The long-toed Purple Gallinule, the perfect lily pad bird, is common in south Florida wetlands. Photo: Chris Wood
Late-April is a wonderful time to visit South Florida. Migrants augment the resident birds and all of South Florida’s special breeding birds have arrived. We’ll visit the most interesting of the everglades, pine forests, prairies and cypress swamps in south peninsular South Florida including Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and Everglades National Park. The Keys are at their best at this time of year as well and we’ll explore areas known to us looking for the sought-after Mangrove Cuckoo and other Key’s specialities. We’ll also take a day trip to the Dry Tortugas. Even though we’ll have just four hours on Fort Jefferson, it’s enough time to appreciate the magnificent seabird colony and see most of the birds for which the area is justly famous. We’ll conclude in the Miami area where elements of a huge parrot fauna have become naturalized. Add the chance at a vagrant from the Caribbean, and it’s easy to see why South Florida in late April is such a popular destination
Day 1: The tour begins at 6 p.m. in Miami. Night in Miami.
Day 2: We’ll spend the morning exploring residential areas in greater Miami, notably in the well-wooded suburbs of Kendall and Coral Gables, searching for Monk Parakeet, Red-whiskered Bulbul, Common Myna, Spot-breasted Oriole and other introduced exotics. The Burrowing Owls we’ll visit are among the most endearing anywhere and with luck we’ll find Smooth-billed Ani, a bird whose populations have declined drastically in recent years. In the afternoon we’ll drive north to Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge whose vast impoundments are home to many wetland birds such as Anhinga, Mottled Duck and Limpkin, and with luck there may be migrant songbirds. Night in Boynton Beach.
Day 3: We’ll begin at Wakodahatchee Wetlands, a man-made marsh in Delray Beach which is often good for Purple Gallinule, Least Bittern and a variety of herons and rails. Continuing westward we’ll pass through an area of extensive sugarcane agriculture. Some of the fields are flooded at this season and can contain large numbers of shorebirds, notably Black-necked Stilt, Lesser Yellowlegs, Stilt Sandpiper and sometimes Fulvous Whistling-Duck. In the afternoon we’ll continue along the east side of Lake Okeechobee looking for relict prairie species such as Crested Caracara and Sandhill Crane, and for our first Swallow-tailed Kites. In the late afternoon we’ll visit Three Lakes Wildlife area where we will search for several pine-woods species, in particular Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Brown-headed Nuthatch, and Bachman’s Sparrows. At a park near Kissimmee we should see both Snail Kite and Limpkin. Night in Kissimmee.
Day 4: Rising early we’ll return south to the pine woods in and around Three Lakes Wildlife Area where dawn often finds us serenaded by the ringing chants of Chuck-wills-widow. An early departure is also necessary as our primary target, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, leaves its roost/nesthole before sunrise and often vanishes quickly into the vastness of its daily feeding range. Other attractions here include Short-tailed Hwk (if we’re very lucky), Brown-headed Nuthatch, and Bachman’s Sparrow. After lunch we’ll continue south, along the way searching for the endemic Florida Scrub-Jay, if we have not seen one, making our way to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. Corkscrew is simply magnificent. Huge bald cypresses covered with bromeliads and Spanish moss tower over a rich understory of ferns and orchids. A boardwalk winds through this extraordinary setting, passing by dazzlingly green lettuce lakes to a sawgrass marsh overlook. Swallow-tailed Kites are almost continuously overhead and if we’re lucky a Barred Owl may be perched next to the walkway. The sanctuary is the site of one of North America’s largest Wood Stork colonies but these splendid birds have strict water-level requirements and do not breed here every year. Night in Bonita Springs.
Day 5: We’ll begin the day looking for shorebirds near Bonita Springs and Tigertail Beach. Concentrations change from year to year, so we’ll visit the currently productive locations. This area is particularly good for plovers including Wilson’s, Piping, Snowy, Semipalmated and Black-bellied. By late morning we’ll make our way across the Tamiami Trail keeping a keen eye out for Snail Kites. In the afternoon we’ll enter Everglades National Park and continue south to Eco Pond near Flamingo we’ll witness the evening spectacle of hundreds of White Ibis, Great and Snowy Egrets and Little Blue, Tricolored and Great Blue Herons coming to bathe and socialize before going to roost. If we are very lucky we may see an endangered American Crocodile. Night in Flamingo.
Day 6: This morning we’ll first search the wet savannas near Mahogany Hammock for “Cape Sable” Seaside Sparrow. Later at Flamingo we’ll scan the mudflats for herons, shorebirds and up to six species of tern including Gull-billed. We’ll then drive back north along the park road, stopping at Nine-Mile Pond to look for Roseate Spoonbill and American White Pelican. After our lunch in Florida City we’ll drive to Islamorada by way of the upper end of Key Largo. Night in Islamorada.
Day 7: We’ll depart this morning for Key West, stopping at a variety of locations along the way to look for migrants as well as breeding species such as Black-whiskered Vireo and Gray Kingbird. Typical Caribbean-wintering warblers such as Cape May and Black-throated Blue are often particularly well represented. We’ll check into our hotel and dine early so we can be out at sunset looking for Antillean Nighthawk. Night in Key West.
Day 8: We’ll sail at 7:30 a.m. today for the Tortugas aboard Yankee Freedom II. Our route will take us swiftly and directly to the Tortugas where we’ll arrive in the late morning. We’ll have about four hours to watch the great Sooty Tern and Brown Noddy spectacle, look for Black Noddy and other rarities, and thoroughly search Fort Jefferson for migrants which can include thrushes, buntings, orioles and up to 20 species of warblers. The Tortugas inevitably produce surprises: Cave Swallows around the battlements of the fort, perhaps a Chuck-wills-widow inside the old powder magazine or a Short-eared Owl perched in one of the trees of the parade grounds. In the mid-afternoon we’ll return to Key West, arriving about 5 p.m. Night in Key West.
Day 9: Among the principal landbird attractions of the Lower Keys, White-crowned Pigeon and Black-whiskered Vireo are widespread and conspicuous. Mangrove Cuckoo, however, is neither and we’ll spend the morning on Sugarloaf Key looking for this handsome bird. In some years we’ve seen cuckoos well within 15 minutes of exiting our vehicles; in others we don’t see them at all! Elsewhere in the Keys we’ve often seen “Cuban” or “Golden” Yellow Warbler, a subspecies group that may be destined for full-species status, and we’ll look as well for this specialized bird. We’ll continue up the Keys, stopping at shorebird roosts or migrant traps along the way. As the tour winds down we’ll search for any rarities that might be present in the area or end the day watching parrots fly to roost in Miami. Night in Miami.
Day 10: The tour concludes this morning in Miami.
Updated: 05 December 2007
Prices
- 2008 price about $3,080
- Single Occupancy Supplement $620
Notes
The maximum one-leader group size for this tour is reduced from eight to seven participants. The two-leader maximum remains 14 with two leaders.