Dermot Breen's Blog: tropical kingbird

Thursday, 6 December 2012

Florida 12th November 2012

Spent another few hours around the Lucky Hammock area just outside the Everglades National Park. The male Vermillon Flycatcher was still present along with just a single Western Kingbird, no sign of the Tropical. I came across an Ash-throated Flycatcher however just on the opposite side of the road of the Lucky Road. Hadn't heard of any previous reports of it before at this location. It's similar to the much more common Great crested Flycatcher (though I only managed to see a single bird on the whole trip) and is another Western based summer migrant which is scarce/rare winter migrant to Florida. Far better selection of smallbirds in the general area compared to yesterday due to the slacker winds.

Headed further into the National Park where most of the half dozen stops proved to be very quiet. Good number of wildfowl on Nine Mile Pond (I think) however with American Wigeon, Green & Blue-winged Teal, Pintail, Gadwall, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Redhead and Ruddy Duck all present. I had hoped to try some of the trails down around the very south end of the park for White-crowned Pigeons, Mangrove Cuckoo, etc. but this just wasn't possible as some the trails were either flooded, overgrown or infested with Mossies. Finished up the daylight hours around the Flamingo Visitor Centre. One of the first birds I encountered here was a dark phase Short-tailed Hawk soaring over the parking "lot". Temperatures were probably at their highest here making birding a little tough for a cold wather birder. Did come across one of the regular American Crocodiles in the small harbour. They are found nowhere else in the United States apart from southern Florida. They grow to be bigger than far more widespread Alligator, are a lighter colour than the latter and have a different head structure.

I finished up the day around Eco Pond. This was apparently a fantastic area until a hurricane a few years ago destroyed the place. It's a regular spot for Lesser Nighthawk, another rare winter visitor to these parts and I had three birds together in behind the pond for less than five minutes after sunset but they promptly disappeared. The white wing patch is further out on the primaries compared to Common Nighthawk. I wanted to catch up on some owls so took my sweet time driving the 40 miles back to the park entrance. I had a few American Bittern fly-overs just before I came across my first nightjar/hawk eye sheen in a tree adjacent to the road. Couldn't get much detail on the bird before it quickly flew off. A little further up the road on the way into the Mahogany Hammock I had another nightjar species sitting on a Palm frond right beside the road. I had assumed it was going to be a Lesser Nighthawk but on closer examination it proved to be an Eastern Whip-poor-will. I found another one only 200 metres further along sitting in the middle of the road. I came across a freshly killed bird further back out on the main park road so was able to get a good look at the tail pattern.

Ash-throated Flycatcher

Summer Tanager

Grasshopper Sparrow

Orange-crowned Warbler

Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk

Clay-coloured Sparrow

Double-crested Cormorant

Western Kingbird

American Crow

American Crocodile

Laughing Gulls

First-winter Laughing Gull

Second-winter Laughing Gull

Adult Laughing Gull

Male Common Grackle

Dark phase Short-tailed Hawk

American White Pelican

Osprey

Osprey nest on roof of Flamingo Visitor Centre

Lesser Nighthawk

Eastern Whip-poor-will

Eastern Whip-poor-will tail

Monday, 3 December 2012

Florida 11th November 2012

First day in the "Glades". Spend most of it just outside the boundary of the Everglades National Park in the Lucky Hammock/Annex area. Managed to twitch two nice Florida rarities in the area - Vermillon Flycatcher and Tropical Kingbird. The male Vermillon has been returning to the same area for the last few winters. The nearest they usually nest is Texas but for some reason a handful sometimes winter in Florida. The Tropical Kingbird was discovered amongst two or three similarly wintering Western Kingbirds. They're very similar to Couch's Kingbird but can only be reliably seperated on voice.
The surrounding open fields were excellent for raptors. At least one Swainson's Hawk, two Red-tailed Hawk, one Red-shouldered Hawk, several Northern Harriers, Cooper's Hawk, three White-tailed Kites, Merlin, numerous American Kestrels, Ospreys, hundreds of Turkey and American Black Vultures all in the area.
Not much in the line of late migrating/wintering passerines in and around the Lucky Hammock itself though the strong wind may have been keeping alot of stuff down.
Walked a good 3 mile along a dirt road along the park boundary where several species of flycatcher had been reported the previous day. The only flycatcher I saw were the ubiquitous Eastern Pheobes. Headed on into the park itself and popped into the visitor centre. Like most visitor centres the staff in there didn't know a huge amount about birds which was a similar experience with nearly all the sites I visited.
Tried a few sites suggested by Irish ex-pat Mark Berney. Once I was in the National Park however birding proved to be rather challenging. Numbers of even common species proved to be very poor. The highlight of the afternoon was without doubt a light phase Short-tailed Hawk. This is a Florida speciality is found pretty much nowhere else apart from southern Florida.
A quick look around the Lucky Hammock after sunset produced a Barn Owl along the fenceline.