one at a time

As July turned to August, I have come to realize that I need to beef up this list before the end of my year. Hopefully this will happen, as it seems to be in the process.

I drove up to Eva's house on Saturday night, and we got an early start in the morning. We headed up to St. Lucie County to try to get some looks at two birds that have eluded me: BACHMAN'S SPARROW and FLORIDA SCRUB-JAY. After several attempts at the Savannas Preserve and surrounding areas, we had no luck, and headed to the coast in Ft. Pierce. The jetty south of the Ft. Peirce Inlet State Park was very productive for us. We got great looks at 5 species of TERN (LEAST, SANDWICH, ROYAL, GULL-BILLED, and a year-bird COMMON). Also, this juvenile BROWN BOOBY was hanging out on the jetty for us to get incredibly close to.

This morning, I got up at 5:30- two hours before my alarm to go to work. I thought about what I needed to get accomplished, and I remembered a certain roost waiting for me in Cutler Bay. Last week, Eva and I had tried to see the only sizable roost of West Indian race CAVE SWALLOW without knowing exactly where it was. Eva got the Pranty field guide, and clued me in to exactly where it was. This morning I caught at least 10 of them under the SW 216th street bridge, as they, and I, were beginning our days.