Prairie Warbler with leg band, Bill Baggs Cape Florida SP, Key Biscayne, FL, Jan 26, 2024
Black throated Green Warbler, Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammocks State Botanical Park, Key Largo, FL, Jan 21, 2024
Magnolia Warbler, Old Settlers Park, Tavernier, FL, Jan 21, 2024
Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Old Settlers Park, Tavernier, FL, Jan 21, 2024
Black and White Warbler, Old Settlers Park, Tavernier, FL, Jan 21, 2024
The first full day in the keys dawned cool (in the mid 50’s) with a steady wind which made it a bit cool to start (a far cry from the weather at home at the same time which featured single digit temps with strong winds). Eventually it warmed up into the upper 60’s so it became much more tolerable. I started off my morning with a twenty minute drive north to Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammocks Botanical State Park. Although the habitat looked great and was fairly extensive the activity was very low with just four species of warblers and just eight individuals! Very slow indeed. After over two hours of walking and hoping to find bird I finally gave up and headed down to Tavernier and stopped at a very small park named Old Settlers Park. Although small it held more activity than my first stop with seven species of warblers, including a Magnolia Warbler. Always fun to find a small park that holds a decent selection of birds. A visit late morning to another reportedly active site also turned up very little. The rest of the day was spent around our lodging enjoying the sunny weather. Overall for the day I had ten species of warbler.
Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Old Settlers Park, Tavernier, FL, Jan 22, 2024
Monday was another windy day with some warmer temperatures and a good amount of sun. I headed a bit south first thing in the morning to Plantation Hammock Preserve and walked for about an hour and exactly one warbler…another oddly quiet location. I then tried Old Settlers Park again and although not as productive as the morning before I still had a few warblers. A return to Dangy Johnson Key Largo Hammocks State Botanical Park found very little activity. The rest of the day was spent around our lodging including a kayak journey out into Florida Bay. Just a paltry five species of warblers for the day.
Palm Warbler 'western', Long Key SP, Layton, FL, Jan 23, 2024
Prairie Warbler, Long Key SP, Layton, FL, Jan 23, 2024
Yellow throated Warbler, Long Key SP, Layton, FL, Jan 23, 2024
Ovenbird, Old Settlers Park, Tavernier, FL, Jan 23, 2024
On Tuesday the windy weather continued throughout the day with temps in the 70’s, so certainly tolerable. I hit a couple of local spots early on before we headed south to Long Key SP. The early stops produced a few warblers with nothing out of the ordinary. Long Key SP was also fairly quiet although I did hit one small pocket of warblers. Overall for the day I did better than the day before with a total of eight species for the day.
Before leaving Tavernier to make the drive north to Key Biscayne where we would be staying for three nights I hit a few locations nearby including Plantation Hammock Preserve, Old Settlers Park and Dagny Johnson Key Largo Hammocks State Botanical Park. The first two spots produced just two species of warbler between them. The third stop was much more productive with a couple of mixed flocks that contained seven species of warbler including a long overdue Yellow Warbler, a species I have somehow missed seeing before in the state. The Yellow Warbler became warbler species number 23 in Florida. A stop at a small pineland preserve outside Florida City produced some Pine Warblers bringing the number of warbler species for the day to eight.
Orange crowned Warbler, Bill Baggs Cape Florida SP, Key Biscayne, FL, Jan 25, 2024
Orange crowned Warbler, Bill Baggs Cape Florida SP, Key Biscayne, FL, Jan 25, 2024
Ovenbird, Bill Baggs Cape Florida SP, Key Biscayne, FL, Jan 25, 2024
Yellow throated Warbler, Bill Baggs Cape Florida SP, Key Biscayne, FL, Jan 25, 2024
Prairie Warbler, Bill Baggs Cape Florida SP, Key Biscayne, FL, Jan 25, 2024
Northern Parula, Bill Baggs Cape Florida SP, Key Biscayne, FL, Jan 25, 2024
Black and White Warbler, Bill Baggs Cape Florida SP, Key Biscayne, FL, Jan 25, 2024
On my first day on Key Biscayne I spent the majority of my time at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park which was just down the streets from our Airbnb. Although I really wanted to get in at first light the park doesn’t open until 8AM so I had to wait. Once I was in I walks several miles over the course of the morning and afternoon with a total of eight species of warblers including my first Orange crowned Warblers of the trip. It was nice to find multiple mixed flocks in various areas.
Palm Warbler 'western', Bill Baggs Cape Florida SP, Key Biscayne, FL, Jan 26, 2024
Prairie Warbler with leg band, Bill Baggs Cape Florida SP, Key Biscayne, FL, Jan 26, 2024
Northern Parula, Bill Baggs Cape Florida SP, Key Biscayne, FL, Jan 26, 2024
On Friday I started my morning with a brief stop at Crandon Park before heading back down to Bill Baggs once it opened. Warbler diversity was down from the day before despite covering a lot of the same ground with just half a dozen species. I tried hard to track down a Cape May Warbler for the trip without any luck.
During my time in Florida I found a total of 14 species of warblers including my first Yellow Warbler in the state which brought my overall total warblers there to 23. Between my trip to the Bahamas and Florida I had a total of twenty species…a good start to the year for sure.
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