experienced.
So that was alright. Oh, and then, because Coco's Diner was closing already, we skipped on the chance for Key Lime Pie there and went over to the Winn-Dixie to find a slice. Which we obtained through monetary exchange, and then ate. Our first Key Lime pie of the trip. It was good.
And, since the best time of day in South Florida is the early morning or late evening, we took a nice walk in mangrove habitat looking for Mangrove Cuckoos. Nothing happening, but it was very nice. Seeing Key Deer was nice, too. We saw quite a few that evening both on the roads and on our walk.
Pictures on Flickr.
Next day? Dry Tortugas!
Monday, May 03, 2010
Desert Camping
Luke is going to Korea to slave away in the salt mines of English teaching. His one request was that we take a camping trip in the desert before we left.
Consider said request fulfilled.
Dustin picked me up Saturday morning. Then we swung by Luke's grandparents' place to pick him up. Then we slipped through LAX and picked Lem up. And then we were on our way!
We arrived in Lancaster around lunch time, so we pulled off the freeway for some Thai food. Then we stopped by the road at some ruined houses for photo-taking. Then we at Red Rock Canyon State Park. Where we spent the night. And had a fire. And had hobo dinners with salmon.
Also, fire-roasted potatoes are awesome. And roasting marshmallows pre-soaked in gin.
In the morning I took a walk before dawn to check the visitor's center's patch of cottonwoods for migrants. Just a few orioles, warblers and Lincoln's Sparrows had dropped in over night. The highlight of the morning was probably stumbling on a Sage Sparrow's nest.
On the way home, we stopped by the California Poppies in the Antelope Valley. The spectacle was spectacular, but perhaps surpassed by the wonder of seeing hundreds of people wandering around in these vibrant orange fields. The preserve itself was so packed we couldn't get in!
Luke put up pictures on his flickr.
I put up pictures on my flickr.
Lem should put up pictures on his flickr.
Dustin didn't take any pictures. Tsk.
Consider said request fulfilled.
Dustin picked me up Saturday morning. Then we swung by Luke's grandparents' place to pick him up. Then we slipped through LAX and picked Lem up. And then we were on our way!
We arrived in Lancaster around lunch time, so we pulled off the freeway for some Thai food. Then we stopped by the road at some ruined houses for photo-taking. Then we at Red Rock Canyon State Park. Where we spent the night. And had a fire. And had hobo dinners with salmon.
Also, fire-roasted potatoes are awesome. And roasting marshmallows pre-soaked in gin.
In the morning I took a walk before dawn to check the visitor's center's patch of cottonwoods for migrants. Just a few orioles, warblers and Lincoln's Sparrows had dropped in over night. The highlight of the morning was probably stumbling on a Sage Sparrow's nest.
On the way home, we stopped by the California Poppies in the Antelope Valley. The spectacle was spectacular, but perhaps surpassed by the wonder of seeing hundreds of people wandering around in these vibrant orange fields. The preserve itself was so packed we couldn't get in!
Luke put up pictures on his flickr.
I put up pictures on my flickr.
Lem should put up pictures on his flickr.
Dustin didn't take any pictures. Tsk.
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