South Florida Specialty Birds

Mangrove Cuckoo

Last year I made a trip to Florida with my wife to try for a few south Florida specialty birds I still needed for my life list. Maybe the coolest species we saw on the trip was Mangrove Cuckoo. We were just about to give up looking for this species at a small refuge near Key Largo, when I thought I heard one calling. I played an iPhone recording and the cuckoo zoomed in and perched right over our heads. It called repeatedly its distinctive call, and we were extremely pleased.

Another target species for the trip was Gray-headed Swamphen, an exotic introduced species that was recently split from the Purple Swamphen complex. This has become established in a variety of wetland areas in south Florida, and is a "tick" on our life list, but less exciting than the cuckoo.

Purple Swamphen.

The avifauna of South Florida includes a number of species not found elsewhere in the American Birding Association region, so is a must for serious ABA listers to build our life list. Other targets are Gray Kingbird, Black-whiskered vireo, Short-tailed Kite, Snail Kite, as well as several other introduced exotic species.

Put South Florida on your bucket list of ABA areas to bird.

Good birding. Steem on!