Birding Broward County July 1,2016
Marcia contacted me to see if I was interested in birding in several areas in Broward County on Saturday. We were hoping to go back to Wilton Manor to see if we could capture some good photos of the Blue-crowned Parakeets, with hopefully better lighting. We left Marcia's house at 6:00am with a laundry list of places packed into the GPS. First stop....Wilton Manor! As Marcia pulled in, we heard a good number of parrots squawking. Just out of the car and we quickly located our target bird! The sun was just beginning to come up. We were standing in a lovely area of Oak and Australian Pines. The light was better than the last time we visited and we saw about 12 of the Parakeets.
Marcia caught the fact that this Blue-crowned Parakeete was nesting. See the other bird inside the tree? Great catch!
We noticed this sign in the area and had to laugh because all we ever see here are Parrots!
Satisfied that we had good photos, we head to our next location behind Mango's on Las Olas Blvd. Once again, we hear Parrots as soon as we pulled into the area. We parked the car and zipped up and down the block taking photos as the Parrots flying from one wire to another. This time the flock contained Mitred Parakeets, a Red-masked Parrot and mostly crosses of the two species. We also were dodging a Garbage truck again like last week in Miami.
Enough of these clowns, we are off to the First Presbyterian Church. Colee Hammock Park, across the street from the Church is reported to have Amazon Parrots. We were greeted initially by this Mourning Dove sitting upon the church cross. Suddenly, we hear squawking again and run into the parking lot. Two parrots flew off before we got a good look but we saw a Red-bellied Woodpecker. Marcia sees movement in the park, we run across the street. She locates a Blue-crowned Parakeet in a tree. Then we see several more in the top of a Palm tree but no Amazon Parrots here. Time to get moving to our next stop.
Topeekeegee Yugnee Park was reported to have Quakers (commercial trade name for Monk Parakeets). This is a huge park with RV camping, fitness zones and picnic areas. We were both a bit concerned due to the fact that this was July 4th weekend. As soon as we entered the park at 9:00 am, we head to "Ranger Rick's" office to inquire about the best areas for birding. Well, you know you are in trouble when the info gal looks at you after we ask with a puzzled look and said "let me ask". She comes back after a few minutes and points out a walking trail in the back of the park. She mentioned seeing a butterfly garden and said Parrots are found there. The magic word....PARROTS! We hit the bathrooms and start walking.
We pass lots of exercise types, see people at the shelters setting up their picnic areas and BBQs. OMG.... finally I see a Blue Jay, then a Muscove, a Eurasian Collarded-dove and then I spot the "butterfly garden area"...... Are you kidding me? We both cracked up laughing and said "back to the car". This place was a bust! However, we did see and hear several Monk's as we were getting back into the car. Time to switch to looking for Owls! Oh yea, I almost forgot we did see some colorful butterflies along our walk.
Brian Piccolo County Park is known for it's colony of Burrowing Owls. The GPS quickly gets us to the Park. We asked the man at the entrance about the Owls and he quickly points out three distinct areas. Much better response than we got at the last place. It's about 10:20am and it is sunny, very warm and humid. We head to the first area. It is roped off but as we park, we see one of the Owls up on it's perch. OMG.... HOW CUTE IS THIS?
These dudes are only 6-8 inches tall....too cute for words! Then we notice another Owl just peeking out of the burrow. We continue to the various roped off areas and saw a total of 7 Owls.
Marcia hears squawking Parrots and announces that they are Quakers! Marcia is a Parrot expert and has several pet Parrots herself. She even owned a Parrot that was in an off Broadway production in NY, when she lived in the city. I saw the program for the show and yup, the Parrot had it's picture there with the rest of the cast! I love pets that earn a living wage!
"Look......two Red-tailed Hawks circling overhead!" Marcia called out! The Owls pop down into the burrows! Their not stupid, they would be a nice snack for these raptors. Even the Monk's move close to their nests on the power lines.
Not a great picture but you can certainly see that red tail!
The nesting areas on the power lines were active with the small Parakeets bringing sticks to reinforce the structure. They were keenly aware of those raptors circling overhead!
As we are walking, Marcia realized we were located fairly close to I-75. She turned to me and said "How do you feel about heading to Snake Road to see Carcaras and Swollow-tailed Kites? We are not that far away." I quickly ask about the birding conditions....you know how I feel about SNAKES! She laughed and said "no, we drive down the road and look for wildlife." OK.....I punch Snake Road into the GPS AND WE ARE ROLLING! It's about 30 miles to the exit off I-75. It's noon and we decide to stop at a road side picnic stop next to a big gas station for lunch. We even had birds (Grackles) begging for our food and "two birds" in the shelter, a fake Owl and Hawk.
As we head north on Snake Road, I realized we were driving thru the Indian Reservation.
Excellent, we see our first target bird....Swollow-tailed Kites! We love photographing them. So cool to watch them soar effortlessly in the sky!
It's HOT out there. The cattle we saw were all crowded under trees and we were not seeing much wildlife.
Suddenly, Marcia sees Wild Turkey's in a field. We see several adults with a bunch of young. When I reported them for this area on e-Bird, it triggered a "rare bird alert" and required documentation to accept the observation. Cool, we had photos!
Marcia was very concerned that we were not seeing as much wildlife as she recalled when she visited this area. Suddenly, I saw a Crested Carcara sitting in a tree. We pulled over on the side of the road but we had spooked him and he flew off. A few miles up the road, we see a huge group of Black Vultures standing on the side of the road. "Caracaras are often seen with Vultures" comes out of Marcia mouth and immediately we come upon another huge group of Vultures and sitting in the middle of the pile........a beautiful Crested Carcacara!! Marcia has the ability on every trip to just mention that she would like to see a certain target bird and......it shows up!
Initially, we thought that the Vultures were attracted to a dead gator. Unfortunately, I was horrified to later see in my photo that it was a dead dog that most likely was hit by a car. I noticed he was wearing a collar. Ugh.....
When I reported the Crested Caracaras on e-Bird, another "rare bird alert" was triggered, requiring documentation again. No problem, we have photos!
Typically, one would see many Red-shouldered Hawks in this type of habitat area. We only saw 2 that entire day.
With both of our target birds accomplished with photos, we were hearing thunder rolling above us. We're on a two lane road out in the boonies with steep shoulders, high grass and water on each side of the road. Everytime we see birds we can just stop the car and get out quickly for a few quick shot. There is NO traffic so it was not a real problem. However, when we pulled over for the RSH pics, a truck came along a pulled up behind us as we were driving off. All of a sudden, we see blue and white lights flashing from inside the truck. Shit....it's a cop and he is pulling us over. Marcia begins to freak out. We have not done anything wrong. I told her to tell him that a Cycada had blown in the window and we were getting it out of the car. Well, up walks Mr. Officer Sir.....he looks like something out of the Dukes of Hazzords. He asked what we were doing and Marcia gives him the Cycada rap. He said he pulled over because he was afraid that we were not off the road far enough and might get hit by another car. (what the heck car is he talking about, there are none!). Marcia did a wonderful job of thanking Mr. Officer Sir for his concern and apologizes sufficiently that he tells us to be careful and let's us go. Bummed out that he is driving behind us for miles and we can no longer just pull over for birding, we head toward Belle Glade and back to Boynton Beach. The rain was horrific on Route 80 and we got back to Marcia's house about 5:30. The photo below is a Red-tailed Hawk nesting on an FPL power line outside of the community that Marcia lives in. A great end to yet another great birding day!
