Florida Trip ~ February 13, 2017

We spent the morning back at Richardson Historic Park and Nature Preserve. At about 7:50 AM, Jason spotted the Bananaquit just above the fence behind the coral bean that the bird had been visiting weeks before. He finally got me on it and I managed to get to see the bold white eyebrow, downcurved bill, and yellow patch on the belly during the roughly half-minute that it was in view. It was so quick a look that I never had a chance to get a photo of the bird before it moved left out of sight behind some trees and brush.

We moved to behind Building 'K' since that was the direction that the bird was heading but never refound it. While there, a flock of Blue-crowned Parakeets flew in and fed in the surrounding trees.

A few Red-crowned Parrots joined them.

Back inside the park, I was only able to get a poor photo of the Hooded Warbler that set up a winter shop near the boardwalk.

New birds not seen the afternoon before included Blue-headed Vireo and warblers that included Orange-crowned, Yellow-throated, and Black-throated Blue.

We left the park, got something to eat, and drove south to Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park on Key Biscayne to look for Jason's Western Spindalis, which had recently been seen just south of the park office. A Great Crested Flycatcher was perched along the trail.

Later, I got a distant photo of one of the two White-crowned Pigeons feeding on a fig tree.

Additional birds noted there were Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, White Ibis, Black Vulture, Osprey, Red-shouldered Hawk, a light morph Short-tailed Hawk, Laughing, Herring, and Lesser Black-backed Gull, Royal Tern, Eastern Phoebe, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Gray Catbird, Northern Cardinal, Painted Bunting, and warblers that included Palm, Prairie, Yellow-rumped, Cape May, Orange-crowned, Black-and-white, Northern Parula, and Common Yellowthroat. Unfortunately, the Western Spindalis wasn't on the list.

Just before sunset, we also tried unsuccessfully for a Kirtland's Warbler that had been found near the No Name Harbor area of the park a couple days before. We left the park at dusk and headed back to the mainland.

The night was spent at the Wishes Motel in Miami, which turned out to be one of the worst motels I've ever stayed in. The photos showed a pool in front of the rooms, but it was filled in and covered with stone. It was a good thing we weren't planning on using it. Once in the room, the fan squeaked like the parakeets we had seen that day, the toilet made a weird noise when you flushed it, the tub was nasty-looking, and a little friend that Jason called the "starter roach" greeted me on the cracked sink. There were no wash rags---only the two towels that the "starter roach" tried to hide under before Jason sent him to 'roach heaven'. I told him that everyone that goes there probably 'wishes' they'd never stayed at the 'Wishes' Motel. No wonder it was a steal at just over $100.00 for the night!

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