Week 9 (3/3/19) - To Miami and Beyon... Oh wait, To Miami and that's it

Remember how I went to Palm Beach County a few weeks ago - two days in a row, looking for a rare bird. What if I told you I went even further this week? Only once though, just one day - but further, yes indeedy.

But first, literally two pictures from earlier in the week.

20+ White Ibises at the office on Tuesday. It's not unusual for them to group in small grassy areas like this

My new hat with all the optional extras attached. No more burnt ears or swallowing bugs with that bad boy, oh no

And with the addition of my new hat, I was ready to head south to Miami-Dade for the first time.

Early start - was on the road around 2:15 or thereabouts

Those who followed my adventure on Facebook would have seen the crazy hellish time I had getting breakfast. The day went better after covfefe was in my hand. 

I like these complex overlapping intersections. There's something very satisfying about it

Miami heading south on I95

I am arrived! This is the parking lot at Crandon Park

 I began my visit at Crandon Park by promptly parking in the wrong part of the part. However, that was not so bad as it turned out. I ran into a group who had travelled down from Tampa to look for birds, and I was in the area where a Bananaquit had been recently reported. We had a look around for the Bananaquit but were unable to find it. There were some great consolation birds though.

Egyptian Geese - very small geese and very friendly. There are a number of populations throughout Florida, but not all are considered countable. The Miami birds are well established and breeding, though, so people have accepted them

Sandhill Cranes are usually fairly aloof and unfriendly birds - not these guys. They got up within a few inches

Lifer 407! Totally unexpected - White-crowned Pigeon. 

This was the only view and therefore only picture I got. I was just pleased to get it at all. I hadn't really planned on going for anything other than the three targets: Western Spindalis, Thick-billed Vireo and La Sagra's Flycatcher. Getting the White-crowned Pigeon was a massive plus. Any time you can start a day with a lifer is a good day. I look forward to getting a better look at these guys at a later date. 

Indian Peafowl - as with the Egyptian Geese, these guys are breeding and well established. I love the focus on this pic

Egyptian Goose family - told you they were breeding! Look at those babbos!

Apparently I took this in portrait... not sure why... Muscovy Duck, yet another established feral species

 After failing to find the Bananaquit, I moved to the correct parking lot and was greeted by a small horde of birders who had just had eyes on the Thick-billed Vireo. I joined in the binoculared masses and scoured the bushes for the Vireo and Spindalis. While searching a call came up - Western Spindalis. Everyone hurried around to the other side of the trees, only to find the bird had flown over again and was back where we'd been before.

The masses looking for the Spindalis

The bird was seen hopping around low in the bushes just to the right of the black shirt above. I saw a small brown blob flitting around just two to three feet off the ground. I was unable to get it in the binocs though, as it moved too quickly. I'm pretty sure that what I saw was the Spindalis, but without a good look I don't feel like I can add it to my life list. The bird was not seen again while I was there. I spent over two hours at the park scouring those bushes, but the bird had seemingly disappeared.

I did not give up hope, however, as the Vireo was still around. Now, I'd like to show you some pictures and videos of the Vireo, but I'm not sure I have any. I can confirm I saw the bird on multiple occasions. There's an issue though - there were White-eyed Vireos around as well. The Thick-billed is a darker bird, with muted yellows as compared to the White-eyed. I was surrounded by well known Florida birders, including the McQuades who I believe are working on an ABA Big Year this year, they confirmed the bird I was seeing was indeed the Thick-billed. What I cannot confirm is which bird is in the video I have. I'll leave it here for you to decide for yourselves. Either way - 408!

Here's me standing in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Key Biscayne. It was so wonderfully pleasant and warm

Miami as seen from the bridge headed north from Virginia Key and Key Biscayne, on the way to AD Barnes Park

I headed over to AD Barnes Park about 30 minutes away, in search of the La Sagra's Flycatcher. I arrived to see a number of forlorn looking birders and immediately lost hope. The McQuades had mentioned earlier in the day they had spent some four hours at AD Barnes and saw precisely zero La Sagra's Flycatchers. Another birder was there when I arrived and said he'd seen it the past several days in one specific tree - nothing that day. There were numerous Northern Parulas around though, and that's never a bad thing.

I returned back to Crandon Park but it was so hot that I decided I just needed to quit. On top of that Rowan (my pooch) has not been well so I didn't want to be gone for too long, and that's difficult when you have a 10-hour round trip. Innevitably, the Spindalis was seen within 30 minutes of me leaving. Likewise the La Sagra's which people thought may have moved on has been seen almost every day since the day I tried to see it. Such is birding.

Heading home after a long day - little bit tired, can you tell?

Rowas was very happy I didn't stay out longer and curled up with me

So I finished the day with only one of the three target birds, but despite that I came away with two lifers and a few additional year birds and that makes it a totally worthwhile trip. Unsurprisingly I decided to take Week 10 gently. I just looked through the pics I took and it's frankly a little bit shoddy... but oh well. We'll look at that later in the week.

Crandon Park list