Lifer! (Or, the day before insanity).

Today I decided to check out Kendall Indian Hammocks briefly, knowing that this would be my last day not nutty birding for a while. I came across several flocks of migrants, that included lots of Red-eyed Vireos, several Black-and-White Warblers, and Northern Parulas. I also came across one Prairie Warbler and a Northern Flicker. near the end of my hiking, I heard an odd "chuck" coming from the brush. It sounded like a Common Yellowthroat, so I attempted to pish the dude out. It kind of looked like a Yellowthroat too, but I noticed it had yellow stripe over its eye. I consulted the field guide, and confirmed my suspicions that it was who I had been looking for a few days ago- the Kentucky Warbler.
This was my first lifer since June. I'm going to take this as a good omen for my year to come. It must be, because Eva agreed to start me off tomorrow by coming to the Everglades with me. The details on that trip, and my first day tallies will be here oh so soon!

Warblers and Exotics in Dade

Yesterday and today I went to a few of the local hotspots in Miami-Dade and found these:

Red-eyed Vireos at both Castello Hammock, and at A.D. Barnes.

A number of Grey Kingbirds and a Northern Flicker at the Dump Marsh. Cutler Wetland was pretty dead besides some waders, Moorhens, Mottled Ducks, and a bathing Osprey.

I encountered a few migrant flocks at Kendall Indian Hammocks . Included in them were a large number of Yellow-throated and Black-and-white Warblers. One Northern Parula and a Yellow-throated Vireo were present too.

Rosana and Charlie (the dawg) came with me to Matheson Hammock looking for a Kentucky Warbler reported earlier in the day yesterday. No such luck, but did come across a warbler flock that had a Worm-eating Warbler, 2 Ovenbirds, and an American Redstart in it. I tried again for the Kentucky this morning with no luck.

At A.D. Barnes today I found nothing in the way of warblers, but did find these neat looking Hill Mynas. They are an exotic species from Asia, which is weird, because their calls make them sound like they know English.

Also present at Barnes were these Muscovy Ducks (aka the bane of my existence). These domesticated ducks are in most suburban bodies of water in Florida. Eva and i got to see the real undomesticated ones on the Rio Grande this past year. They are not nearly as messy looking!

Believe it or not, it feels better.

I'm down in Miami staying with me galfriend. I got this hideous toe surgery down here due to my chronic (not in a good way) ingrown toenails. You should see my other foot. No, you shouldn't. This will hopefully be the most disturbing set of photos my blog will have the pleasure of hosting.

In more important news, I'm getting set for my trip across the country. I prepped with some birding in Miami this morning. Migration is here! I put together a decent list in a little over an hour of birding A.D. Barnes county park. Highlights were black-whiskered vireo, prairie warbler, northern parula, yellow-throated warbler, black-and-white warbler, and an American redstart.