Birding Miami Florida in March 2024

I spent the last week in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area. The trip was with my wife and two boys and was for generic leisure and birding was not the main priority. Even still I made great efforts to visit a few natural areas over the week and get some birdwatching and butterfly watching in. In almost an underwhelming fashion, I was able to pick up one life bird and one life butterfly.

Target birds that were possible but not likely-
Mangrove cuckoo(migrates in late march)
Western spindalis
La Sagra's flycatcher
Thick billed vireo
Black wiskered vireo
Local parakeets
Least tern (migrates in late march)
Short tailed hawk

Miami Blue butterfly - extinct to extirpated to a few small islands near key west. Read more here: Miami Blue Butterfly | FWC (myfwc.com)

My efforts to birdwatch was to look at some hotspots in ebird and focus on some of the top locations.


Bill Baggs Park -Key Biscayne (link)
Prairie Warbler
Chuck wills Widow
Common warblers
Little blue Heron
Sanderling
Magnificent frigatebird
Queen butterfly
Julia butterfly

Chuck Wills Widow ! (seen flycatching in leaf litter in mid-morning, then perched)

Anne Kolbe reserve - Hollywood Fl (link)
Yellow throated warbler
Yellow rumped warbler
Palm warbler
Black and white warbler
American redstart
Northern Parula
*Mangrove tree crab

MATHESON HAMMOCK PARK (link)
Yellow throated Vireo
Red shouldered hawk
Red headed woodpecker
Yellow rumped warbler
Palm warbler
Red shouldered hawk
Magrove skipper (worn - but life butterfly)
Zebra longwing butterfly

Mangrove Skipper (worn) - Life Butterfly (#164)

Random neighborhood baseball diamond
-Loggerhead shrike
-Prairie Warbler

Hal Scott Preserve (link) (closer to Orlando ---  Red cockaded woodpeckers are here but i did not see them on this brief visit.  )
Eastern bluebird
Brown headed nutchatch
Blue grey gnatchcher
Bachmans Sparrow (lifer! #471)
Pine warbler

Bachman's Sparrow - Lifer. Most certainly soon to be renamed

I guess this trip has reminded me that even if ebird shows that a bird may be present in a location.... 90% of the days you might only see the (at best) 90 percentile birds. An area that seems promising can be a let-down and seemingly devoid of birdlife, but another area that seems to not be of great significance could have surprisingly good birds. Sometimes we have to remember that the best part of travelling is the journey, not the destination itself. 

Good Birding,

Dwayne

Last Few Life Birds:

Black crested Titmouse (TX) 466

Snowy Plover (TX) 467 

Neotropical Cormorant (TX) 468

White tailed Kite (TX) 469

Least Grebe (TX) 470

Bachmans Sparrow (FL) 471

Last few Life Butterflies:

162 - Southern Dogface (Zerene cesonia) - Caves San Antonio TX , yes [link] 

163 - Henry's Elfin (Callophrys henrici) - Caves San Antonio TX , yes [link] 

164- Mangrove Skipper (Phocides pigmalion) - Mattheson Park Area MIAMI FLORIDA, yes [link]

More Fort Myers Birding - Part 2 of 2

Wilson's Plover at Little Estero Lagoon

My first posting focused on Bunche Beach, but this second one covers some sightings from a few other Fort Myers birding hotspots such as Harnes Marsh, Babcock Webb WMA, Corkscrew Preserve, Little Estero Lagoon, and even a few observations from Lakes Park.

Little Estero Lagoon
I really wanted to see Wilsons and Snowy Plovers at Little Estero Lagoon, a small reminant of natural beach at the south end of Fort Myers Beach, but I had only found Wilson's (life bird). Piping Plovers and a host of other shorebirds were present as well. I even tried to find Snowy Plovers on Sanibel Island but dipped again. A Magnificent Frigatebird was a nice consolation prize though.

Magnificent Frigatebird

Harnes Marsh
I had two Kite Species at Harnes Marsh (Swallow tailed and Snail Kite), as well as some good butterfly viewing as well. This marsh is well known to host Apple Snails and attracts birds such as Limpkin and Snail Kites (they have a penchant for escargot). The Snail Kite was a life bird. Butterflies seen included: Queen, Great southern White, Little Yellow, Gulf Fritillary, Checked Skipper, Firey Skipper.

Snail Kite

Queen Butterfly

Swallow tailed Kite

Lakes Park
Lakes Park is a city park that features train rides, splash pad, botanical gardens and playgrounds for the kids. I had seen a Least Bittern last year, but this year, my highlights included Ceraunus Blue Butterfly, Loggerhead Shrike and nice looks at Gulf Fritillary butterfly. I must admit, seeing a fluttering blue-gold micro butterfly while eating a picnic and discovering this new Ceraunus Blue butterfly was just as gratifying as finding a new bird species. It is a beauty! I was thinking as I photographed this butterfly... How many tourists to Florida would make an effort to find the various butterflies it has to offer? How many people have the inclination, the interest, the optics to see this tiny little gem? ...You would have to be pretty nerdy! :-)

Ceraunus Blue

Loggerhead Shrike - Always a pleasure to see!

Gulf Fritillary

Babcock Webb WMA
Babcock Webb WMA [link] is a 65,000 acre nature preserve about 30 minutes north of Fort Myers. I wanted to see a few birds there: Bachmans Sparrow, Red Cockaded Woodpecker and Brown headed Nuthatch. I dipped on the Bachmans Sparrow, but did find a Brown Headed Nuthatch in the RCW colony! It was nice to spend time at Babcock Webb and just listen for a gentle tapping of the pine bark to find the RCWs. Brown headed Nuthatch is so small, you need to be patient and just listen for their nasal toy horn call. So gratifying to witness these endemic Southeastern species of the pine forest. I had tried to find Brown Headed Nuthatches on my previous two visits to Florida, and this is the first time I was able to find it! Brown headed Nuthatches are a species in decline from what I have read.

Brown Headed Nuthatch - Using a small piece of pine bark in its bill as a tool

Red Cockaded Woodpecker

Brown headed Nuthatch nest cavity in a snag!

White Peacock Butterfly

So there you have it! Some of my personal nature viewing highlights from my trip to Fort Myers. Six life birds include:

Western Sandpiper 339
Prairie Warbler 340
Long billed Curlew 341

Brown headed Nuthatch 342
Snail Kite 343
Wilson's Plover 344

Butterfly Lifers:
Great Southern White
Mangrove Buckeye
Ceraunus Blue
Queen Butterfly

Painful Misses:
Bachmans Sparrow
Magrove Cuckoo
Snowy Plover
Little Metalmark Butterfly
Mangrove Skipper



Good Birding!
Dwaynejava

Zebra Longwing - Corkscrew Preserve

Butterfly Watching in Fort Myers Florida

Gulf Fritillary

This is just a quick look at the five life-butterflies that I saw on my recent trip to Fort Myers. The five new species seen were:

Orange barred Sulphur,
Zebra Longwing (official butterfly of Florida),
Julia Longwing,
White Peacock,
and Gulf Fritillary.

I actually dipped on my one target species, which was a Mangrove Skipper [link] that is 'common' at Lovers Key State Park, which is basically hundreds of acres of Red Mangrove, the target butterfly's host plant. I visited the park but saw three other species but not my target species. After I left the park, I noticed in the park guide that there was a butterfly garden pathway that may have hosted my target butterfly... I need to read the manual (rtfm) once in a while. 

 Zebra Heliconian or Zebra Longwing

Julia Heliconian    ...or Longwing

White Peacock

Gulf Fritillary

Orange barred Sulphur - (Wing Span: 2 3/4 - 4 inches) It was huge!

I saw a few other butterflies on the trip which included: Common Buckeye, Red Admiral, Dainty Sulphur and a small dark Monarch (I should have taken a better look at it,  perhaps a Queen Butterfly).

Pretty soon, we'll see some early butterflies, such as Mourning Cloak, Eastern Comma, and Spring Azure will be flying through the forests and natural areas of Southwestern Ontario.

Good butterfly watching!
Dwaynejava

PS (Some non-lifer but blog labels firsts):

Little Blue Heron - Six Mile Slough

Boat tailed Grackel - Everywhere

Tri-colored Heron - with a mal-formed claw @ ding darling wildlife refuge

Eurasian collared Dove