summer rarities and early migrants

Last weekend, between work related overnights in Martin County and Kennedy Space Center with teenagers through my summer position at the Miami Science Museum, Rosana and I stole away to Marathon in the Keys for some birding and relaxing. We got down there Saturday afternoon, stopping first at the Marathon municipal buildings. This is the one reliable nesting location in the U.S. for ROSEATE TERN, and they were there for us. The roof was mostly bustling with FORSTER'S TERN, which we at first thought were COMMONs. The ROSEATEs took some work to figure out.

That night, we stopped at the Marathon Airport, to see if we could spot ANTILLEAN NIGHTHAWKS. We heard them before we saw them, but they did end up coming close enough to get a definitive look. Later, we had dinner and some drinks at a tiki bar, and stayed, of course, at the Sandpiper Motel. The next morning we got up early and headed to Long Key State Park to look for BLACK-WHISKERED VIREO. We did not come up with it after about one and half hours of hiking, but we celebrated the two from the night before with a dip in the ocean off U.S. 1. That morning we packed up, and got home at about noon.

This morning, after dropping Rosana off at the Ft. Lauderdale Airport, I stopped by Matheson Hammock to see if the early migrants reported were around. My first of the season BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER, AMERICAN REDSTART, RED-EYED VIREO, and a lifer LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH were all in the park. Not bad for summer down here.