Florida: The South, the Keys and the Dry Tortugas

Day 1: The trip begins at 6 p.m. this evening in the lobby of our hotel near Southwest Florida International Airport, Fort Myers.

Day 2: We’ll leave early for Port Charlotte and the Babcock-Webb Wildlife Management area, a large tract of Slash Pine and marsh whose inhabitants include the celebrated pinewoods trio of Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Brown-headed Nuthatch, and Bachman’s Sparrow. Sandhill Cranes nest in the area, and roadside ditches sometimes hold King Rail. Here too will be singing Eastern Towhees, Brown Thrashers, Eastern Bluebirds and Eastern Meadowlarks, none of which are common further to the south.  Just a bit north, on the outskirts of Punta Gorda, several clusters of the curious and social Florida Scrub-Jays have prospered for years and we’re almost certain to find them. It’s hard to know exactly how much time it will take to find and fully absorb these four North American endemics. If we accomplish our goals with dispatch, we may travel further north to the managed wetlands called the Sarasota Celery Fields, where we should encounter our first Limpkin among the many wading birds, and to Fort Desoto, where given the right weather thick woods and fruiting mulberry trees can be filled with migrating songbirds.  Nearby the fort we can look for Nanday Parakeets, which reach their peak density around the cities of Tampa and Saint Petersburg.  Night in Fort Myers.

Day 3: We’ll start the day visiting a nearby freshwater marsh a few miles inland that typically supports a healthy population of Limpkin and good numbers of Snail Kites that typically forage along the irrigation canals.  Afterwards we’ll likely stop in near the coast to look at a colony of Burrowing Owls and then, if the tide conditions favor us, will stop at Bunche Beach; a well-known wader area that supports a nice array of shorebirds and herons at low tide.  Later we’ll drive across the peninsula, stopping at the Big Cypress Preserve, a delightful sanctuary with an elevated winding boardwalk through stands of tall Bald Cypress to a sawgrass marsh. The huge Cypress trees lend a somewhat primeval feel, and although the preserve is an experience as much as a birding spot, we hope to find Pileated Woodpecker, and a collection of warblers perhaps including Yellow-throated and Northern Parula on territory.  After lunch, we’ll drive south and east across the northern Everglades to Florida City and the gateway to Everglades National Park. If time allows, we’ll visit the neighborhood around the Kendall Baptist Hospital to look for Red-whiskered Bulbul, Spot-breasted Oriole and Egyptian Geese and Muscovy Duck.  Night in Florida City.

Day 4: On day four we will visit the Everglades National Park, spending the morning on the main park road into Flamingo, stopping along the way for "Cape Sable" Seaside Sparrows. At Flamingo, we’ll scan mudflats for shorebirds and terns, possibly including Marbled Godwit and Gull-billed Tern along with the local “Great White” Herons.  among many others. Eco Pond, a few hundred feet from the end of the road, has a small island favored by roosting waterbirds often including Roseate Spoonbill and White Ibis, and the pond itself often has a surprise or two.  For the past several years small numbers of Shiny Cowbirds have frequented the parking lot area, and with luck we’ll have excellent views of this scarce invader from the Caribbean.  With real luck we may also encounter an American Crocodile or West Indian Manatee lurking around Florida Bay.

We’ll return to Florida City midday, then make the incredibly scenic, if slow, 120-mile drive to Key West, making a few stops along the way before arriving in the late afternoon. We’ll eat dinner early, then venture out again at dusk to look for and listen to Antillean Nighthawk. Night in Key West.

Day 5: We’ll sail at 8:00 am for the Tortugas aboard the Yankee Freedom III. 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, to look for Black Noddy, Bridled Tern, and other rarities, and to thoroughly search Fort Jefferson for migrants that 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-will’s-widow inside the old powder magazine, or a Short-eared Owl perched in one of the trees on the parade ground.  For those interested it is possible to borrow snorkel gear from the ferry and take a dip into the rich waters around the fort during our stay on the island. 

On the way back to Key West we’ll look for Masked Boobies and also check the buoys for loafing Brown Boobies or Roseate Terns.  The trip to and from the fort crosses a deepwater channel where we might also see Northern Gannet (making for a three Sulid day), and with some luck jaegers or even an Audubon’s Shearwater. We’ll return to Key West in the late afternoon arriving around 5:00 pm for a great seafood dinner by the harbor. Night in Key West.

Day 6: 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 checking several locations looking for this handsome bird. In some years we’ve had good views of cuckoos within just 15 minutes of exiting our vehicles; in others it requires a lot of patience. 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 7: This will be a flexible day. We’ll look for species that we might have missed and will have time to track down any reported rarities in the greater Miami area.  We generally stop in at one of the excellent wetland parks near Loxahatchee, to enjoy the full array of breeding herons, anhingas and Wood Storks that tamely breed along the boardwalks.  Seeing these birds in their full breeding dress is an amazing experience, and with some careful scrutiny we might pick out a nesting pair of Least Bitterns or Purple Gallinules amongst the throngs.  We’ll almost certainly use some of the day to track down remaining “countable” exotics like Gray-headed Swamphen, Scaly-breated Munia, and Mitred and Yellow-chevroned Parakeets, and also visit one or more of the excellent migrant traps along the coast for a last look at assorted warblers, vireos, thrushes or cuckoos that might be resting after their journey across the Caribbean. Night in Miami.

Day 8: The tour concludes this morning in Miami.

2025 Narrative

In Brief:
The South Florida tour covered a wide array of habitats ranging from pinewoods to coastal beaches and wetlands to the vast Everglades the extensive Florida Keys. Late-April offers the best birding in this region when resident birds are joined by summer visitors while migrants from further south are passing through on their way north.

We began this tour in Fort Myers where we visited Babock-Webb, where an extensive area is managed for pinewood specials such as Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Brown-headed Nuthatch, and Bachman’s Sparrow. Nearby we visited the endemic Florida Scrub-Jay and also sifted through flocks of migrant songbirds and shorebirds at Fort DeSoto. 

Crossing from the Gulf Coast to the Atlantic Coast, we worked out way south through the Florida Keys targeting Black-whiskered Vireo, Mangrove Cuckoo, White-crowned Pigeon, and Antillean Nighthawk. From Key West we took a day trip out to the Dry Tortugas for a day of Black and Brown Noddies, Sooty and Bridled Terns, Brown and Masked Boobies, and a whole host of migrants. 

We finished off the tour in and around Miami where we targeted the countable exotics including Scaly-breasted Munia, Red-whiskered Bublul, Spot-breasted Oriole, Egyptian Goose, and a whole host of parrots. We also visited the Wakodahatchee Wetlands for an up-close view of breeding waterbirds namely Wood Storks, Anhingas, and a host of herons and egrets. It was a productive tour with favorable weather, excellent birds, and great camaraderie!

In Detail:
We had a gorgeous first morning at Babcock-Webb Wildlife Management Area just north of Fort Myers. The morning fog being pierced by the sun through the sparsely forested pinewoods really set the stage for an excellent morning. We stopped along the gravel road at a reliable spot for the Red-cockaded Woodpecker and quickly found a couple, which even came closer for superb views. The morning chorus included Eastern Meadowlarks, Eastern Bluebirds, Great Crested Flycatchers and some distance Sandhill Cranes calling. Common Ground Doves were indeed common, and we spotted some along a side track. Further along the road we picked up two more targets, Brown-headed Nuthatch and Bachman’s Sparrow obtaining great views of both. We also had Northern Bobwhite, Pileated Woodpecker, Pine Warbler, Loggerhead Shrike, and Eastern Towhee, the pale-eyed form here in the southeastern U.S.

Continuing north we drove a neighborhood where we eventually found the endemic Florida Scrub-Jay before arriving at an area called The Celery Fields. These wetlands provided an excellent stock of marsh birds including Common and Purple Gallinules, Gray-headed Swamphen, and Limpkin and a selection of herons and egrets such as Tricolored Heron. Also present were Black-necked Silts, Long-billed Dowitcher, Stilt Sandpiper, and a gorgeous Swallow-tailed Kite being mobbed by Loggerhead Shrikes.

Our final stop of the day was For De Soto Park. We first pointed our attention to a forested area in search of migrants. It was pretty quiet, but we did have a female Painted Bunting along with Black-and-white, Cape May, Worm-eating, Blackpoll and Palm Warblers.

The beach area was bustling with people, but focusing on the quieter areas, we picked up American Oystercatcher, Black-bellied, Semipalmated, Piping, and Wilson’s Plovers, Willets, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderings, and Dunlins! Non shorebirds included Royal and Least Terns, Reddish Egret, and several Magnificent Frigatebirds soaring gracefully over the ocean.

The next morning, we drove out to the edge of Fort Myers where a canal that cuts through a neighborhood hosts Snail Kites. We quickly found no fewer than 17 individuals actively feeding along the main road. We spent nearly 30 minutes enjoying these beauties along with Mottled Ducks, Yellow-crowned Night Herons, White and Glossy Ibis, and Little Blue Herons.

We then headed back into Fort Myers and paid a quick visit to Bunche Beach for more shorebirds adding Short-billed Dowitcher, Red Knot, Sandwich Tern, and no fewer than 225 Black Skimmers. A Prairie Warbler also made an appearance in the nearby coastal scrub. 

After cleaning up on all of our targets on the Gulf Coast, we crossed the Florida peninsula through the Big Cypress Preserve and Everglades National Park stopping for a picnic lunch en-route. While eating we were entertained by American Redstart, Black-throated Green Warbler, Red-shouldered Hawk, and our only Tufted Titmouse of the trip.

Once we reached the bustling city of Miami, a stop at a local city park yielded our first countable exotic, a very cooperative Spot-breasted Oriole right from the parking area. We also picked up a Monk Parakeet feeding on a Yellow Flame Tree and our first of many Gray Kingbirds. Nearby another neighborhood park added Scaly-breasted Munia while further along we had ten Indian Peafowl.

With time to spare before checking into our hotel, we headed to Black Point Park to try our luck at the secretive Mangrove Cuckoo, which was also high on most of everyone’s target lists. We were greeting by an Ovenbird, which was working the edge of the parking lot oblivious to our presence. After a bit of searching, we stumbled upon a pair of Mangrove Cuckoos right along the trail offering exceptional views and we even witnessing them copulating. Hopefully this means next year there will be more to find!

We departed early to head into the Everglades National Park for the morning. We practically had the entire place to ourselves. We worked our way to an area that hosts the local population of “Cape Sable” Seaside Sparrows. After a while, we got excellent scope views of one teed up on grass. We then spent some time around Flamingo at the end of the road where our main target was Shiny Cowbird. Exploring around we found several “Great White” Herons, the white form of Great Blue Heron, West Indian Manatees, American Crocodile, and finally a two male Shiny Cowbirds mixed in with 15 Brown-headed Cowbirds. With the cowbird in the bag, we headed back out of the park stumbling upon our third cowbird of the trip, a male Bronzed Cowbird, making it a three-cowbird morning. 

The afternoon was spent slowly working our way down the Florida Keys towards Key West. This incredibly scenic drive, spanning over 100 miles including 42 bridges, was broken up with a couple stops along the way. Roseate Terns hadn’t arrived yet at their breeding location near Marathon, but a quick stop did add our first White-crowned Pigeons, Northern Waterthrush, and Black-throated Blue Warbler among other warblers present.

Once in Key West, we paid a visit to Fort Zackary Taylor State Park where we had a host of migrants including 9 species of warblers, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, and our target Black-whiskered Vireo.

The next day promised to be a great day as we embarked on a boat trip out to the Dry Tortugas the spend the day. The ride out yielded Northern Gannets, Magnificent Frigatebirds, two seemingly out of place Blue-winged Teal, several flying fish, Green Sea Turtles, and a bonus hammerhead shark.

We arrived at Garden Key, where the fort is located and where we’d spend the day. We were greeted by thousands of Brown Noddies and Sooty Terns, hundreds of Magnificent Frigatebirds, and a team of Ruddy Turnstones on the beach. Our first stop was the part of the key where Black Noddy can be found. It took us a while to get there due to the number of migrant warblers stopping us in our tracks including a gorgeous Hooded Warbler. Eventually we made it to the noddy spot and after a bit of scanning, we found one individual surrounded by Brown Noddies for an excellent comparison showing the darker plumage and smaller size. 
 
 After the success, we then proceeded to do a walking loop checking out all of the key spots on the key picking up a couple Yellow-billed Cuckoos, several roosting Bridled Terns, a couple Roseate Terns, a male Summer Tanager, and ten species of warblers. Most of the warblers came into the water drip allowing excellent views of Prairie, Black-throated Blue, Cape May, and others. Raptors didn’t disappoint either, mainly present to feed off the migration passerines. Sharp-shinned Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Merlin, American Kestrel, and Peregrine Falcon all making their rounds! We had a wonderful day moseying around in the beautiful weather before heading back in the afternoon. 

After an early dinner, we ventured back out once more in search of Antillean Nighthawk not far from Key West. This species can be tricky and often requires a very early start the next morning to a reliable spot. However, luck was on our side, and we managed to hear and see at least two flying around along with a single Common Nighthawk. An interesting addition to this stop was a very distant flock of plovers flying and close inspection of photos reveled they were 35 American Golden-Plovers.

Before departing Key West the nest morning, we stopped by Fort Zachary Taylor State Park to search for a reported vagrant Tropical Mockingbird. It didn’t take long before we found it near the fort wall where we could easily see the diagnostic streaky flanks. We also had a nearby Northern Mockingbird for great comparisons. There was a little turnover in migrants, and we tallied 13 species of warblers with a late Yellow-rumped being the only new one. We also had a Baltimore Oriole and another Painted Bunting. In town we had the obligatory views of Red Junglefowl, which have long been established in Key West for many years.

We packed our bags and began our long journey back up the Florida Keys towards Miami. Along the way we stopped for Clapper Rail, finding several of these of the “Caribbean” subspecies and later on we visited a Cave Swallow colony where dozens were nesting under a bridge.

We spent the rest of the day targeting some exotic species around the Miami suburbs finding Muscovy Duck, Red-whiskered Bulbul, Egyptian Goose, and Mitred and Red-masked Parakeet.

Our first stop on the final morning was Brian Piccolo Park where Burrowing Owls breed among the busy soccer fields. Accustomed to people, we had great close views of these adorable owls standing alert at their nesting holes.

We headed north to the Wakodahatchee Wetlands, a large breeding site for waterbirds. We walked the boardwalk where Wood Storks were the most numerous with no fewer than 350 adults and youngsters. We also had excellent numbers of Anhingas, Glossy Ibis, Tricolored Herons, among others all nearly within arm’s reach. We also had a surprise visit by three Roseate Spoonbills adding a bit of color to the spectacle. Nearby Green Cay Wetlands provided a roosting Eastern Screech-Owl in a palm tree to our growing trip list.

A quick visit to Boynton Beach Inlet Park to see if anything unusual was around yielded a surprise group of four Bobolinks migrating north just offshore. Not the usual way of seeing this species!

Our final stop of the day was Oleta River State Park, where the long-staying Yellow-headed Caracara has been present for over a year now. Upon arriving we stumbled upon an escapee San Blas Jay, which caught us off-guard. We then relaxed and waited to see if the caracara would come in for a visit as it often visits to clean up any picnic remains. After a while I went and grabbed snacks from the van and had it calling and flying over my head but unfortunately only I saw the bird after extensive effort. 

All in all, it was an incredibly successful trip—and there was so much to celebrate! We checked into our hotel and enjoyed a delicious Peruvian dinner to cap off our final evening together, toasting to a fantastic South Florida tour with a wonderful group.

 - Ethan Kistler, 2025

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