April 26-May 5, 2025 with Doug Gochfeld & Sam Wilson
South Florida is a vacation hub for many on the east coast but the wildside of Florida is typically overlooked by vacationers and snowbirds. We birded many of the pock-marked reserves in developed area of the state, as well as the larger state and federally protected reserves like the world famous Everglades, Babcock/Webb Wildlife Management area, and Dry Tortugas National Park in the Florida Keys.
We started our trip with a field breakfast at Blackpoint Marina outside Miami to try for Mangrove Cuckoo. Unfortuantely, the cuckoos were quite uncooperative that morning but we continued on to a few other patches of mangroves and picked up Gray Kingbird, Pileated Woodpecker, Mottled Duck, and our first Limpkin. After moving up to Boyton beach we stopped at a Green Cay wetlands and Wakodahatchee Wetlands, two wetland reserves in Palm Beach County. These accessible urban wetlands were packed full of South Florida breeders. Delightful to see many baby mottled ducks, gallinules, and even a family of Least Bitterns learning how to climb around on the emergent reeds! Doug spotted a roosting Eastern Screech Owl and shortly after we were treated to a Florida Softshell turtle, rarely seen out of the water, excavating potential nest holes in the palm forest.
Loxahatchee NWR was our first stop the next morning for a sunrise vigil. A gorgeous start to the day was punctuated by the sounds of the upper Everglades and watching hundreds of waders commuting from their roosts including our estimate of about 190 Roseate Spoonbills. Our eastern Florida exploration complete, we headed West across the agricultural region with large stormwater management areas just under the lip of the great Lake Okeechobee. We stopped at Sem-Chi Rice Mill and spent some time with a suite of shorebirds feeding in the flooded fields including Black-necked Stilts, Black-bellied Plovers, Long-billed Dowitchers, a good showing of Stilt Sandpipers, and more. Further along, a known breeding colony of Cave Swallows adjacent to the highway was very active allowing us close views and study. We capped the day on the outskirts of Ft Myers at Harn's Marsh with some spectacular viewing of six Snail Kites hunting in a partially drained canal, flying directly over our heads on several occasions. Our first Swallow-tailed Kites of the trip made a graceful appearence as well.
The next morning was an early rise to get to the fantastic Babcock-Webb WMA, critical burn-dependent, upland pine habitat that has almost completely disappeared from South Florida. Predawn we had several Chuck-will's-widows flying in the spotlight near the entry area and Common Nighthawks flying around continuing there activities into the morning. We even watched one nighthawk land to roost on a pine after the sun broke the horizon. We aced the target birds specializing in southeastern pine forests, spotting the federally endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker near nestholes and getting fantastic views. We also had Red-headed Woodpecker, Brown-headed Nuthatches, Pine Warbler, a surprise Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and Bachman's sparrows. These sparrows can be quite cryptic for most of the year when they are not singing, but we managed great open views of a pair in above the saw palmettos. Late morning we were able to turn up a few Florida Scrub-Jays in a neighborhood north of Ft Myers, an interesting endemic far removed geographically from it's Scrub-Jay cousins out west. It was nice to run into a couple of Gopher Tortoises having seen their recently excavated burrows around. Studies show they are a great keystone species; their burrows providing shelter for over 360 species.
Everglades National Park was our destination after departing Ft Myers, but we first stopped at Eagle Lakes Community park to see Bronzed Cowbird and an obligatory stop to see the unique Florida Burrowing Owl subspecies, on Marco Island. Marco is a suprising stronghold for these endearing creatures because of its notable lack of natural habitat having been almost completely built out. The local populace has taken to providing yard space for these owls now that most vacant lots have been developed. Many people dig holes and provide perches in an attempt to attract the owls. Once a pair has set up shop, the burrow is roped off and protected by local and Florida Fish and Wildlife laws. Spring is a great time to see these owls when the owlets are popping up out of the burrows!
We stopped at Big Cypress National Preserve to see some close up gators before making our way across the glades to Homestead. Our evening excursion was quite fruitful in the ag fields near the Everglades Park entrance with a rare Shiny Cowbird, Eastern Meadowlarks, and a nice flock of about 250 Bobolinks in their full breeding dress. Continuing on in beautiful light along Research Road in the park we observed many shorebirds and waders. As the sun fell Common Nighthawks and Chuck-wills-widows announced their presence.
One of the specialities of Everglades National Park is the Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow, the only road accesible sites are on the park road out to Flamingo. We hit the right spots and eventually got two in scopes for nice viewing. Paurotis Pond surprised us with 7 White-crowned Pigeons, typically much more common in the keys. Flamingo campground marks the end of the road and we were able to do some good birding and wildlife watching there. The highlight for many was very close West Indian Manatees off the docks at the marina and a Great White Heron (South Florida form of Great Blue Heron).
Onward to the keys we had lunch on the water on Key Largo and traveled the overseas highway, stopping for shorebirds, migrating Broad-winged Hawks, Magnificant Frigatebirds and Reddish Egrets.
Key West is an amazing historical and cultural destination itself, but the birding can also be fantastic on the lower keys during migration. Ft Zachery Historic Park is a has been active since before the civil war and now helps to provide some critical habitat for weary migrants. We had a little more than a dozen warblers, Black-whiskered Vireos, Gray Kingbirds, White-crowned Pigeons, and some really nice flyby Roseate Terns over the beachfront. The afternoon at the Botanic Gardens caught us up with a few more warblers. We would have been remiss not to exploit the excellent food in the keys, having lunch at a famous Cuban place and dinners with excellent seafood fare.
That evening we drove a short distance to Boca Chica Key and enjoyed the evening light on shorebirds like Wilson's Plover, Short-billed Dowitcher, Willets, and White-rumped Sandpipers. After dark we had several calling Antillean Nighthawks, another nice trip target in the books.
The penultimate day we took the Yankee Freedom out 70 miles further away West from Key West to a birding hotspot everyone should visit at least once in their lifetime, Dry Tortugas National Park. The ocean crossing wasn't very notable but we did start seeing some tropical terns as we reached the halfway mark. Upon landing we were greeted by the chattering terns of three tropical species; Bridled Tern, Sooty Tern, and Brown Noddy, though the latter two made up the vast majority of the colonies on Bush Key. The terns at this location are protected by fencing but so accustomed to people you can walk right up to them which makes for a really intimate experience. During the 4 hour tour of the island we also had a variety of migrant warblers coming to the only water source on the island, shorebirds, hawks, and three species of Booby! We capped off a walk to the top of the fort with nice views of a North American rarity, a Black Noddy, our fourth tropical tern for the island!
We would like to thank all the participants on this great trip for sticking through some hot Florida spring weather and the occasional downpour! Great seafood, turquoise waters, and quirky Key West, rounds out this quirky coastal gem of the south.
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/443882
Sam Wilson