South Dadery

In the afternoon on Wednesday, I packed some sandwiches, picked up Rosana from school, and we headed down to the Annex near the Everglades entrance to do a little birding. We were trying to get a look at a BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER, and when the sun was setting, SHORT-EARED OWLS that had been seen in a field. We did not see either, but did get mosquitoed when the sun was done. It was a fun trip however, despite the fallen powerline blocking the road that made us divert our path through farms to get there and home.


Wednesday morning I went to the Cutler Wetland, and was greeted by tons of WOOD STORKS, mostly juveniles, a GREAT WHITE HERON, which is an all white subspecies of the GREAT BLUE HERON, and a big pack of SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER. After this, I went to the nearby Dump Marsh, and saw hundreds of EUROPEAN STARLINGS and lesser numbers of BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS on the powerlines. I scanned them for awhile looking for a SHINY or BRONZED COWBIRD, but it was not to be. I parked the car right under the lines, and was flabberghasted to see it covered in guano when I got back.


This morning I got up pretty early to head to the Everglades National Park. I birded the area around the campground at Long Pine Key, looking for any evidence of the first ever reported U.S. breeding WESTERN SPINDALIS that took place here this summer. No luck, but there was a great deal of EASTERN BLUEBIRD, PINE, YELLOW-RUMPED, and PALM WARBLER. I ran into Rafael, who I had met last week at the Dump Marsh. He helped me look for it, as he hadn't seen it either since he was out of the country this summer - still no luck.

Rafael came with me to Donut in the Hole, which is an area of the Everglades that has some interesting things. We scanned a swampy area for BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER, as this was a spot that they had showed up many winters in a row (but not yet this year). Then we headed on to the mound with his scope to see what kind of birds were visible in the marsh. A few LEAST BITTERN called out while we were up there, and immediately we got great looks at a male SNAIL KITE. Also present were RING-NECKED DUCK and HOODED MERGANSER.


I bid farewell to Rafael and headed to the Annex again to try for a BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER. Within a little time, a LEAST FLYCATCHER showed up. Then, right next to him was a flycatcher that is either a GREAT-CRESTED or BROWN-CRESTED, but he was missing his tail. This bird is best distinguished by call, but hopefully one of the skilled Miami birders can help me figure it out.