South Florida, One of the southern most part of the United States, with tropical waders filling the everglades, distinctive songbirds singing in the mangrove, and frigatebirds souring above the shore line, has become our destination for this year’s Thanksgiving Break.
Today, the first day of the trip, was an amazing start! Early in the morning, We touched down in Miami. Immediately, we are shocked of the warmth and greeniss of land. After picking up our car, We instantly began driving south toward the Florida Keys.
On the way, we stopped at two beautiful state parks: Long Key State Park and Bahia Honda State Park. Being my first time birding on the East Coast, everything felt new and exciting; from the road-side raptors to the Palm Warblers there are lifers everywhere!
Our first stop on the keys is the Long Key State Park, before we even enter the park, a Magnificent Frigatebird patrolled over our head, becoming the first bird on this trip to be added to our life list. We first went to the way towards the beach, getting hundreds of vultures and our lifer Palm Warbler, Short-tailed Hawk, and Broad-winged Hawk.
Then, we headed the other way, into the mangroves. Although, birds weren’t so active in the mid-day sun, we soon got a lifer Great Crested Flycatcher and Eastern Phoebe.
Near the end of the loop, we finally got some good views of fiew White Ibises, which we missed several time during the drive here.
After a Great visit at Long Key, we got to Bahia Honda State Park. There, the several beaches we explored are packed with people with little birds, but we did got a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, which is another lifer.
Even though a few so-called “common birds” didn’t show up, we still managed to add 8 new species to my life list! Not bad for Day 1!
We stayed at Key West tonight and will check more spots in Key West and along the keys tomorrow, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what new birds we can find there.
Big thanks to Jodhan F. for the remote guidance!
Here are the photos of today’s new additions:
A short video created by my father to show the summary of the whole day: