On this episode I go it without a guest, and talk about my 6-week winter getaway trip to Big Pine Key and Costa Rica. It was primarily a chance to visit family, get out of the Western Washington winter rain, and relax, but as a birder I of course managed a good amount of birding time too.
I had not been to the Florida Keys in the winter, so had no idea what to expect. I’d hoped to see some early migrants returning north to breed as March arrived, but saw mostly resident species and winter visitors.
The waders were great, with all 4 big white waters, Snowy Egret, Great Egret, white morph of Reddish Egret and the white morph of Great Blue Heron, along with juvenile Little-blue Herons.
Few warblers were seen, but Palm, Yellow-rumped (Myrtle’s race), and Prairie were common. Any chance to be in a part of the world not your usual home makes for fun birding, as common birds there are not the ones I see daily at home in WA.
In Costa Rica I had excellent birding on a 5-day trip with Carlos Ureña in the Quetzal Valley area, and near La Fortuna, especially at the Arenal Obseratory Lodge grounds.
It was great to have time with my children and their partners, as Jean lives in Costa Rica, and Brett is a nomad, travelling where he pleases and working online.
Check out the Ed’s Birding Notes tab above to see posts on some of the aspects of the trip.
I anticipate more typical episodes to follow, with great guests talking birding, so stay tuned. Thanks for listening.
To see some photos from the Costa Rica trip, check out this Flickr Album. Flickr photos from Costa Rica
Red-masked Parakeet, my ABA lifer for this trip to FL. Found at a roost outside Miami on the morning after our Everglades trip.
Well, I’m wrapping up 2 weeks in the Florida Keys, and although it has been a delightful vacation, the birding has been surprisingly slow. I didn’t expect much in terms of migration in the last week of Feb and first week of March, but I thought that there would be more wintering passerines here. Any day with a Purple Galinule is a good day!
The mangrove stands, the small pine and mixed hardwood and hardwood hammocks that remain, and neighborhoods are surprisingly devoid of birds. The species that seem to thrive in proximity to people seem present, like N. Mockingbird, Eurasian Collared Dove, and to a lesser degree Palm Warbler, RW Blackbird and N. Cardinal are pretty prevalent, but overall surprisingly few birds. Great Crested Flycatchers are relatively common here, though as is usual more often heard than seen by me.
My warbler list is thin. Small numbers of Palm warblers most places, Prairie warblers in wet mangrove areas, and one of two Black-and-white, Black-throated , Myrtle’s Yellow-rumped, and Ovenbird completes my warbler list in the Keys. At the everglades I saw Pine Warblers in the pine forests and one N. Waterthrush, but otherwise nothing. I expected to N. Parula (in fairness they are being reported). Wood Storks were a bird I tried hard to find many years ago before finding my lifer. This trip Marian and I saw several at Eco Pond in the Evergla
Marian and I took an overnight trip to the Everglades. She has never been there, and it is where Kay and I want and I cought the “birding bug.” One of the places really dear to my heart. We had a great day, and on the morning after visiting the park, and after I got my lifer RMPA, we drove out the Tamiani Hwy Rte 41 and took a short airboat ride. Marian then felt like she had seen the Everglades she expected. Thankfully White-eyed Vireos have an easy to recognize song and are singing here.
That said, it’s been a blast staying here. Mikuláš ŘimánekI like the Blue Hole trail here on Big Pine Tree, and especially the Bahia-Honda State Park. At the latter is a good beach for shorebirds, with lots of Sanderling, Ruddy Turnstones, a few Lesser Sandpipers, and we also saw a Lesser Black-backed Gull, a Common Ground Dove, and a few other fun birds. In Key West we birded the Botanical Gardens one day, slow but interesting place, and the Fort Zachery Taylor SP another day. Both enjoyable, but not terribly birdy. We named our property in Costa Rica tha tthe kids and I bought laast year Finca Cometa, in English the Kite Farm, after the many Swallow-tailed Kites we saw there. Seeing several in the Everglades was a real treat.
Would I come back. For sure for the overall great weather and to get out of the WA winter rain and cold, but less so for the birding this time of year.
One more day here before we head to Miami and then on to Costa Rica.
Of note, I talked with Mikuláš Řimánek, a Czech Republic birder that I met when he was in WA as a Rotary Exchange student a few years ago for an upcoming episode of the podcast. I got excited about how much success he has had encouraging and mentoring young birders in his country.
Marian and I had the fortune to be offered the chance to stay in a home on Big Pine Key, FL for a couple of weeks before continuing on to Costa Rica to visit Jean and Alan at their home there where they practice regenerative agriculture. I really did not know what to expect here in terms of birding. It is arguably the key in the southern keys area with the most remaining somewhat undisturbed land, in a major effort to save the endangered Key Deer. They are certainly populous in this one key. They walk by the pool every hour or so at the home where we are staying, and you need to drive slowly here to avoid running over these tiny deer, which are a small subspecies of White-tailed Deer. A Key Deer in a preserved area of Big Pine Key, FL.
Overall the birding here is pretty slow right now. I’ve reviewed eBird bar charts and it looks like the passerine migration really doesn’t get going until about the first week of April, and a relatively small number of land-bird species winter here. So far the best places I’ve visited were the “Blue Hole” platorm overlook, a short trail through some small trees to a freshwater pond, where I saw a pair of American Wigeon (the only birds here to make eBird review lists, along with three species of warblers, Palm, Prairne and Black-and-white. American Wigeon pair Black-and-white Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler Black-and-white Warbler
Overall a much more interessting spot was Hahia-Honda State Park, a park that straddles the Overseas Highway, has part of the abandoned old railroad bridge and overlying auto highway that has been declared an historic landmark and is decaying in place, and has three beaches where good numbers of Sanderling and Ruddy Turnstone, a few Least Sandpipers, Laughing Gulls, Brown Pelicans, Osprey, DC Cormorants, Ring-billed Gulls, and Royal Terns were fun to watch. This Lesser Black-backed Gull stood out immediately with its very dark back, (Marian spotted it first and commented on the vary dark color) and bright yellow legs. Lesser Black-backed Gull with a White Ibis
Overall we have primarily relaxxed, I’ve been getting out for a couple of hours early each day hoping for more passerine action, so far without much luck. It is beautiful here though. At the top you can see the view from the chair as I write this post mid-afternoon. I’m really trying to stay relaxed, not race around looking for birds, and just enjoy the beauty and warm weather. It is pretty much 75-78 here every day and night with enough of a breeze near the water to stay cool.
So far two new Florida species, the LBBG and AMWI.
Ed
On this episode I talk with David and Dee Simpson about their Florida birding, Dee’s daily blog where she posts a photo and a poem about the photo, and more.
I got my start as a birder in Florida, and tell about this briefly on the episode, and was headed to visit my brother in Florida when this episode was recorded. That prompted me to look for a Florida birder for the podcast. I have previously had David and Tammy McQuade on the podcast, who are Florida birders, but who are better known for their lower-48 big years every year recently. David is a lifelong Floridian, who has birded every county in the state, and is a wealth of information about everything about Florida birding. This comes out clearly in the episode where you’ll hear in detail about some of his birding escapades and his interest in everything about Florida natural history.
Here is a screenshot of David’s Florida eBird profile map. As you can see the map is all red and orange, indicating a really lot of species seen in every county.
Dee is the technical expertise behind their website, and has a knack for bringing the technical aspects of birding and nature to a level where everyong can understand and enjoy the knowledge. She was really fun to talk with also. A example of Dee’s daily posts on her blog.
