Birding South Florida - March 200113. - 19.3.2001
Introduction: This
time I got a last minute flight from Munich to Miami, unfortunately only
for a week. March is not the best season for birdwatching in Florida since
some birds arrive much later, nevertheless I saw a lot of interesting birds
and missed little. I would have loved to see a Wild Turkey, but had bad
luck with this although it shouldn't be too difficult to find one in some
areas.
The weather was warm and excellent with absoultely no rain at the places I visited. On the other hand South Florida is suffering from a severe drought with only very few mosquitos but also less birds. I had a rental car which was affordable, but accomodation was sometimes very expensive. On Stock Island near Key West I had to stay on a campground which charged more than 43 U.S. $ for my very small tent! This was the first time I used a GPS (Global Positioning System). Although it is not really necessary in an area like South Florida, I found it very helpful for finding my way through the state and also for marking good birding spots. Altogether I managed to identify 150 species within that week. Mostly thanks to Mark Adams from Texas and Vince Lucas from Naples. I met Mark before in Munich and he was just by chance also in Florida. I birded with Mark on Tuesday. Very special thanks to Vincent Lucas (vplucas@earthlink.net) who sometimes works as a birdguide and who knows the birds and places in Florida very well. I did birdwatching with him on Wednesday and Thursday. Many thanks also to those who helped me on a request to the Florida Mailinglist (for more information about FLORIDABIRDS-L click here) and to all the people I met while travelling. I am trying to make this report as accurate as possible since I think that my itinerary is a good one to spend a week in South Florida. Literature and Links Bücher,
CDs, Videos u.a. von unserem Partner Christ-Media-Natur
Books:
This guide is an absolute must for every birder visiting Florida! Maps:
In my opinion the best map in this scale and enough to follow my route. Links:There are many websites worth visiting. Besides the links mentioned here, I would recommend to visit the general links on my Trip Reports mainpage.
Comments, Remarks, Questions, Postcards to the Authors:
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