Memorial Day Weekend

Last week somehow disappeared despite that I only worked four days. I started the Memorial Day weekend off right with a party on Saturday night. After a few hours of sleep I headed to the Belle Galde Marina to meet up with some friends for some Smooth-billed Ani searching. A year ago, I saw an Ani at the campground marsh area but we didn't have any luck this year. The campground did provide really great looks at Eastern Kingbirds and Loggerhead Shrikes. I don't see either of these species very often so it was quite the treat. One shrike even debated eating a very large Yellow Rat Snake to our amusement.


On one of the boat ramps we found this dead Green Heron. I also found a couple of dead turtles on the road as well leading through the campground. The people there were friendly but I suspect that they may just run over a few animals for fun. At least my encounters with them involved riding 4-wheelers pretty fast and conversation that hinted at how dangerous it was for me to be out walking alone with so many alligators around.

On Memorial Day, Andy and I headed to Miami for some parrot searching. Once again we came up mostly empty but we did get killer looks at a big flock of Mitred Parakeets and a few cooperating White-crowned Pigeons. Other loros flew overhead but we couldn't ID them with such brief glimpses.

As the day wore on we headed to Matheson Hammock to see what could pop up but it was mostly quiet. Despite the lack of birds this really is a beautiful park with its Spanish Moss covered trees. For a holiday weekend it was mostly empty which really surprised me but I guess now that we have hit the mid-90 degree days that people are staying more and more inside their A/C homes.

We hiked down a nice Mangrove Swamp trail towards the boat marina. Once again the bird life was virtually non-existant other than a few doves and one Great-Crested Flycatcher calling. We left Matheson and went downtown to the Bay. Walking through the park there was comfortable with the breeze off the water. We added a nice Yellow-Crowned Night Heron but still came up short on the parrots/parakeets. The day was really warming up and our breakfast of cafe con leche and guava and cheese pastries was wearing thin so we headed back north to Boynton Beach.

We ended the evening with a walk to the beach. On the bridge of the Intercoastal we saw the last of the boats cruising through on this holiday weekend. I think it's easy to say that the cost of gas was keeping the boaters in small numbers. I've never seen a big weekend like this be so empty of people. The roads to and from Miami were almost empty and the boaters weren't overflowing the waterways. I can't say that I was upset by these events. Overall, it was a nice and peaceful holiday weekend and the best part was I had a great friend to spend it with me.