10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2015

For many in the birding community, Miami is a destination meant only for ticking off ABA-countable exotics such as Spot-breasted Oriole or Red-whiskered Bulbul. The warm, sunny climate beckons a wide variety of passerines, raptors, and shorebirds to spend the winter, inflating the species diversity to the extent that Miami-Dade can go toe-to-toe with counties in Texas and Arizona during this season. Song Sparrow is a genuine rarity in Miami-Dade.

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2015 Miami Stray Sparrows 63

10,000 Birds

MAY 26, 2018

The Miami-Dade County Commission approved development of ‘the largest shopping mall in North America’ with a vote of 9-1 last week. The Miami-Dade Democratic Environmental Caucus submitted a formal letter of concern to the commissioners. One of the developers said that he wanted to build American Dream Miami (the official misnomer of the place) because his grandkids don’t have anything to do when it rains. Merchandising folly 1 – Conservation 0.

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Miami 2018 Las Vegas Alligators 62

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2014

Miami, Florida has a reputation among the birding community for being overrun with exotic bird species. One of the more unusual additions to our local avifauna is the Common Hill Myna (not to be confused with Common Myna, a parking lot obligate in Miami), a popular bird in the pet trade due to its ability to mimic human speech. Their loud, descending whistles, gurgles and screeches are a common feature of parks and suburban neighborhoods in parts of Miami-Dade.

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Miami Asia 2014 Malaysia 78

Critter News

DECEMBER 2, 2011

Animal-rights activists claim an orca is being held in an "inadequate tank" in the Miami Seaquarium. The federal complaint focuses on a whale named Lolita, who was captured more than 40 years ago, and has been held at the Miami Seaquarium. Read the rest of the article in the Courthouse News Service. They sued the National Marine Fisheries Service for excluding captive killer whales from listing under the Endangered Species Act.

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Miami Animal Legal Defense Fund 2011 Rescue 116

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 12, 2013

Today, if you want to see parrots in the USA you need look no further than Miami. Nearly 70 species of parrots have been recorded flying free at some stage or another in Miami, including Hyacinth Macaws. Dozens of other introduced bird species, largely escapees from pet owners, now call Miami home. Miami, with its warm climate and abundant food sources, has become a hotbed of exoticism. Red-masked Parakeets , readily seen around Miami, are not countable.

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Miami 2013 Parrots Research 60

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 10, 2013

For January 1st, 2013, I decided to do something a little different this year — a Big Day in Miami-Dade, which involves seeing or hearing as many species as possible within a 24-hour period inside my home county. The past record holder for Miami-Dade, my good birding friend Roberto “Toe” Torres, admitted that, as far as he knew, his not entirely serious effort of 102 species was the highest number of species recorded for the county in 24 hours.

Miami 55

Miami 2013 Virginia Bald Eagle 55

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2020

The second feature is that a very large proportion of the migrants flowing southward will actually remain for the length of winter, so numbers steadily build as migration draws on — remember, over two dozen warbler species spend the winter in Miami-Dade County alone.

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2020 Florida Miami Falcons 87

10,000 Birds

APRIL 10, 2015

For example, flocks of White-winged Parakeets around Miami International Airport now also contain an increasing proportion of Yellow-chevroned Parakeets — this was not true a few years ago. Although most parrot species persist only in urban and suburban areas, this small parakeet also occurs in agricultural areas of the Redlands and Homestead in southern Miami-Dade. Birding California parakeets Florida parakeets Miami birding

2015 54

2015 Los Angeles San Francisco Houston 54

10,000 Birds

MAY 2, 2014

Sure, Miami and the Florida Keys do not boast any endemics ( ‘Cape Sable’ Seaside Sparrow is close) at the species level. Nonetheless, by straddling the border between the birds from the south and those from the north (and receiving a great deal of western birds in winter as well), Miami-Dade and Monroe collectively have one of the highest county lists east of the Mississippi River. Magnolia Warbler is an annual winter resident in small numbers in Miami-Dade, FL. .

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2014 Florida Stray Bahamas 60

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 20, 2012

First recorded in Florida in 1949, it has been gracing the mature yards and suburban parks of Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties for several decades, although it has recently experienced significant declines in its population perhaps due to Hurricane Wilma in October 2005 and the severe winter cold of 2010. Considering its history in the state, appearance, and provenance, I can think of no better bird to represent Miami. Birding Exotic Miami Oriole

2012 67

2012 Costa Rica Florida 2005 67

10,000 Birds

MAY 2, 2016

On my recent short family vacation to Miami, I was granted a single day to get out and really bird like a madman. Can you believe that a New Yorker could travel all the way to Miami and not be treated to breakfast? Trips Florida MiamiOf course, I contacted Carlos Sanchez , alleged south Florida birder extraordinaire, to maximize the returns on what time I could spend.

Florida 56

Florida 2016 Dolphins Miami 56

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 5, 2012

Carlos Sanchez is an excellent birder, a Miami resident, and a polyglot. Matheson Hammock County Park is a special place to many who grew up in the Miami area, filled with the nostalgia of taking one’s first swim in the ocean, seeing their first Brown Pelicans , or dip netting through the seagrass beds to find Pygmy Seahorses (the most coveted and prized catch). Destinations Florida Matheson Hammock Miami

2012 57

2012 2011 Kentucky Ecuador 57

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

Parking lots in Miami-Dade county offer a mostly standard assortment of birds compared to the rest of the United States. Every year, I look forward to their arrival in early April when they populate every parking lot in Miami from Key Biscayne to Krome Avenue. A Gray Kingbird perched in a small live oak in the middle of a suburban parking lot in Miami. Unfortunately, Gray Kingbirds will not be staying in Miami for much longer this year.

2014 81

2014 Dominican Republic Miami Puerto Rico 81

10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2012

Artist Enrique Gomez De Molina was sentenced to 20 months in prison and a $6,000 fine in Miami on Friday for trafficking in illegal and threatened wildlife. The artist used parts of animals to create his art: De Molina’s Miami attorney Ben Kuehne said the artist was “extremely remorseful and apologetic,” while fully acknowledging his actions which were opposite to what he meant to express with his art: that humans menace the rich diversity of wildlife.

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Trafficking Miami Wildlife 2012 54

Animal Person

AUGUST 26, 2009

Our most insidious institution -- as my talk in Miami in 10 days (August 29th) will explain! If you know anyone in Miami and vicinity who might enjoy an eye-opening evening among eye-opening evenings, let me know and I'll e-mail or mail you a flier to give them -- or will send it straight to them if you give me the information.

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Meat Responsible Policies 2009 Minneapolis 100

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2013

These aggressive, boisterous yet attractive geese have begun building a population in Florida from a few accidental escapes from waterfowl collections (Crandon Gardens in Miami-Dade being the most famous). An exotic bird survey organized by local birders in Miami-Dade a couple years ago recorded over a hundred in that county alone in a relatively small percentage of the county, indicating that the overall population will likely be over a thousand individuals very soon if it is not already.

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Florida 2013 Miami Bolivia 75

Critter News

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Here is a synopsis from a Brown University web site about his case : Matthew Block, of Worldwide Primates, Miami, FL, was sentenced to 13 months in federal prison, three years of supervised probation, and a $30,000 fine at a 2-day sentence hearing on April 16, 1993. Worldwide Primates Inc. was started by Mathew Block to import primates into the US for animal experimentation. In 1993, he went to prison for smuggling baby orangutans.

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2009 Primates Miami 2002 122

Critter News

JANUARY 23, 2009

O’Barry has been on a dolphin-protection crusade since the day in 1970 that Kathy, one of the dolphins that played Flipper, died in a steel tank at the Miami Seaquarium while he was holding her. I just read this story today. The moment Flipper died in his arms, Richard O’Barry was transformed from a dolphin trainer into an activist determined to free captive dolphins around the world. That was 39 years ago.

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Dolphins Protest Protesting Protesters 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 20, 2020

Luis Gonzalez is a Miami resident and IT major who was originally born and raised in Cuba.

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Canada 2020 Cuba Miami 74

4 The Love Of Animals

SEPTEMBER 1, 2011

San Diego; Austin, Texas; Miami; and Portland, Ore. Community Dog Walks Will Be Co-Hosted by local YMCAs in Cities across the Country. Mars Petcare announced it will sponsor a series of “Woof Walk” fun runs as part of THE POWER OF PETS™ program for 2011. Co-hosted by local YMCAs nationwide, the events will feature a two- to three-kilometer community dog walk, as well as healthy and fun activities for the whole family. As avid walkers, we love this idea and wanted to help spread the word!

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2011 Pets San Diego Austin 116

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 29, 2012

My travels this week took me to Miami , where the ocean could barely summon the energy to lap gently against the sand. A day spent with Sanderlings is surely a day well spent. Even when they are not feeding in their endearing manner, chasing the waves back and forth, Sanderlings are still one of the most watchable birds that you are ever likely to see. I missed my OCD therapy session today and do you know, it didn’t matter.

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2012 Miami Birds 70

10,000 Birds

MARCH 22, 2013

Miami Hurricanes (represented by their American White Ibis, Sebastian). Greetings, 10,000 Birds readers! I’m thrilled to be contributing all the little tidbits I find to the Nature News beat. And there’s little that’s newsier (in the U.S., at least) at the moment than the NCAA men’s Division I basketball tournament! Birds have already begun making their presence known on the court.

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Louisville 2013 Bald Eagle Kansas 65

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2012

However, I spotted that egregious invasive while in Miami during a layover fro Trinidad and Tobago. Happy belated Father’s Day to everyone who observed it this weekend. Just to keep that sweet paternal vibe going, I’m going to award double points to anyone whose best bird of the weekend was seen in the company of a dad or by a dad with his child. Oh, you didn’t know we were keeping score?

2012 62

2012 Hungary Miami Trinidad 62

Critter News

AUGUST 9, 2010

Winners First Place: Tammy Apostol, an independent designer in Miami, FL, for her “Green Organic Cotton Gown,” a strapless mermaid silhouette gown with a back train. Received this press release yesterday.

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Fur 2010 Cleveland Dallas 122

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 4, 2012

Autumn migration gets off to an inauspicious start in Miami-Dade with the appearance of a small selection of passerines at local migrant traps at mid-July. Oktoberfest is the term coined by birders in Miami-Dade county to refer to a time of plenty [of migrants], when a visit to a local suburban park might yield up to twenty or more species of warbler on a good day.

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2012 Miami 2011 Kentucky 74

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2012

Carlos Sanchez is an excellent birder, a Miami resident, and a polyglot. Over twenty species of wood-warbler may be recorded in a single winter in Miami-Dade County, with several more species recorded regularly in Monroe and Broward. Corey was lucky enough to meet Carlos while birding in Ecuador , where Carlos was dragooned into accompanying the horde of Queens birders for the day, an encounter that somehow didn’t turn him off of all things New York.

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Florida 2012 Miami Cuba 57

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2013

However, the bulk of the population breeds in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties at the southern tip of the state, particularly around the mangrove fringed coasts and islets of Florida and Biscayne Bay. Unlike the more northerly races, Florida’s Yellow Warblers are completely restricted to red mangrove habitats, ranging only as far north as Matheson Hammock County Park in Miami-Dade (but with a recent record in Coconut Grove a few miles to the north — range expansion?)

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Florida 2013 Miami Breeders 75

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2013

According to the Florida Breeding Bird Atlas, the first confirmed breeding record was in Miami in July of 1938. Significant amounts of habitat along Krome Avenue in western Miami-Dade as well as Everglades National Park remain, but even the colonies present at Anhinga Trail and Eco Pond have disappeared — a true mystery.

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Florida 2013 Virgin Islands Miami 75

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 26, 2018

We did however gain an extra night, at our expense in Miami, Florida, all of which was in the dark, so I could not even run out and put a couple of birds on a Florida State List. We have escaped the clutches of the Bahamas, and are finally back “home” in Tucson, Texas. The return home included a total of 5 ½ hours of flight delays, one missed flight, and we subsequently missed the entire town of Charlotte, North Carolina.

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Bahamas 2018 Dallas Charlotte 55

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 13, 2012

It was a real pleasure to have a friend and colleague, Simon, accompany me on a visit to Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park in Miami this week. His good company was surpassed only by his keen eye that picked out a Mangrove Cuckoo lifer for me and a roosting Common Nighthawk. My experience of Common Nighthawks had previously been at dusk as they begin hunting for the night.

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2012 Miami Florida Hunting 64

10,000 Birds

JUNE 18, 2015

The bat was once believed to be common on Florida’s eastern coast in the Miami-Coral Gables area but reported there only a few times since the mid-1960s. You may not have heard about the Florida Bonneted Bat (Eumops floridanus) , and that is fine, not many know this bat even existed. This bat is rare and range-restricted in South Florida, which are some of the reasons it was recently listed as an endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

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Bats 2015 Florida Cuba 59

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 9, 2013

Rangel Diaz is doing a big year in Miami-Dade County, Florida, hoping to reach 300 species, and keeping a blog about it. On a Big Year, every species counts equally, even the lowly House Sparrow. Last year saw quite a few big year records fall to dedicated birders. There are, of course, more big years happening this year. What records will fall in 2013? The following is not an exhaustive list, of course, but hopefully we will learn of more big years in the comments.

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2013 Los Angeles New Jersey Indiana 78

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

A Miami native and resident, Carlos is perfectly situated to write about South Florida, which will be his beat, though it would not be the least bit surprising if he occasionally writes about birds and birding further afield. We would like everyone to give a warm welcome to the latest Beat Writer here on 10,000 Birds, Carlos Sanchez.

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Puerto Rico Costa Rica Florida 2012 57

10,000 Birds

JUNE 7, 2013

Much like how Everglades National Park flanks the western border of metropolitan Miami, Florida, Saguaro National Park flanks both the eastern and western outskirts of Tucson, making for easy access to residents and tourists alike who spend time in that city.

2013 60

2013 Tucson Miami Legislation 60

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 9, 2012

Flamingos represented Vegas and Miami and pre-Castro Cuba. Why can’t I shut up about this? In 1999, a woman named Jennifer Price published a fascinating — if since largely forgotten — book called Flight Maps. Flight Maps was a collection of essays about the interactions between culture and nature in the U.S., and the most memorable part of the book, the section that inspired the cover art, was the essay “A Brief Natural History of the Pink Flamingo.”

2012 58

2012 Cuba Miami Massachusetts 58

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2014

A pair of Spot-breasted Orioles were a welcome sighting, having personally lead many clients to their life Spot-breasted Oriole in Miami for their ABA list but having never seen one in their original range. In September, I had the fantastic opportunity to travel to an increasingly popular destination for birding: Honduras.

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Honduras 2014 El Salvador Costa Rica 80

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2012

On December 11, 2012, an observer saw one at Government Cut in Miami-Dade right off the pier which was quickly followed by a sighting of three birds off Singer Island in Palm Beach, two birds filmed off Fort Lauderdale, and another bird photographed off of Crandon Beach in Key Biscayne — already an unprecedented number of records. Razorbills ( Alca torda ) have invaded the coastal waters of Florida on an unprecedented scale this December of 2012.

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Florida 2012 Cuba Bahamas 78

10,000 Birds

APRIL 16, 2013

Rangel Diaz’s big year in Miami-Dade County, Florida, is going well. European Starlings count as much as any other bird on a big year. Now seems like a good time to look in on the birding big years happening in 2013 to see how folks are doing as they tear around their county or region or state or province or country trying to see as many birds as possible before 1 January 2014.

2013 75

2013 New Jersey North Carolina Indiana 75

10,000 Birds

APRIL 12, 2013

Brown-crested Flycatchers arrive at their wintering locations in Miami-Dade in autumn, although most records come from the months of January through March when the birds are more actively calling than earlier in the season — their distinctive calls making them easy to differentiate from the more widespread Great Crested Flycatchers.

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Florida 2013 Alligators Miami 73

10,000 Birds

APRIL 26, 2013

One of the perks about living in Miami is that plane tickets to the bird-rich Caribbean, Central, and South America are often cheaper than going to places like Arizona, Colorado, or California.

2013 69

2013 Jamaica Puerto Rico Cuba 69

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2013

And in modern times, that football powerhouse the University of Miami has as it’s mascot a tough-looking White Ibis, known locally as a “ Hurricane Bird ” for it’s bravery (some may say stupidity) in riding out those massive storms. You may not realize it when you look at those bizarre looking waders with the massive bills and the vacant expression, but you’re looking at a group of birds that has inspired humankind for literal centuries.

2013 79

2013 Charlotte Miami Jordan 79

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 13, 2012

Also, take note that this species does not occur regularly north of downtown Miami, as the climate and vegetation north of the city begins to take on increasingly more subtropical characteristics that are not to its liking.

Florida 68

Florida 2012 Miami Bahamas 68

10,000 Birds

JULY 26, 2014

Welcome to Invasive Species Week! – Alien Species - Rose-ringed Parakeet - The Charge of the Egyptian Goose – Hill Mynas in Miami – Grallards : New Zealand’s Next Extinction or Newest Species? Invasive is such an ugly word, isn’t it? An invader, after all, is nothing if not unwelcome. Even the word “ invade ” describes intrusions described colorfully as forceful, hostile, destructive, and even injurious.

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Species 2014 Feral Cats Feral 56