A winter trip to the Nearctic subtropics - it was pretty hot! Manatees, Alligators, easy waterbirds/waders, migrant passerines and some 'specials' like White-crowned Pigeon, Red-cockaded Woodpecker and the endemic Florida Scrub-jay.

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Brown-headed
Nuthatch

American Crocodile

A post-knee (Julia) op ‘easy’ sunshine break for us this time – not too many lifer targets, but a good range of exciting species in the offing, and some excellent photographic opportunities, which were duly taken.

We flew into Miami and spent our first three nights at Florida City, within striking distance of the Everglades, the Upper Keys and south Miami. Wading bird viewing opportunities in the Everglades proper are actually a bit limited, except at hotspots such as the Anhinga Trail boardwalk (also great for fish, including Florida Gar) and Flamingo, so it’s a bit frustrating to know so many great birds are present in the amazing and vast habitat, but you just can’t see most of them! But we did get views of most of the species, in some cases super close, such as Osprey, Anhinga and American Purple Gallinule, and we saw our only Yellow-crowned Night-heron here. A boat trip out from Flamingo to two mangrove islands produced Royal Tern, Reddish Egret, “Great White Heron” (good insurance against a future species upgrade!) and great views of a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins (plus Loggerhead Turtle for Simon only….Julia got him back later with a Raccoon which he missed!). Another highlight at Flamingo was American Crocodile (only in the salt water – rare!), plus a cooperative West Indian Manatee, sadly in quite murky water. Raptors were a big feature, with numerous Ospreys, but also Red-shouldered Hawk, Swallow-tailed and White-tailed Kites, Black and Turkey Vultures and even a rare sighting of a Swainson’s Hawk. Mahogany Hammock was the choice of the passerine sites (Prothonotary, Black-throated Green, Prairie, Palm and Pine Warblers, plus several Grey Catbirds, which we saw quite widely), but the highlight here was a roosting Barred Owl. Other landbirds highlights in the Everglades included Common Yellowthroat, Northern Waterthrush, White-eyed Vireo, Red-bellied Woodpecker and a solitary Brown Thrasher.

The Upper Keys were hard work, except for some nice trails on Key Largo, which turned up the much-desired and very shy White-crowned Pigeon feeding on Poisonwood berries, but also a stunning male Black-throated Blue Warbler, Ovenbird, and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

Matheson Hammock in south Miami was a useful stepping stone on the way north out of SE Florida, turning up Black-and-white, Magnolia, Yellow-throated and Yellow-rumped Warblers, Blue-headed Vireo, our first Pied-billed Grebe and a plasticky-feeling but apparently ‘ABA-countable’ Red-masked Parakeet. We’re not counting it…..

Onwards we went up the Atlantic Coast, and had an AMAZING time at two urban wetlands near Boynton Beach: Wakodahatchee and Green Cay. Both were absolutely teeming with very tame, very easy birds – fantastic sites. All the desired herons (including an unbelievably confiding Least Bittern), egrets, ibises, spoonbills, storks and gallinules/coots/swamp-hens were present and correct, plus Mottled Duck and Blue-winged Teal, many grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds, Black-necked Stilt, and even showy Blue Jays! Another great little wetland was at Loxahatchee, which was quieter in terms of both people and birds. Northern Harrier, Killdeer and crippling Roseate Spoonbills were present, plus most of the other wetland birds in smaller numbers, like American Coot, Pied-billed Grebe and Purple Swamp-hen. Also, this was one of the very best insect sites, with loads of butterflies and dragonflies, including the sinister-sounding Halloween Pennant and the glorious Black Swallowtail.

A little further north, near Fellsmere, the San Sebastian River State Park was a hot, rather birdless affair, but did come up trumps with Brown-headed Nuthatch, one of our holy trinity of scrub/woodland target birds! The next two nights were at Melbourne (nice little upgrade to a giant suite there), ready to hit two key sites.

The first was the really excellent Merritt Island, right next to Cape Canaveral (yes, we saw rockets on launch pads). An early start paid off, it being Saturday, and we scored early and hard with lots of waterbirds, including nice waders like American Avocet, Wilson’s and Semipalmated Plovers, both Yellowlegs, Willet, Least Sandpiper and Short-billed Dowitcher, plus Black Skimmers, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Bonaparte’s and Ring-billed Gulls. A huge feeding frenzy of American White Pelicans, Roseate Spoonbills, White Ibises and Snowy and Great Egrets, attended by Forster’s Terns, was an amazing sight, which had broken up and dispersed to nothing within a couple of hours! We were extremely lucky to have witnessed that.

The landbird target here was clear and simple: Florida Scrub-jay. Not just a US endemic, but a state endemic, this is one of the best sites for this scarce and threatened species. We went to the Scrub Trail…..and scored at once. The birds came closer. Hang on…they’re habituated. So, Simon held out a hand, and sure enough, one dropped down and perched, before sitting on his head for a selfie! Too easy….but rather cool.

Honorary bird of the day at Merritt Island was actually West Indian Manatee. Although we’d seen one at Flamingo, it was really murky and the views were poor, and we had dipped at an urban site near West Palm Beach, where the animals had dispersed with spring warmth. So it was wonderful to enjoy close and very prolonged views of six of them right by the viewing deck at the bridge. Incredible animals!

The next day saw us heading inland, into wholly new habitats. Misty pastures first thing produced the much hoped-for but barely-expected Wild Turkey (one of our commonest birds we’d never seen!), plus Bald Eagle and Sandhill Crane. But it was the flatwoods and open prairie of Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area which really pulled us in. Shortly after arrival, a bit of judicious staking out of marked trees produced the desired result: a pair of the very rare and threatened Red-cockaded Woodpecker. Yay! Ably supported by Broad-winged Hawk, Brown-headed Nuthatch and Eastern Bluebird, we were happy by 9am! Singing Eastern Meadowlarks, Bachman’s Sparrow and Eastern Towhee completed a really excellent morning of inland birding!

Heat stymied a really good visit to Kissimmee Prairie State Park, but we did add Crested Caracara and enjoyed some spectacular insects, plants and alligators (note: we did see quite a lot of alligators throughout. Yes, in the Everglades, but also in urban wetland sites and almost anywhere where there was a bit of fresh water!)

After a stay overnight at Sebring, we spent a slow morning at Highlands Hammock, a really nice old-growth patch of woodland with White-tailed Deer, feral hogs (!), Great Horned Owl (heard), Pileated and other woodpeckers, Eastern Bluebird and a nice selection of warblers, including Northern Waterthrush, plus Great Crested Flycatcher, Hermit Thrush and a cracking Tufted Titmouse. Carolina Wren was perhaps the highlight, however!

Via Archbold Biological Station and some more roadside Florida Scrub-jays, we headed south and east to Fort Myers, and decided to do a recce of Sanibel Island. It was frankly, a disappointment. The island is massively over-developed, and the ‘Ding’ Darling wildlife drive was pretty poor. It certainly didn’t feel as good as Merritt Island. We decided not to return, although it might have been better at low tide.

But we had a plan for low tide the next day, and it worked. Bunche Beach is a tiny little strip of sand at high tide, but the tide drops six inches, and extensive mudflats appear, along with a lot of extremely confiding waders. We spent a really enjoyable couple of hours with good numbers of Sanderling, Western and Least Sandpipers, Dunlin, Knot, Short-billed Dowitcher, Semipalmated and Grey Plovers, and Eastern Willet, plus Spotted Sandpiper and best of all the much-wanted Piping Plover (albeit distantly). Royal Terns and Black Skimmers were also present in numbers, and there was even a (rarity) Lesser Black-backed Gull to ‘enjoy’!

Onwards to downtown Cape Coral for its incredibly tame Burrowing Owls (and Monk Parakeets!), and then on for a visit to the little-known Harns Marsh in suburban Fort Myers. More typical wading birds about (it’s really hard not to keep banging on about Tricolored Herons, Anhingas, Limpkins and so on!), but there were three really good items on the menu here: two cracking Snail Kites, several Sandhill Cranes, including a ridiculously habituated pair with tiny unfledged young, and a lifer Red-headed Woodpecker ‘taped in’ speculatively after a random comment on eBird! What a cracker!

We did explore the prairies and various trails/boardwalks to the north of Immokalee, but it was hot going! We did add various bits and bobs, but these areas are probably better in winter.

The last day was one of bits and pieces. Tigertail Beach on Marco Island was a complete bust, and the various sites across Big Cypress Swamp and the central Everglades on SR-41 were a little underwhelming, but we were focused on heading for the airport by now.

Overall: we saw all our serious target species, plus several ‘hoped for’ bonus birds, and had spectacular views of all the classic subtropical Florida specialities. Wintering species had apparently all cleared out (almost no sparrows) and spring migrants were not yet moving (almost no hirundines). But in all, this trip did what it said on the tin: sunshine, lots of birds, lots of photography, and a sprinkling of life birds! What we won’t miss: overdevelopment of the coastline, slightly shabby motels (some were good, some were poor), 10-lane highways (with crazy U-turn protocols), huge trucks and SUVs, and unavoidably and utterly unhealthy food!