Florida (01-02Mar2022)

Initially when I booked my Antarctica trip, I wasn't sure when the return flight was getting in on the first of March so I decided to spend a night in Miami just so I wouldn't be stressing about connections.  It turns out the flight arrived early (predawn), so I could have just booked a same day flight, but south Florida is always a good place to kill some time.  Steve B also had some time so he jumped in my rental car and we headed to the entrance to the Everglades hoping to catch some Lesser Nighthawks that had been seen in the area at dusk and dawn.  We actually made it to the spot just as it was getting light but had no nighthawks.  We did get a Barn Owl hunting but my pics were bad due to early light.  Nearby there were some reports of Brown-crested Flycatchers and a Smooth-billed Ani so we went on the hunt.

It didn't take long before we had some Myiarchus flycatchers and we studied them carefully.  My hearing stinks but Steve clearly heard the Brown-crested call and we didn't hear any Great-crested calls at all.    The birds were all fairly light colored underneath, probably lighter than a Great-crested would be.  I taped some audio of the calls for good measure.

I don't think we would have felt comfortable with the ID if they weren't calling.

Common Ground Doves 

Little Blue Heron

We had seen some reports of a Cassin's Kingbird but still were surprised to find this western species.  

Oh Sweet!! I can add this one to my birds pooping page.

Red-tailed Pennant?  Lifer for me if so.

Wood Stork

We did end up seeing the Smooth-billed Ani from a distance and it disappeared before we could obtain record shots.

Swallow-tailed Kites are always good no matter where you are.

We had White-tailed Kites too, but I will spare you the horrible pics.

In addition to the Cassin's Kingbird we found a group of 3-4 Western Kingbirds.  If you look closely there are 3 in this picture.

It started to warm up so we decided to head out and kill a couple more hours by driving the glades west of the airport looking for Snail Kites but we dipped.

Steve had a flight to catch so I drove him back to the airport and headed to a park south of the airport where there were reports of various exotics. 

I have seen Red-whiskered Bulbuls in California before but I think the ones in Florida are the only countable ones in the ABA.

The park had potential but it was too warm in the afternoon and I hedged my bets and went to my hotel to get some sleep seeing that I basically had not slept in 24 hours.

Refreshed in the morning I headed back to the spot at the entrance to the glades hoping to try one more time for Lesser Nighthawks.  Dipped again!  A met a guy that said they hadn't been seen in several days. However, the Barn Owl was actively hunting and this time I got some pics.

I guess the restoration project worked!

Grasshopper Sparrow

Painted Bunting

Some rain came in and made some rainbows.  I had a little time left so I went to another park south of the airport in a residential area where parrots and parakeets are seen. The park itself was quiet but I could hear parrots in the distance so I followed my ears.

Orange-winged Parrots!  I don't think these are ABA countable but cool anyhow.

South Florida has tons of intermingling Mitred and Red-Masked Parakeets which have created hybrids that no one knows what to do with.  This bird looked more like a Red-masked but its hard to know and they are not countable in ABA anyhow.

Chestnut-fronted Macaw! Yet another non-countable species but very cool.

This looked more like a Red-masked Parakeet based on the amount of red on head and the red wing "shoulders".  Mitred have much less red on head and its more splotchy.  They also lack the red on the wings.

The flock finally flew from the berry laden trees and that reminded me I had a flight to catch.  My journey was ending but I was looking forward to reuniting with the family unit.