I spent a week visiting my sister in Florida, south of Miami in the town of Homestead which is the access point to both the Florida Keys and to Everglades National Park.
Osprey - pandion haliaetus
I was primarily here to spend time with my sister but I did make one brief trip into the Everglades where I was struck by how birds have drastically reduced in both numbers and varieties since my previous visits, the last one being five years ago. This may be due to the massive amount of development and construction going on in South Florida which is now just a huge urban sprawl, and no doubt global warning will have something to do with it too.
Red-shouldered Hawk - buteo lineatus
As usual I picked up a Red-shouldered Hawk in open country just inside the Glades park entrance, it perches on tall tree stumps to survey the surrounding marshes. A Loggerhead Shrike sat conveniently on an exposed branch allowing a close-up shot from the car. When I reached Flamingo at the end of the road I found the Osprey pair still on the nest by the boat landings just as they were last time I was here, and again there were a number of Manatees in the boat docks. Apparently they come in to escape the cold water in the open sea and I believe they are being fed luttuces to help them survive.
Loggerhead Shrike - lanius ludovicianus
This Eastern Phoebe sat in a low bush by the headquarters of the Park Adminstration and I feel is worth posting.
Eastern Phoebe - sayornis phoebe
The most exciting find was this fantastic Bald Eagle in some trees close to the road as I left Flamingo. I have seen these spectacular eagles before on drives along US-1 through the Florida Keys, usually perched on roadside pylons where it is difficult to stop & take photographs, so this was the first real opportunity I had. It was a thrilling and very lucky encounter.
After the everglades I enjoyed a walk around Penny and Larry Thompson Memorial Park close to Miami Zoo. This contains a large stretch of pine forest where I spotted an American Kestrel with its lizard prey, and this Red-bellied Woodpecker provided a good photo opportunity.
Red-bellied Woodpecker - melanerpes carolinus
Close to my sister's house is a small nature reserve called Castellow Hammock where I spent time watching various local bird species and in fact picked up four lifers, ie species I had not previously seen. The first of these being the Painting Bunting, The male is a very colourful bird which I was very pleased to see and photograph.
Painted Bunting male - passerina ciris
The Painted Bunting is officially Near-threatened but is apparently locally common around here. It is a strongly dimorphic species with the female being a rather plain green in contrast to the highly colourful male.
Painted Bunting male - passerina ciris
Painted Bunting female - passerina ciris
The Hammock has a planted garden of flowering plants that attracts large numbers of butterflies and provides a natural feeding station for Florida's only hummingbird species, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - archilochus colubris
The Northern Cardinal is another very dimorphic species, the male is bright red except for a black face whereas the female is mostly chestnut brown in colour.
Northern Cardinal - archilochus colubris
I mentioned earlier that I picked up four lifers in Castellow Hammock, the first of which was the Painted Bunting. The other three were more difficult to get good photos of but these as follows are are the best I managed.
Brown Thrasher - toxostoma rufum
The Brown Thrasher and the smaller Ovenbird are both species that forage around on the ground in the bushes making it difficult to get clear shots in good light.
Ovenbird - seiurus aurocapilla
The fourth lifer I had to identify carefully as there are quite a few woodpecker species it could be, however those white flashes on the wings are diagnostic, this a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, the only one I have ever seen. Not a great photograph but good enough to clearly identify the species.
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker female - sphyrapicus varius
Blue-grey Gnatcatcher - polioptila caerulea
There were plenty of birds to be seen in my sister's garden but they are mostly common species that I have seen and photographed many times. Blue Jays, Mockingbirds, Grackles, American Crows and the constant presence of Turkey Vultures and Black Vultures in the skies were not of interest to me photographically as I have done them all before, but I did capture some shots of the small birds flitting around in the trees. These were mostly Myrtle and the closely related Yellow-rumped Warblers, but also quite a few tiny Blue-grey Gnatcatchers.
Myrtle Warbler female - setophaga coronata
Myrtle Warbler male - setophaga coronata
Yellow-rumped Warbler - setophaga coronata
