Florida & the Dry Tortugas

Most birders are aware of the Dry Tortugas which is located about 70 miles west of Key West, Florida.  This place is often mentioned as a 'must see' for hard core birders.  Its remoteness is part of the allure and magic of this place.  It is now a US National Park and is home to Ft Jefferson.  The Dry Tortugas consist of 7 islets, or keys.  The 3 largest keys, Garden Key, Loggerhead Key, and Bush key make up more than 90% of the land mass of the Dry Tortugas.  The rest are small and are constantly changing due to weather, tides, and currents.  They were named because sea turtles were originally found there and they have no fresh water source.  Garden Key is the home of Ft Jefferson and is the only key that is accessible to most people by boat or by sea plane.  Bush Key is sometimes attached to Garden Key, but is often off limits as it is an active nesting colony for Brown Noddy and Sooty Terns.  During spring migration, this spot is attractive to many migrants crossing the Gulf of Mexico and many drop in to forage and get some energy back before continuing with their journey northward.  For those reasons, this spot is a must see spot for most birders.  

The boat ride is about 3 hours to arrive at Garden Key and Ft Jefferson.  The seas were fairly void of any seabirds until we approached our destination.  We started seeing Brown Noddies and Sooty Terns as we approached about 5 miles out.  I was fortunate to get a couple of photos of a Brown Noddy flying close to the boat.  What is really cool is the fact that this species was my 600th ABA bird.  A great bird for a nice milestone.  (700 is a long ways off.  Going to take some extra effort to reach that milestone!)

 Brown Noddy

Once we arrived at Garden Key, we got to observe many more Brown Noddies including many on Bush Key which was off limits for us. Here are some photos of some of the Brown Noddies from Garden Key.  Perching and resting space is at a premium and this pair was not about to give up their perch.  

 Brown Noddy - Photo sequence

We were able to see the nesting areas of Bush Key from a distance which included Brown Noddy and Sooty Terns.  Here is a photo of the nesting area which shows both species and it is followed by a photo of a Sooty Tern that was injured along the shore of Garden Key.

 Brown Noddy & Sooty Terns - Nesting on Bush Key

Sooty Tern

We also were able to find some Bridled Terns on the coal pilings near the camping area.  From a distance they might be a bit difficult to distinguish from Sooty Terns, but these were close enough for us to see the different field marks such as the pale mantle and the amount of white on forehead which is different in these two species. 

 Bridled Tern

On the boat trip from Key West to Garden Key, the captain made a point to approach Hospital Key, which was nothing but a long sandbar rising above the water.  While this does not sound exciting, it happens to be the small island that the Masked Booby has claimed as their small territory. This was an example of why a zoom lens is needed for photos.  Photos had to be made from a distance as the boat could not approach very closely due to shallow water and also to prevent any disturbance to the birds.  

 Masked Booby

One of the unique features of the Dry Tortugas is the fact that it is one of the very first specks of land that many migrants see as they are crossing the Gulf of Mexico.  Due to the extreme distance they have traveled and the possibility of encountering storms or unfavorable winds, many of these birds will land on this speck of land in search of food and water.  The only spot of fresh water on the island is inside Ft Jefferson at a cistern where fresh water is stored for the few rangers that live at the park.  This water is hauled in on a regular basis and this cistern, which has an open area at the top with a water drip, is the place to get a drink. With fewer trees and a limited water source, these many passerines are easier to observe.  Below are some of the photos that I captured of some of these birds. 

 Black-whiskered Vireo

Gray Kingbird

 Cape May Warbler

 Hooded Warbler

 Prothonotary Warbler

Swainson's Thrush

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Ruddy Turnstones

Black Skimmers - We enjoyed this flock as we were departing Key West in the morning.

Ft Jefferson on Garden key is not a paradise for the migrants!  It has its share of predators.  We documented American Kestrel, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, and several Cattle Egrets.  The unfortunate victims of these predators were often many of the song birds.  However the Peregrine Falcon preferred to feast on the terns and noddies that were in abundance.

 Cattle Egret

 An opportunistic Cattle Egret

Peregrine Falcon

 Ft Jefferson on Garden Key - This was taken on our approach to the island.

This is Loggerhead Key with the lighthouse and is off limits to all personnel, except for National Park Staff.

I highly recommend a trip to the Dry Tortugas if you are heading to Florida for birding.  You can go as a one day trip where you go out and come back the same day.  However, you can also go and camp out in the small camping area, but keep in mind that there is no fresh water or food on the island, so plan your trip well.  Also, get your reservations in on the Yankee Freedom III in advance.  Some of the trips tend to fill quickly.  I know that I will definitely find time for another trip to the Dry Tortugas if I make it back to Florida in the future! 

   

Texas: Bolivar Flats Bird Sanctuary

After spending most of the morning at Anahuac NWR, on April 29, my next destination was the Bolivar Flats Bird Sanctuary near the tip of the Bolivar Peninsula. Another great place for birding, but a notice to anyone planning a visit to this beach area; wear long sleeve shirts and pants, no shorts.  Or maybe make sure you have insect repellent applied as there are some large flies there that can really bite and leave a welt.  I learned the hard way, but the birds were worth it.  

This is a great place to see lots of shorebirds, along with gulls and terns.  One of my target birds was the Piping Plover, a bird that is listed by IUCN, (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) as 'near-threatened'.  Its breeding habitat is also popular with humans making its breeding efforts vulnerable.  Not only did I find this marvelous bird, but I found 6 of them!

  

Piping Plover

Piping Plover - there are 4 of them in this photo

Dunlin, Semipalmated Sandpipers and Wilson's Plovers were fairly common and could be seen running up and down the beaches.

Dunlin

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Wilson's Plover

Least Terns and Black Terns were also very common and the Least Terns were putting on a show with a male courting the female by offering her a small fish.

Black Tern and Least Tern

Least Tern

This spot is also a great spot for Reddish Egrets which is a species that I have seen in Arizona (rare) and also in Puerto Penasco, Mexico.  And I could see one far off in the distance, but upon closer inspection I found one a bit closer, but did not look quite like the normal bird that I have seen.  This one happened to be a much more uncommon color phase, the White-morph.  The distinctive bi-colored bill is the key field mark of all Reddish Egrets and helps to identify this bird and assure it is not a Snowy Egret or a juvenile Little Blue Heron.

White-morph Reddish Egret

One other bird of note was a fly-over by a Peregrine Falcon which looked a little out of place along a sandy shoreline.

Peregrine Falcon

After leaving this area I headed back and made a couple of stops along the way, including Roller Over Bridge.  This time and without extra people I was able to capture a couple extra photos of birds that I was not able to obtain with the group that I had the day before.

 Black-bellied Plover

 Black Skimmer

 Sanderling

Laughing Gull, Black Skimmer, Caspian, Royal and Forster's Terns

At another stop, a Willet was more than obliging for some photos.  This bird was very common just about any location where there was water.  The Willets in Texas have more of a brownish color than those in the west that tend to be gray.  They may appear to be a boring bird in the coloration department, but once they take flight, they are quite striking in appearance.  Just goes to show what is sometimes hidden in those wings.

 Willet

Willet

And the final bird?  Yes, another Common Nighthawk that landed in front of my car on a gravel road.  

Common Nighthawk

Day 3 comes to a close with an abundance of great birds and with one day left, I had to plan my time well to see what else I could add to my list of wonderful birds in Texas.

California: Day 2 Bay Area Continued

We continued our birding of the San Francisco Bay area by stopping at our next stop on Radio Road.  This place is one large fairly shallow pond, but the amount of birds on this pond was staggering.  This was my first viewing of the Black Skimmer.  A small island out in the water held 18 of these birds and then up closer to our shore was a juvenile.  I believe it is the only bird with the lower mandible being much longer than the upper mandible.  These birds are awesome to look at.  

 Black Skimmers

Black Skimmer juvenile

A Forster's Tern put on quite the acrobatic display for us while we were there.

 Forster's Tern

  Forster's Tern

  Forster's Tern

 Forster's Tern

While we had been seeing hundreds of Brown Pelicans on the coast, in this spot we found 5 American White Pelicans which rounded out the US pelican species.

American White Pelican

One of our guides, Leslie, was able to pickup a lone Short-billed Dowitcher in the huge numbers of Long-billed Dowitchers.  These 2 species can be tough to identify.

Short-billed Dowitcher

The next stop this day was Stulsaft Park which is a small but fabulous park very well hidden in a very residential area consisting of a lot of trees and a stream with flowing water down in the base of this small canyon.  Got 2 new life birds in this area, the Oak Titmouse and Nuttall's Woodpecker, but failed to get 'good' photos of them.  We did find 4 Brown Creepers in this spot and did mange to capture a passable photo of one of them.  A very tough bird to photograph.  Also found this small park is full of black Squirrels.  Have no idea if it is a separate species or just a color variation of a common species.

 Brown Creeper

 Brown Creeper

 Black Squirrel

A cool spider web for fun

To round out the day, we stopped at Skylawn Cemetery in the afternoon on our way back to Half Moon Bay.  This place is situated at the top of the pass that separated the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean.  It is a beautiful place with stunning views down the valley towards Half Moon Bay.  We had another Wrentit, another one of those new life birds that did not want to allow photos, and also a bird common to me in Arizona, a Black Phoebe that presented itself on the edge of the cemetery.  But the biggest thrill was a pair of Golden Eagles.  We had seen 2 the day before at a different location and quite high in the sky, but today was a bit different.  One of the 2 was being harassed by a Red-tailed Hawk and this one flew almost straight over us, all the while being dive bombed by the hawk.  The Red-tailed Hawk is a fairly large bird, but when it is in the same photo frame as the Golden Eagle, then one can really appreciate how magnificent these Golden Eagles really are.

 Golden Eagle

Golden Eagle and Red-tailed Hawk

Black Phoebe

The cemetery was also inhabited by some resident deer that must have known they were safe from hunters in this area.  Probably were also taking advantage of the fresh flowers that were edible from many of the cemetery plots.  They did not seem too over concerned with us and our cameras and binoculars.

A very full day of birding with lots of nice surprises and finds.  But the day finally came to an end, but the next day was to be the pelagic trip out in the Pacific Ocean for 12 hours and observing and seeing birds and anything else we could find.  That will be the topic of my next blog post.