Florida double-twitch

As teased in previous posts, here's the trip report from my Florida excursion! I call it a "twitch" in the title, which is birding lingo for chasing after a rarity. This particular excursion was organized by Jeremy, who has his own blog here. The plan was easy enough in theory
: leave from Jeremy's after work on the 29th, drive through the night to Fort Lauderdale to see a Western Spindalis, drive across the state to Fort Myers to see an American Flamingo, crash for the night, and then drive back Sunday. That's not exactly how it happened.

We left close to our intended departure time, and ran smack into the middle of Cincinnati rush hour. A little bit of Google Maps cleverness got us around most of the traffic and out of Ohio; good thing I'd wrapped up my January 100! We made our way south to Lexington, Kentucky where we met Zack. With a "good to meet you" from me to Zack we were back on the interstate, through Kentucky and Tennessee, marveling at the imposing silhouettes of the Smoky Mountains to the east and trying to sleep while we weren't driving.

We stopped again in Macon Georgia to rendezvous with the last member of our squad, Trey. Trey knew the Georgia and Florida birding well, and was great to have along. Fun fact: Macon is about the halfway point between Dayton and Ft. Lauderdale. We moved through the rest of Georgia and then into Florida, where a dawn gas station stop gave us our first bird of the trip: a Carolina Wren. Despite it's name, it's about as common in Ohio as in Florida, but even hearing it's song in the distance was exciting! It didn't seem like a long time before we started to see southern birds like Cattle Egrets and Little Blue Herons along the side of the highway. Red-shouldered Hawks were everywhere, as comfortable in the palm trees of Florida as they are in the leafless winter trees of Ohio.

Then, a birder's worst nightmare: Trey, in the front passenger seat called out a Crested Caracara, a tough bird to find in Florida, and one that I'd never seen! The Caracara flew over the car, and only allowed me a glimpse of it from behind as it departed. The look was so bad that I never would have figured out what it was without the others, so I decided not to count it. Nightmare! Oh well, we couldn't do a u-turn on the interstate, and we had more exotic birds ahead of us anyway.

Blazing orange Spot-breasted Oriole

We pulled into Markham Park at 11 AM and found the area that the Spindalis had been frequenting. We were met by another birder named Mike, a transplant from England who we "knew" from social media. We made hasty introductions as we search for our quarry. It didn't take long to find a small flock of Spot-breasted Orioles, rare enough birds in their own right and a new species for me; more importantly, the Spindalis had often been seen in their company! We fanned out to increase our odds of spotting the bird. Trey found a couple of Painted Buntings, another life bird for me, even if they were the rather drab females. To our dismay, the orioles moved on. No Spindalis!

We split up to search as the sun climbed. A noisy flock of Monk Parakeets moved through the campground, and we witnessed a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks mating. A Ruby-throated Hummingbird buzzed by while Palm Warblers and their Yellow-rumped cousins called from every tree and bush. No Spindalis though.

Female (L) and Male (R) Red-shouldered Hawks

We met near the car to discuss our options. I apparently had just missed a Short-tailed Hawk, and learned I had also missed a White-winged Dove! With the birds in full siesta mode, I'd had just about enough of missing birds. We needed to make the Gulf before the tide came in, so we piled into the car and made our way down Alligator Alley. We cruised by Limpkins and Tricolored Herons, and stopped for a moment to try unsuccessfully for a good look at a Snail Kite hunting the marsh. We made it to Fort Myers at about 4:00 with a do-or-die attitude. As we retrieved scopes and cameras from the trunk, a woman told us excitedly that the Flamingo was present!

The bird of the day, American Flamingo!

We raced out onto the beach, and there it was: an American Flamingo feeding out on the sandbar! We snapped some long-range photos for documentation and then moved down the beach for a better look. After exchanging high-fives, we started to look for some other beach-going birds to round out our list. We got good looks at a group of Willets and a fearless Semipalmated Plover. I moved a bit down the beach and found a couple of wintering Common Loons and a flyover American White Pelican. Not too shabby, but eBird reports had us expecting greater diversity of shorebirds, which Jeremy was determined to find.

We decided to try a nearby beach on South Estero island for the promised plovers and sandpipers. It didn't take long to realize that we were in a race against the clock, and with shadows lengthening we piled out onto the beach and found that we'd hit the mother lode: shorebirds were scattered all across the football field worth of sand. We moved briskly, almost jogging along the shoreline as we called out species: Red Knot! Oystercatcher! Marbled Godwit! The whole family of birds seemed to be represented. Suddenly, Trey called out a Snowy Plover, a life bird for me! There were at least a dozen, perfectly camouflaged against the pale sand. They were joined by Wilson's Plovers, another new bird for me! Jeremy found his own lifer in the form of a one-legged Western Sandpiper (do you have to see a complete bird to count it?) and then an endangered Piping Plover, my third new bird from this beach alone! We made an effort to count the Dunlins and Sanderlings and managed to pick up Black Scoters out in the waves and a Sandwich Tern huddled amongst some more common Royal Terns. A pair of Roseate Spoonbills flew overhead, followed by Black-crowned Night-Herons as dusk turned dark. We left the beach with overflowing morale.

Snowy Plover blending in with the sand

Where do birders eat after a successful day of birding? It turned out that the only place outside of the fast-food joints was Hooters, and it did have owls on the sign after all... We checked reports on our phones while waiting for our food and found that the Spindalis we'd missed back on the Atlantic side had made an appearance in the evening to the delight of several other birders. The reports gave good directions, so we made our game plan: drive across after dinner, find a hotel in Fort Lauderdale, and then get to the park at dawn. Back on the eastern side of the state we showered, set our alarms, and got some sleep.

The morning of the 31st we were up and ready with surprising speed, considering the lack of sleep Friday and the busy Saturday. With the sun just starting to rise, we made a quick stop at a retention pond near our hotel and picked up Black-bellied and Fulvous Whistling Ducks, along with several other waterfowl species both native and exotic. The Fulvous Whistling Ducks were a new species for me and both were new to Zack, so it was definitely worth the few minutes' stop! We jumped back into the car and made for Markham park. Upon arrival, we practically jumped out of the car before it stopped moving. A couple of other birders were ambling around in the area that the Spindalis had been reported the previous evening, and we decided to split up to cover more area. It didn't take long at all for Jeremy to yell "got it!"

Jeremy's photo of the Western Spindalis

We scrambled over, and there it was: a Western Spindalis! The brilliant bird might be the first male ever photographed in the US, and it was stunning. Jeremy took a few documentary photos before the bird moved on, and we piled into the car for the long drive home.

Purple Gallinule walking over lily pads

We did make a quick stop at the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, a site where Smooth-billed Anis can sometimes be found. Three mega-rarities was greedy though, and we didn't find an Ani; I guess I'll have to go back! We did find two new birds for me though: several Purple Gallinules, with a glossy rainbow of plumage to make up for their dopey appearance, and an incredible look at a hunting Snail Kite. The Kites are endangered, and are a Florida specialty as far as the United States are concerned, so seeing one was a great finish to the trip.

I didn't end up getting home until the early morning hours of February 1st, and had a few hours to sleep before getting ready for work. It was exhausting, but a great trip! I saw almost 100 birds in the weekend, including ten new birds! My list for the trip is below. Thanks for reading; I'll try to keep the posts coming!

My Florida list:

1. Carolina Wren
2. Northern Harrier
3. Wood Stork
4. Anhinga
5. Great Egret
6. Little Blue Heron
7. Tricolored Heron
8. Turkey Vulture
9. Osprey
10. Red-shouldered Hawk
11. Forster's Tern
12. Ruby-throated Hummingbird
13. Belted Kingfisher
14. American Kestrel
15. Monk Parakeet
16. Eastern Phoebe
17. Loggerhead Shrike
18. Blue Jay
19. Purple Martin
20. Tree Swallow
21. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
22. Gray Catbird
23. Northern Mockingbird
24. European Starling
25. Common Yellowthroat
26. American Redstart
27. Palm Warbler
28. Yellow-rumped Warbler
29. Northern Cardinal
30. Painted Bunting
31. Red-winged Blackbird
32. Common Grackle
33. Boat-tailed Grackle
34. Spot-breasted Oriole
35. Mottled Duck
36. Common Loon
37. American Flamingo
38. Double-crested Cormorant
39. American White Pelican
40. Brown Pelican
41. Great Blue Heron
42. Snowy Egret
43. White Ibis
44. Semipalmated Plover
45. Spotted Sandpiper
46. Willet
47. Sanderling
48. Dunlin
49. Western Sandpiper
50. Laughing Gull
51. Ring-billed Gull
52. Royal Tern
53. Black Scoter
54. Black-crowned Night-Heron
55. Roseate Spoonbill
56. American Oystercatcher
57. Black-bellied Plover
58. Snowy Plover
59. Wilson's Plover
60. Piping Plover
61. Marbled Godwit
62. Ruddy Turnstone
63. Red Knot
64. Least Sandpiper
65. Great Black-backed Gull
66. Sandwich Tern
67. Black Skimmer
68. Eurasian Collared-Dove
69. Mourning Dove
70. Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
71. Fulvous Whistling-Duck
72. Mute Swan
73. Muscovy Duck
74. Blue-winged Teal
75. Northern Pintail
76. Black Vulture
77. Common Gallinule
78. American Coot
79. Western Spindalis
80. Pied-billed Grebe
81. Cattle Egret
82. Glossy Ibis
83. Snail Kite
84. Sora
85. Purple Gallinule
86. Limpkin
87. Killdeer
88. Red-bellied Woodpecker
89. Pileated Woodpecker
90. Fish Crow
91. American Robin
92. Swamp Sparrow
93. Sandhill Crane
94. Cooper's Hawk