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Great Miami Winter Bird Count 2015

10,000 Birds

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. We recorded 17 Short-tailed Hawks this past weekend, a winter specialty in Miami-Dade. Song Sparrow is a genuine rarity in Miami-Dade. This bird was a life bird for him!

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Miami Mega Mall vs. Everglades National Park

10,000 Birds

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. Merchandising folly 1 – Conservation 0. As reported to Political Cortadito by Wayne Brody.).

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Hill Mynas: A Touch of Tropical Asia in Miami

10,000 Birds

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.

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Efforts to Rescue Lolita the Orca from Miami

Critter News

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.

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spotted this fatass in Miami, Florida

Reddit Animals

submitted by /u/plzzdontreportme [link] [comments]

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To Tick or Not to Tick – Exotic Birding in Miami

10,000 Birds

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. There has to a logical reason.

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My Big Day in Miami-Dade

10,000 Birds

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. Yellow-throated Warbler at Dante Fascell Park in Miami-Dade, by Carlos Sanchez.

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Gray Kingbird: An Awesome Parking Lot Bird

10,000 Birds

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. You can almost feel sorry for the hawk.

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Cat shows it has 9 lives after falling from the stadium at a University of Miami stadium

Reddit Animals

submitted by /u/SomeToLaughAt [link] [comments].

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What’s the Next ABA-Countable Exotic?

10,000 Birds

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. Birding California parakeets Florida parakeets Miami birding' Furthermore, this little parrot has another aspect going for it.

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Birding at the Tip of Florida: A Bit of Everything

10,000 Birds

Sure, Miami and the Florida Keys do not boast any endemics ( ‘Cape Sable’ Seaside Sparrow is close) at the species level. Magnolia Warbler is an annual winter resident in small numbers in Miami-Dade, FL. . However, few realize how unique and how good the birding can be here.

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Noisy, but nice

10,000 Birds

Crandon Park, on the island just off the coast of Miami, Fla., In the moderate warmth of a Miami morning, he was able to sustain his fan under light cloud for longer than my camera battery could last. is home to a few exotic species.

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Collective Arts Brewing: Jam Up Passion Fruit & Peach

10,000 Birds

But if you’re heading south in the coming weeks, Jam Up is certainly a good beer to have on hand if the mercury starts creeping in to the 70s down in Miami or Phoenix. I generally reserve light, sour beers like this for sweltering summer days – something we’re not likely to have where I am for quite some time.

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Both Beautiful and Exotic, the Spot-breasted Oriole

10,000 Birds

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.

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Upcoming Potential ABA-countable Exotics from Florida

10,000 Birds

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). I foresee these birds continuing to spread, gradually replacing other Aratinga species in southeast Florida.

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But…It’s a Canada Goose?

10,000 Birds

Luis Gonzalez is a Miami resident and IT major who was originally born and raised in Cuba. He has been an avid lover of the natural world since he was a kid, with a strong love for paleontology when he was younger, but he only took up birding in his last year of high school and hasn’t looked back since.

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Birding Through the Seasons at Matheson Hammock

10,000 Birds

Carlos Sanchez is an excellent birder, a Miami resident, and a polyglot. Matheson to preserve the wild and natural beauty of the area , this venerable park is the oldest in Miami-Dade County. It even contains, dare I say, a little bit of history (by Miami standards, anyways) in the form of structures and old walls made of coral.

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Artist Sentenced for Wildlife Trafficking

10,000 Birds

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. “In promoting that message, he fell grievously from doing things the right way and became one of the very people he tried to educate,” Kuehne said.

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Why Is the Federal Government Awarding Contracts to a Company That Was Involved in Smuggling Primates?

Critter News

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.

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Winter Wood-Warblers in Southeast Florida

10,000 Birds

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. During the winter, southeast Florida becomes the wood-warbler capital of the ABA area.

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Sanderlings; Time well spent

10,000 Birds

My travels this week took me to Miami , where the ocean could barely summon the energy to lap gently against the sand. 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.

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A Birder’s Version of Oktoberfest

10,000 Birds

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. Before diving into Oktoberfest, however, a very brief introduction to the dynamics of landbird migration in Southeast Florida is in order. A visit to A.D.

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The Fate of the Florida Anis

10,000 Birds

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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The Warbler Duo of Florida’s Mangroves

10,000 Birds

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. Petersburg area on the west coast. with the bulk of the population in the Upper Keys and Florida Bay.

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The Birds of March Madness

10,000 Birds

Miami Hurricanes (represented by their American White Ibis, Sebastian). The Round of 64 boasts a healthy contingent of teams with bird mascots.* Here’s hoping one of them will end up in the Final Four! For the record, here are all the bird-related teams who made it to the tournament: Oregon Ducks. Florida Gulf Coast Eagles. Temple Owls.

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Best Bird of the Weekend (Third of June 2012)

10,000 Birds

However, I spotted that egregious invasive while in Miami during a layover fro Trinidad and Tobago. It was a great way to end a wonderful week in a new (to Corey) country. If, like Corey, I was unaware of the bonus points at stake, I would have declared a Eurasian Collared Dove my BBOTW. What was your best bird of the weekend?

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The Power of Pets

4 The Love Of Animals

San Diego; Austin, Texas; Miami; and Portland, Ore. The first event will take place in Chicago on September 24. Events will follow throughout the fall in cities across the country, including: Washington; Staten Island, N.Y.; Nashville, Tenn.; If you have an event in your area and attend, we would love to hear about it.

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Guy Who Trained Flipper Protests Dolphin Slaughter

Critter News

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. Well, that's not true, b&*@.

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South Florida Specialties Birding

10,000 Birds

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? Carlos didn’t even pay for them!

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The Endangered Florida Bonneted Bat

10,000 Birds

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. Further studies used geographic variation and morphology to arrive to the conclusion that E.

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On the Land Grant University Meat Problem

Animal Person

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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Roosting Common Nighthawk

10,000 Birds

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.

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Big Years in 2013

10,000 Birds

Rangel Diaz is doing a big year in Miami-Dade County, Florida, hoping to reach 300 species, and keeping a blog about it. Ali Iyoob is looking to break the North Carolina Big Year record of 351 this year. As of my writing this he is off to a roaring start with 169 species recorded already. Follow along at NC Big Year ’13.

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Welcome to Carlos Sanchez, Our New South Florida Beat Writer

10,000 Birds

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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The Littel Big Year – Week 45: Wrapping up the Bahamas

10,000 Birds

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. 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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Fur Free Fashion Show Winners Announced

Critter News

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.

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Saguaro National Park: Cacti as Oases in the Desert

10,000 Birds

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.

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Florida’s Mysterious Wintering Brown-crested Flycatchers

10,000 Birds

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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But What Do Flamingos Mean?

10,000 Birds

Flamingos represented Vegas and Miami and pre-Castro Cuba. Flamingos represented tropical beaches — even though the various species have habitats ranging from alkaline lakes to Andean plateaus. They were dyed a vivid hue that annoyed Tom Wolfe.

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Anhinga Trail at Dawn — a Wildlife Spectacle

10,000 Birds

However, this brief burst of activity sets the tone for the rest of the birding day in the Everglades or southern Miami-Dade as how can one not be impressed by the shear number and variety of wetland birds as a birder?

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2013 Big Year Update

10,000 Birds

Rangel Diaz’s big year in Miami-Dade County, Florida, is going well. David Pavlik is doing a photographic big year, trying to photograph 500 species in the ABA-area in order to fundraise for the American Bird Conservancy’s work with the endangered bird species of Hawaii.

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Florida’s Tropical Pigeon, the White-crowned Pigeon

10,000 Birds

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.

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Invasive Species Week Wrap-Up

10,000 Birds

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? We think the week was a rousing success and hope you agree!

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