Season Finale

For the two or three of you that read this, I think I've pretty much finished Atlasing for this year. The breeding season isn't quite over (many safe dates last through July), but most of the activity I've been seeing lately has been grown chicks, plus the rainy season has started. There may be an occasional post here and there, but I'll be Atlasing again in earnest around February or March next year. Until then, happy birding everyone!

May 29, 2014

What a great day! The Wood Ducks from last post made quite the splash in the Miami birding community, so I'm a little proud of myself. Today was a pretty good birding day too: 3 confirmed species at JC Bermudez Park in Doral.

I managed to get a picture of a tern in flight! Least Tern

A young Loggerhead Shrike learning that leaves don't make good food

Bunny!

A younger Loggerhead Shrike who does not appreciate having his picture taken.

Blue Jay in incubating position

Common Moorhen family on the ground

Bronzed Cowbirds! A new species for the blog

Anhinga being chased by crows

Maybe not the most exciting day ever, but again these are the first data for this block :-)

May 20, 2014

Again, another trip I wasn't too terribly excited about, BUT it represents the first data submitted for this block AND I got a new confirmed species for Dade County! :-)

Egyptian Geese. I should have chased after them to see if they were flighted or not.... I'm on the fence about whether to count these or not.

There were enough grackles around to sink a ship and a lot of familial behavior (in my opinion) but nothing that I could count as confirmed breeding activity.

Female Red-winged Blackbird

Confirmed Muscovy Duck

Monk Parakeets

I was 97% sure I saw this Gray Kingbird carrying nesting material twice, but I didn't get a picture and I didn't see a nest in progress so I won't count it.

Wood Ducks!! With babies!! These guys are a rare find down here. The first Atlas only found 2 confirmed records, and this is the first record at any level (observed, possible, probable, or confirmed) for this Atlas!

Momma Wood Duck

Wood Duck family! 99th species for the blog!

It's amazing how many people use a place like Tropical Park and never stop to look at the birds that use it too. There's so many natural treasures all around, even in urban places like this. Forget about "stop and smell the roses", how about we "stop and observe the birds"!

May 16, 2014

This one was a fun trip. I went back to Cutler Wetlands and saw a lot of cool activity.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to take a picture of a tern in flight?

Really hard.

My first Least Bittern!

Also pretty difficult to get a picture of Red-winged Blackbirds nest-building when they build their nests in the reeds.

Confirmed Common Moorhen

Blue-winged Teal, which are supposed to only winter here. So they're probably stopping by on their way north.

The pictures don't do this trip justice. I feel like there's a lot more happening here than I've seen so far, so of course I'll have to return!

May 13, 2014

So I've let myself get pretty far behind in the blog, so bear with me. This day, I went back to Greynolds Park and saw much less than I was expecting.

Osprey

Confirmed Muscovy Duck

These crows were very interested in the Slider

Looks like a pretty young Northern Mockingbird to me, but I'm not going to count it.

Juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Even though I'd consider this a disappointing day, it represents the first data submitted for this block :-) I have to remember it's all about the positive outlook.

May 9, 2014

I bopped around a couple places today and managed to find 3 confirmed species. The first two successful finds occurred at Bent Tree Park in Kendall.

Muscovy Ducks

Loggerhead Shrikes. The juvenile is on the right and it would bite the adult's feet and tail begging for food.

Then I headed over to Winston Park and found the other confirmed species.

Common Moorhens. I have now double the confirmed records for this species in Dade County.

Not the most successful day ever, but it's amazing how little it takes to contribute. For example, on my drive home last night I snapped the picture below and that adds a new species to Dade County: Common Peafowl, bringing us up to 47 confirmed species.

May 8, 2014

Today's trip was to one of the most beautiful parks I've visited yet: Highland Oaks Park in North Miami. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. Also, larger than I was expecting so I'll have to come back on a day off.

Gorgeous.

Red-winged Blackbird

Gray Kingbird

One schmillion Egyptian Geese and one Great Egret

Fish Crow nest building. Four months in and I still can't take good pictures every time.

What is a Brown Pelican doing here??

Basilisk Lizard (Jesus lizard)

Tricolored Heron

May 7, 2014

So today was a pretty good day, a somewhat challenging day. I went to Black Point Marina and found 3 confirmed species and enough dog crap to sink a ship. People are seriously disgusting. The species I found weren't what I was hoping for (I chose this spot hoping for herons), but still very important. These represent the first confirmed records for this block.

Where I spent my morning before work. Nbd

Royal Terns and a Killdeer in the middle.

Mourning Dove in incubating position. It's amazing that I walked right by two of these on my way in, but noticed them on my way out. I'm devoting so little time to this endeavor, how many interesting things will I miss?

Fledgling Northern Mockingbird. His parent dive-bombed me twice. Much scarier than it sounds.

I spent a lot of time haggling between Boat-tailed or Common Grackle but in the end I went with Common. I wish I had the time to watch their behavior.

Common Nighthawk, a new species for the blog I believe.

May 2, 2014

This trip was an AWESOME one back to Crandon Gardens. You all know I was getting bored with the Fish Crows and European Starlings, but I found some new confirmed breeding species for the blog.

I was surprised I didn't see any Peafowl babies. There were many more peacocks around than peahens.

Sandhill Crane baby! I'm not sure if this will count for the Atlas because this population was started when people bought captive birds to populate the gardens but they move around locally now. I e-mailed them about it. Still super cool to see.

So cute!

Common Moorhens start life pretty darn ugly if you ask me.

Begging with those pathetic little wings. So cute!

The Danny Zuko of Muscovy Ducks.

Bunnies!

Teenage Common Moorhen

Is anybody else noticing something weird about the White Ibis's face?... Egyptian Geese

Black-bellied Plovers. Supposedly they just spend their winters here.

Sanderling

Royal Terns. The one with the black forehead on the right is already in breeding plumage.

Yellow-crowned Night Herons building a nest! Only the second confirmed record for Dade County!

My poor attempt at an action shot.

Eastern Kingbird

Gray Kingbird

This post shows why you have to go birding on weekday mornings. This place gets crowded with people on weekends and I'm not sure I would have been able to hear what I heard and see what I saw with crowds scaring these birds into hiding. With the 6 new species I photographed today, the blog is quickly approaching 100 species (we're at 96)!