Finch in Florida

One Word: FLOW

The Quest for Cyanerpes cyanueus

As I pulled into the Royal Palm parking lot of Everglades National Park around 6:30 AM I was excited, yet cautious...I usually am when it is early in the morning and tired from driving 4+ hours through rather thick fog. A quick check in my backpack for my binoculars and digital camera insured that despite the early wake-up call, no brain farts had occurred (whew...so far, so good). I began to step out of the car when I almost made a drastic mistake. I caught myself luckily, and rummaged around the front seat of the car to pull out the secret weapon...

Now, before I reveal this secret weapon, I want to let you know that I am generally not a very superstitious person. I gladly walk under ladders, I never knock on wood, I don't mind breaking a mirror or two (or three) and I even challenge black cats to cross my path...in fact, I encourage them! However, I have succumed to the fact that in order increase your chances of seeing a rare bird you just need to do one simple thing...drink some Fierce Grape Gatorade View image If you don't believe me, try it yourself...all I am saying is that your chances of seeing a good bird are much better after drinking some Fierce Grape (and it doesn't look as silly as throwing salt over your shoulder).

The fog was lifting quickly and the birds were getting very active. It was already 7:15 AM. I got into position near the entrance to the Gumbo Limbo trail, the scene of the Red-legged Honeycreeper appearence from yesterday morning...always a good place to start a rare bird investigation. The gumbo limbo tree next to the trailhead was alive with birds, Northern Cardinals, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Northern Parulas, White-eyed Vireos (along with a nice looking Blue-headed) and even a Great-crested Flycatcher hawking insects.

The Flow was definately building...I could feel its presence.

Then, suddenly, admist the flurry of activity there IT was...the Red-legged Honeycreeper and right above my head! After a double take and a figurative pinching of myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming I got my binoculars to my eyes to view this splendid little bird. There was no mistaking this bird...red legs, cobalt blue body, black wings, downcurved bill, and if those weren't enough, a University of North Carolina baby blue cap! Simply stunning! Awestruck by its beauty, I almost forgot that taking some pictures of the bird would be nice, but I was able to keep on the bird as it moved to the top of the tree. I was not thwarted and some documentation photos of moderately acceptable quality were soon mine!

(in this bottom picture you can see the honeycreeper eating the gumbo limbo tree fruit)

After posing for the moderately adequate pictures, the honeycreeper became rather active and flew around to a few different large ficus and gumbo limbo trees in the immedate vicinity (for those of you contemplating a chase yourself, the bird seemed to favor the taller gumbo limbo trees by both Gumbo Limbo Trail entrances as well as the large ficus next to the Royal Palm pavillion).

With the bird now ticked and photo documented I could now enter the most coveted state of birding freedom...the Bonus Round. Yes, the weight on my shoulders and monkey on my back were officially cast aside. I could now pay some attention to "those other birds". Within a few minutes I had a chance to admire a Yellow-throated Warbler

The distinctive song of the Least Bittern poo-poo-pooed its way from the Marsh adjacent to Anhinga Trail...another pleasant surprise. I soon made my way back towards the Gumbo Limbo trail. It wasn't too long a wait when a flock of no fewer than seven (7) White-crowned Pigeons winging by, always a welcome sight! After another appearance by the Honeycreeper just after 9AM, the group of birders that had stayed around were given another treat...a beautiful light-morph Short-tailed Hawk kettling higher and higher amoungst of Vultures (mostly Turkey with two Black).

Now you know what I am talking about! As my good friend Sam "Merlin" Dotzler said, "bonus round...fierce grape. coincidence...I don't think so!" I mean, this is flow to the fullest extent of the law...it might even be illegal. No matter, this is what the bonus round is all about. And it didn't stop with birds...as I drove down the main road in the Everglades for a quick check of the Flamingo area, I drove right up to a turtle as it was trying to cross the road. Upon closer examination I soon found that it was my lifer Florida Box Turtle...cute little guy (or are turtles handsome)?

After ushering the little turtle across the main road, I made a stop down at the nice little town of Flamingo to check out the bay by the visitor's center. A quick check of the trees around the parking produced the typical Eurasian Starlings and a Brown-headed Cowbird...unfortunately not the dreamed of, hoped for Shiny Cowbird. Oh well...

I did have the pleasure of meeting Bill Wittman, a visting birder from Albuquerque, New Mexico and a really nice guy! We chatted for a good half hour about birds, big years and about his co-finding of a great ABA bird in NM last year, a Piratic Flycatcher! http://kmlschneider.home.comcast.net/Piratic.html
I informed Bill about the Honeycreeper down at Royal Palm and he went off to find the bird (hopefully he saw it!). I am always glad to know that there are so many great birders out there that are great people as well.

After the nice chat with Bill I decided to start heading back up and out of the park, as it was getting near noon. I pretty much cruised back up the main road with a quick pit stop at Royal Palm to see if I could get greedy and get some better pictures of the honeycreeper (well, I mean the Flow was Flowing, so why not try!). It was not meant to be, but my short walk on Gumbo Limbo trail did produce a lifer snake and I was thrilled to watch the aptly named Peninsula Ribbon Snake

Hmmm...it was now nearing 1:00 PM and I still had to make one more stop on my way out of the park. I stopped at the canal just outside the park and waited...sure enough, not more than 2 minutes passed and he was teed up on the top of the chain link fence. There he was, the overwintering Vermilion Flycatcher, so aesthetically pleasing on such an aesthetically appalling perch.

My moderately adequate photos simply do not do this bird justice! However, I was able to better capture the essence of another nice looking bird, thanks to a much obliging Eastern Meadowlark.

And good ol' Fierce Grape had still not forgotten me, as when I was waving goodbye to Mr. Vermilion another light-morph Short-tailed Hawk cruised overhead. The Bonus Round rules!

A look at the wrist and I can see that 2:00 PM has come and past...time to jump aboard the Exotic Express! (sounds a little cooler than jumping aboard the 1997 Pontiac Grand AM...just a little). Thoughts of sugarplums and parakeets danced in my head as I cruised up the Florida Turnpike en route to Alex Harper's abode in Miami Shores. The Exotic Express was chuggin' right along until the omnipresent Miami traffic was met head on. The Exotic Express was charging down the interstate at a top speed of 10 mph...I felt like I was in the opening scene in the movie Office Space . Finally I got out of Miami and up into Miami shores were I met Alex outside of his house. We immediately walked across the street from his house and Alex showed me a large palm tree where some parakeets were checking it out for nesting. And sure enough, clinging on the the side of the tree were two Yellow-cheveroned Parakeets!

This was awesome and the birds were very cooperative. I had only seen this species once before, out in Hermosa Beach, California at the Ralph's supermarket. But, interestingly enought, these birds are pretty much in Listing Purgatory. The Checklist Committee of the American Birding Association has accepted the YCPA as a countable bird, BUT since no individual State Checklist Committees have accepted the bird, the YCPA is simply a countable ABA bird that can not be counted at present.

Well, I wanted more and I wanted ABA countable parakeets...and luckily Alex knew just where to take me to get them! Alex jumped into the green machine and we were on our way to find some White-winged Parakeets. En route to the parakeet spot we had some nice birds including another Non-countable Exotic...four Hill Mynas. These birds make some crazy noises and can be heard from quite a distance away.
(You'll definately have to click on this picture to see the Hill Mynas better)

For some interesting ID and status discussion of both Hill and Common Mynas in Florida, definately check out this link http://www.tropicalaudubon.org/tasboard/messages/4476.html

So, after some satisfying views and moderately adequate photos of the Mynas, we pressed on to THE parakeet spot. I was not disappointed...upon arrival at the feeder area there were a few White-winged Doves perched on the telephone wires. Others could be heard singing in the distance, which was a new thing for me to hear. And then came loud screeching calls from the sky...and within 10 seconds we had an instant feeding frenzy of White-winged Parakeets! Yes, it was another ABA lifer for me and I was lovin' it (I had also seen this species before out in California, but they are NOT countable there).

Although the 2nd pic is a bit blurry, you can see a bit of the white in the wing and that is one way to tell the WWPA from the YCPA. In the June 2003 issue of BIRDING there is a great article discussing the Parrot Fauna of the ABA Area which says (the) Yellow-chevroned Parakeet is told from the closely related White-winged Parakeet by its brighter "grass-green" body plumage, narrower whitish orbital ring, green lores, and slightly darker bill.

At exactly 4:10 PM, and later than usual according to Alex, the mass of parakeets took wing and zoomed off with a loud raucous chatter. It was a very cool sight to see and was a great way to end a great day.

Posted by tuffrasta at February 24, 2004 06:44 AM