January 13, 2016

Back in the saddle! 2016 is the last year of the Atlas, so now is when we have to make it count! I went to Larry & Penny Thompson Park to get back in the swing of birding and with the faint hope of finding breeding Great Horned Owl (they were present in that block in BBA I and I know the Zoo has them living there because they get caught in their netting), but no luck there. You'll see from the pictures that I'm out of practice with the photography, but it was also a pretty gray day.

Downy Woodpecker, a new species for the blog

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Pied-billed Grebes, at one point they got really close together and sang. I wish I had known that was coming so I could have recorded it



Red-shouldered Hawks. Man, the Blue Jays here were EXTREMELY good at mimicking them.

Did humans put the sticks on the platform too?

Unidentified warbler

Anhinga with a fish

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

I also went back to Matheson to see if the owls from last year were around yet, but no luck there. But this trip was worth it for my own practice, the Downy Woodpecker was a new species for the blog, and Yellow-belled Sapsucker is a new species for that park on eBird. Yay citizen science!

 

March 11, 2015

Been doing a lot lately that I'll post about later, but for now here's a picture of our Bald Eagle nest from the air.

February 28, 2015

Following another local birder tip, went to Matheson before work today and photographed another Great Horned Owl baby, 3rd record for Dade County.

Parent

Parent

Baby!

February 25, 2015

First trip of the season that wasn't based on a tip on the TAS board, but I had some leads based on observations from previous years. I biked the 15-mile loop at Shark Valley, confirmed two species, and found another important data point.



 

 

Very foggy morning for the first hour or so

Little Blue Heron

Great Blue Herons displaying to each other



Victory

Who is fishing in Everglades National Park??? And leaving their line to kill wildlife?!?!?!

Limpkin. A new species for the blog



Looks weird to me. I'll have to read up and see if it's a Black-crowned or Yellow-crowned Night Heron.

This guy was ripping sticks and dropping them. I don't think that was nest building behavior

My other data point! I tagged vultures with researchers in Key West. This is one of their earlier birds. Can't wait to hear back about it!

Our Great Blue Heron nest! I heard the constant calling and had the intellectual curiosity to investigate. Good thing too: 62nd species for Dade County!

Baby Great Blue. First data point for this block

I saw the Red-shouldered Hawks bringing branches to the palm tree we suspected last year, but of course, my camera died before I got a picture. It's amazing that a medium-sized hawk like this can disappear into the crown of a palm tree. I'll be sure to get pictures next time I go out.

I'm glad I got so organized on the off-season. We're starting off strong this year! Hopefully every post will have a confirmation!

February 18, 2015

So I went back to the eagle nest when I had the time, which was late morning on a weekday. It was also the one cold, drizzly day in Miami this month. Ew. I sat on US1 for an hour before they got moving. Then there was a solid half hour of activity before I left. Amazing, amazing stuff. I can't wait to watch this nest progress!

 

They grab sticks from the nearby railway. And from farther afield.

Awesome shot! If only it had been sunny... Here you can see some small brown dots on the upper tail. I wonder if that'll be a distinguishing characteristic between mom and dad.



More good stuff

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the video you can see them arranging sticks cooperatively! Hopefully they're successful here and they keep coming back for years to come. Only eagle nest in the Atlas in Dade out of 698 in all of Florida, bringing us up to 61 species! Next stop, Shark Valley in the hopes of breeding wading birds and Red-shouldered Hawks!



February 15, 2015

Another amazing tip from the Tropical Audubon Society Bird Board. Bald Eagles nesting right on US1 in North Miami. I was skeptical of such a charismatic bird in such an urban area, but it is right near Oleta River State Park, so I went this morning to check it out.

As I was stopped at the red light right outside the FIU Biscayne Bay Campus, about to turn onto US1, I saw her carrying what looked like a small tree, soaring low over the road. I followed her, parked, and by the time I got my camera out she was on her platform. She stayed there the next 50 minutes I sat watching her before I had to go to work. I will definitely be back this week, earlier than 8:30 like today, to get those amazing shots.

This sighting brings up another interesting ethical issue. The local news would be all over this. What's the chances they find out? Should I tell them? Will the eagles be disturbed by media attention? These are questions I'm already discussing with my smarter, wiser birding buddies. We seek out these birds (all birds, not just Bald Eagles), we photograph them, we document them, because they are awe-inspiring and a part of our South Florida ecology. They deserve our admiration and protection and consideration. Not everyone understands or appreciates the complex relationships between human society and the natural ecology of this complex area of the world. How will those interactions develop in this expanding city?

Six lanes of US1 on a Sunday morning. I wonder whose tower that is

You can see the sticks on this platform. Better pictures to come.

Season Premiere

We're back! I knew we were close when I saw a Eurasian Collared Dove nest-building in front of my apartment building. Then yesterday, I saw a post on the Tropical Audubon Society's BirdBoard about Great Horned Owl babies. As fortune would have it, these babies were in the same location where I began this journey last year. So what better way to kick off the new season than where the last season started: Everglades National Park?

But first, for those of you who are new to the blog: it is just a place for me to keep track of my Atlasing efforts around Dade county. The Florida Breeding Bird Atlas is a 5-year study done entirely by volunteers to document what species of birds breed in the state and where. The first Atlas in the 1980's found 120 species in Dade county alone. Right now, we are in Year 4 of the second Atlas and only 60 species have been confirmed breeding here; so we are severely behind. I didn't find any new breeding species on today's trip, but it was still an extremely successful way to open up my second season as an Atlaser.

The nest, right in the middle of the parking lot. I stood beneath it looking up for literally one hour and none of the 30-50 other people who parked even noticed me or the super awesome birds I was photographing. I'm glad someone posted to the Board about them because I wouldn't have found them on my own.

This is Miami-Dade's largest species of owl and only the 2nd record of their breeding here, though there are certainly dozens more. I was hoping to get a shot with their parents, but they didn't show.

Double-crested Cormorant. Look at those eyes! A gorgeous species that is not yet confirmed breeding in Dade

Another saga of a Great Blue Heron trying to eat something huge (see last year's February 16th post for the previous series).

Some kind of catfish, which I'm guessing won't be native if I ask my fisheries buddy. But our bird managed to swallow it

It wouldn't be an Everglades trip without the obligatory American Alligator picture

Or our most photogenic heron: the Green Heron

A female Anhinga incubating eggs. No need to resubmit this to the Atlas since we confirmed it last year at this location

A male Anhinga incubating a different nest

Next month is when breeding season really begins for most species (owls and Anhingas are early breeders). Time to start clearing my schedule and developing a plan. Last year, I was just getting my Atlasing feet under me. This year, I hope to confirm several new species, especially obvious ones that just haven't been documented yet like Burrowing Owls, Great Blue Herons, Egrets, Ibis, and Terns among others. If you're interested in joining me on one of these trips or if you know of bird breeding activity, let me know, the more the merrier! Volunteers are the only way we'll be able to collect this data!