Well, I am not the most serious birder in the state. I waited a day so I could go to school before chasing Florida's Loggerhead Kingbird in Key West.
I left Alex Harper's house at 3 in the morning so we could get some birding in before getting the Lo' head. A bad accident on US 1 brought our momentum to a stop at 4:30 and after a quick game of soccer, we decided Card Sound road would get us into the keys. So we took the 45 minute detour and didn't reach No Name Key until 7. Great-crested Flycatchers, Prairie Warblers, and Northern Cardinals greeted us unlike a previously reported Brown-crested Flycatcher. We heard a call twice that sounded right, but we are still unsure as to what it was.
It wasn't until thirty minutes after the bird was first seen that we arrived at the Kingbird spot. A reported Brown-crested Flycatcher sidetracked us, but like usual we missed that one. The K'bird finally showed up, but most had already seen it. I forgot my scope, so I had to take pictures through my Spacemaster which is always in my car. 
Some of the later people and photographers
I also got my year Black-whiskered Vireo in the parking lot, as well as other migrants such as Black and white Warbler, Indigo Bunting, and Peregrine Falcon.
The shorebirding throughout the rest of the keys was the best I have ever seen it with numerous Wilson's and Semipalmated Plovers, Short-billed Dowitchers as well as lesser numbers of Red Knots, Semipalmated, Western and Least Sandpipers, and a Piping Plover. Our only Semipalmated Sandpiper was associating with two other peeps that we could not figure out.
Throughout the day Turkey Vultures soared overhead in large kettles, various warblers and hummingbirds made their presence known in neighborhoods, and Cormorants kept trying to look like Neotropicals. Nothing spectacular was seen later in the day, but overall four new year birds (Loggerhead Kingbird, Black-whiskered Vireo, Hooded Warbler, and Barn Swallow) took my year list up to 279. |
