Migration and Miami birds
An escape from winter weather and winter birding
Going somewhere warm in the winter is a good strategy, whether you are a bird or a human. Miami this time of year has a bunch of birds that have made their way South for the winter, but also the native species that are always more abundant in that area. I had some really nice walks in mid-seventies weather through a couple wetland areas that were filled with all sorts of herons and wading birds, not to mention gators and swamp rats. It was also a chance to see some great Florida raptors - Ospreys, which are just incredibly majestic and muppet-y at the same time, some Red-shouldered Hawks that posed nicely for us, and a Kestrel I flushed while walking near the beach on Saturday.
Those are fairly common birds for Florida, but that’s the fun of birding while travelling. It’s a chance to be excited about what’s easily seen, and hopefully I can bring some of that fresh perspective home as well. But not every bird we saw was quite so common, or at least so easy to spot. The Sora was a good example of the latter. These are very small (baseball sized, maybe) wading birds. It’s brown and gray and hides deep in the rushes, and that makes for a tough bird to see, much less photograph. The other lifers from this trip were the Little Blue Heron, the Black-bellied Whistling Duck, both ibises, and the Painted Bunting. All in all it was a great trip and I hope it can tide me over until the winter lets up a bit.
