Ethan Kistler reports from Florida 2024
Another WINGS South Florida spring tour has come to a successful end. The Fort Myers area provided pineywood specials such as Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Brown-headed Nuthatch, and Bachman’s Sparrow along with Snail Kite, Florida Scrub-Jay...
...and a bonus American Flamingo!
Crossing the peninsula from the Gulf Coast to the Atlantic Coast, we passed through Big Cypress and Everglades picking up Shiny Cowbirds and the Endangered Cape Sable subspecies of Seaside Sparrow before reaching the Florida Keys and ultimately the Dry Tortugas. The usual suspects were had including Black-whiskered Vireo, Antillean Nighthawk, White-crowned Pigeon, Masked and Brown Boobies, Black Noddy, and a whole host of migrants.
We finished the tour in and around Miami obtaining point blank views of the highly desired Mangrove Cuckoo...
...and a whole host of exotics such as this Spot-breasted Oriole, that was in a small tree right above our van.
Our tour was topped off with this lovely pair of Burrowing Owls, which have little areas roped off between soccer fields in a busy urban park.
