Today, my last day in Florida started out like a lot of days on this trip. Hot weather and no birds. Got in to Florida City late last night due to some BAD advice from a California birder on Antillean Nighthawks, which turned out to be Least Terns. My morning jaunt over to Biscayne National Park to try and find a Smooth-billed Ani was a bust. I followed this up with a drive through the Everglades which was also very slow- 90 degree heat, lots of humidity and hardly any birds. Let’s face it, I was tired and very hot so decided to quit birding, return to the Travelodge and update my blog while I washed my clothes. I was also planning a nap, which hasn’t been in my schedule since last December.
A slow day to end a slow trip. I’d already planned the title of my blog post for the day, “Falling Flat in Florida”. The clothes were in the washer so I decided to check Tropical Audubon’s Bird Board before I had a snooze. Heck I didn’t even know about this particular list serve till Carl Goodrich told me about it yesterday.
There it was, only an hour and a half old. A Fork-tailed Flycatcher! I’ve not seen one in North America and hardly thought there would be an opportunity for one this year. The clothes were all in the washer so I threw on my geeky red running shorts along with my green birding shirt and flew out the door. After an hour and 20 minutes I was in F.t Lauderdale, but the wrong address. SW 9th Ave instead of SE 9th Avenue, which was 2 miles further east. That delay caused me to miss the bird. Angel & Mariel (met them two weeks prior at Crandon Park) last saw the bird 20 minutes before I arrived. Bummed out, I walked the cemetery and the surrounding neighborhood for an hour and a half. Even finding a Chimney Swift and Red-eyed Vireo, both new year birds but no consolation. What a drag to be this close to a Fork-tailed Flycatcher and fail. Now tired, I decided to drive the neighborhoods. I had one hour of light left might as well spend my last day in Florida chasing a rarity. I pulled into a Starbucks for a Mocha, but they were out of soy milk. The bathroom was being cleaned so I had to wait. But eventually I began searching again. 20 minutes later I saw it. A small kingbird with a long tail. Perched on a wire just east of the cemetery, it flew out 15 feet from it’s perch, snatch a bug and return. Unbelievable! The subpar day turned into a red banner day just like that. Texas- here I come!!!!!
(tomorrow I will post a more complete recap of the Dry Tortugas Trip)
Good one John! Congratulations on the Fork-tailed. That’s an awesome story of how it happened! Best of luck to you with Texas.
Well you did make the 475 projected total, it looks like. Looking forward to the updated list. Best of luck in Texas. Dave