Florida Trip for Yellow-headed Caracara ~ December 10, 2024

Since at least November of 2023, a Yellow-headed Caracara, a South American bird, has been seen fairly regularly in the area of North Miami Beach. The bird flies back and forth between the Biscayne Bay campus of the Florida International University, Oleta River State Park, and Haulover Park. These three areas are separated by water, so it takes a long time to get from one to the other if you aren't seeing it at the spot you're at. And by the time you drive to one of the other spots, it might have flown to the spot you just left. I read several comments where birders had spent hours looking for it with no luck, yet it hadn't left the area. I was hoping for another 'lifer' to show up so I'd have a chance for two, but that wasn't happening since there are very few rare Florida birds that I haven't seen.

When a Bananaquit showed up in late October at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center near Boca Raton, it gave me that little push that I needed to commit to a trip down there. I had seen a Bananaquit down there in 2017, but it was a fairly quick look at it, so I never got a photograph of it. The bird was being seen daily there, so it looked like a really good chance to see one better. On top of that, a Fork-tailed Flycatcher was being seen on the west side of the state near St. Petersburg, which was another bird I had seen but never got a photograph of. So, early on December 10th, I drove to the Newark Airport and boarded a non-stop flight to Fort Lauderdale.

I got my rental car pretty quickly and drove to Oleta River State Park, arriving there around 2:00 PM. I drove to 'Parking Lot 3', which is the one that has a line of green dumpsters along its edge. The bird was most often seen here scavenging around them, but it was not present at the time. I drove over to 'Lot 5' and walked out to the Panther Pavilion, which was another area that it had often been reported at. Again, there was no sign of it. I checked the beach area and spotted a Lesser Black-backed Gull there among the Laughing Gulls. I remember all the excitment when a Lesser Black-backed Gull was seen in Pennsylvania back in 1986. They have since spread to all parts of the country.

Lesser Black-backed Gull

I returned to 'Lot 3' and watched some more from there. Luckily around 2:45, I noticed a bird perched at least a hundred yards away in one of the taller, leafless trees at the west edge of the park. It was the Yellow-headed Caracara!

Yellow-headed Caracara

As I started walking towards it, it took off and flew right past me! I got some fairly good photos of it considering it was overcast.

Yellow-headed Caracara

I watched it fly towards the White Ibis Pavilion, so I headed over there. That's when I noticed it getting harassed by a Laughing Gull as it flew across the water and landed at Haulover Park. I thought about driving over there, but the beach traffic made me decide to stay where I was, hoping that it would return to the dumpsters late in the day like it had many times before. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

Near sunset, I headed for my motel room near Deerfield Beach. It took a long time to get there because of the rush hour traffic. Driving bumper-to-bumper on the five or six lanes wide of I-95 in south Florida is an experience that rivals the gridlock in Los Angeles. I stayed in a very nice motel right on the ocean for all three nights that I was there.

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Florida Trip for Yellow-headed Caracara ~ December 11, 2024

At sunrise, I took this photo from my motel room before taking my gear down to the car.

An Atlantic Ocean sunrise.

Since I nailed some decent photos of the Caracara, I decided to make the very short drive up to the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center and look for the Bananaquit. The bird preferred the flowers of the Firespike plants in the Butterfly Garden. Roughly half the blooms had died off, but there still seemed to be plenty of blooms there to keep it happy. During the morning, a warbler flock worked its way through the area. It was comprised of 3 Yellow-rumpeds, 2 Northern Parulas, a Yellow-throated, a "Western" Palm, and a Prairie, plus 2 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and a Blue-headed Vireo.

Prairie Warbler

"Western" Palm Warbler

There was no sign of the Bananaquit. The only thing coming to the flowers was a Ruby-throated Hummingbird. I was there from sunrise to sunset, only taking a 5-minute bathroom break, and there was no sign of the bird. I assumed it must have found a better food source at another location.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

There were some interesting butterflies flying around. I took a few photos of some of them. Hopefully, I identified them correctly. Bird identification is challenging enough; butterflies are beyond my pay grade.

Zebra Longwing

Mangrove Skipper

Atala

I understand that the Atalas were once thought to be extinct but are making a big comeback. There were a fair number of them flying around while I was there.

At sunset, I drove back to my motel room near Deerfield Beach, contemplating my plan for tomorrow. Since the Bananaquit appeared to be gone, I decided to leave at 4:00 AM and drive the four hours across the state to try for the Fork-tailed Flycatcher.

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Florida Trip for Yellow-headed Caracara ~ December 12, 2024

I left the motel at 4:00 AM and made the 4-hour drive to the Bahia Beach Nature Preserve near the town of Ruskin. I was the only one there when I arrived around 8:00 AM. A strong cold front had moved through the night before. It was 41 degrees with a 10-20 mph wind. I was very glad that I had my coat and gloves with me. Lots of Yellow-rumped and Palm Warblers were low in the grasses chipping while searching for insects. I searched the area where the flycatcher was most often seen and kept coming up empty. One lady showed up, spent an hour looking, and then left.

I walked out along both the west and east sides of the impoundment, which held a bunch of birds. Four Caspian Terns were flying over the water.

Caspian Tern

American White Pelicans were present along with Great Egrets and White Ibis.

American White Pelicans

American White Pelicans, a White Ibis, and Great Egrets.

White Ibis

Tricolored Herons, Little Blue Herons, and Snowy Egrets fed in the pond along with American Coots.

Tricolored Herons

An adult Little Blue Heron.

Immature Little Blue Herons.

Snowy Egret

American Coot

Several Wood Storks flew by while I watched an Anhinga in an adjacent pond with a Common Gallinule.

Wood Stork

Anhinga with a Common Gallinule.

Other birds seen at the preserve included Pied-billed Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Glossy Ibis, Northern Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk, Bald Eagle, Osprey, Killdeer, Willet, Wilson's Snipe, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Eastern Phoebe, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and Boat-tailed Grackle. A Loggerhead Shrike and a Common Ground Dove were found perched in separate bushes along the east side of the preserve.

Loggerhead Shrike

Common Ground Dove

There was still no sign of the flycatcher. It looked like the cold front might have pushed the bird out and I was going to be making a long, depressing drive back to the motel. A little after 10:00, two birders from the Jacksonville area arrived. I walked around the south and west edge of the impoundment with them. I looked back towards the southwestern corner of the impoundment and spotted a Belted Kingfisher perched low on a stalk over the water. That's when I noticed a flash of white pass by the kingfisher. Further study eventually confirmed that it was the Fork-tailed Flycatcher! We walked all the way back to the other side and got some photos of it flycatching over its preferred area.

Fork-tailed Flycatcher

Amazingly, the bird eventually flew over to some brush right next to the parking lot and preened itself, unconcerned about us taking numerous photos of it.

Fork-tailed Flycatcher

I happily got back in my car and started the long drive back to the east coast. New trip birds seen along the highway included Western Cattle Egret and Sandhill Crane. At one point, I was stopped at a construction site behind a flatbed truck and laughed when I saw that there was a toy truck strapped to the back of it.

I got back to the motel a little after dark and went out to eat at a nearby Cracker Barrel.

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