pratt@paul.rutgers.edu (Lorien Y. Pratt) (05/29/90)
Trip report to the Everglades and Florida Keys
==or-- how to see 165 species in 8 days.
This file contains a fairly detailed travel log of a trip that we took this
spring to the Everglades, then to Key Largo, then to Big Pine Key. We did
lots of both bird- and fish-watching and did our first scuba diving since we
were certified (NAUI) last fall. This information should be of interest to
birders and fishers (?) alike who are interested in doing the same kind of
trip that we did.
Part 4: Birding down the keys, MM101 to 30, Thursday, April 26 1990
For the first time, we have the motel's complimentary continental breakfast --
it's minimal (danishes and juice), but good quality. I eat about 4 danishes.
Today we're leaving this motel and heading south on the Keys towards the place
we'll stay on Big Pine Key for the second half of our trip. We're going to
spend the day *out* of the water, doing some bird watching and sight-seeing.
Our first stop is Harry Harris state park (mm93), where Lane's bird
book says we should see some species. This is a very nicely kept park,
with beautiful turquoise water and pretty (though narrow) beaches with
palm trees on them. We see nesting Osprey (1 adult, two young) on top
of a ball-park light near the north end of the park.
Birds we saw here:
Lots of ==ruddy turnstones
==Double crested cormorant
==laughing gulls
==least terns
==long-billed dowitcher
==short-billed dowitchers
==western sandpiper
==semipalmated plover
tame ==prairie warbler
==common ground-dove ( probably, small size, red on wings when they flew)
==osprey (3)
==black-bellied plover
==lesser yellowlegs
We continued south on the Keys highway. At MM50, we turn left next to the
Marine Bank, then right shortly thereafter into Sombrero Resort, where the
Lanes book says to look to see ==Burrowing Owls, which we did. The golf
course seems to have made a mascot of these little owls, who pose obligingly
just like the little owl statues and like their picture in the field guide.
This is my first owl ever, so I'm really happy about it, though I'm tiring
from the heat and getting a little cranky.
We continue further south. The Lane book recommends we stop after mm39 at
sunshine key campground. On the left is a big pond with shorebirds. We
see ==Greater yellowlegs, ==two turkey vultures, ==white-phase little
blue heron.
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L. Y. Pratt Computer Science Department
pratt@paul.rutgers.edu Rutgers University
Hill Center
(201) 932-4634 New Brunswick, NJ 08903, USA