Field Trip Wrap-Up: Birding, Camping & Owl Prowl, February 2022

Photos Courtesy of Michele Louden • Saturday & Sunday, February 26-27, 2022 • A.D. Barnes Park

Ten campers joined up for the first Phoebes overnight camping trip in A.D. Barnes Park on February 26-27, 2022. On a warm spring Saturday afternoon, we enjoyed the camaraderie of the group as we unloaded cars and set up our tents. Later we shared a dinner of arroz con pollo, sweet plantains and a garden salad. Delicioso! In the evening just before sunset we walked to the park’s sizable campfire ring.

Here we met our delightful guides, Millie Cabrera and Rosie Rodriguez of Miami EcoAdventures. They ushered us on a sunset owl prowl through the nature center’s pine rocklands and hardwood hammock. As we experienced the beauty of this urban gem, Millie and Rosie led us in an engaging discussion about the significance of prescribed burns in the preserve, showed us the difference between female and male pinecones and demonstrated how snakes “hear.” They explained that snakes do not have eardrums but “hear” by feeling vibrations as they slither on the ground.

Next, we found a good spot to call in owls. We managed to entice one Eastern Screech-Owl to answer our whistles and whinnies. Later that evening we heard periodically screech-owl trills while we roasted marshmallows and made s’mores around the campfire ring. Fire Marshall Miriam Avello stoked the flames and kept the home fire burning through a night of laughter, chinwagging and good-natured banter!

The next morning, we awoke to the raucous call of three majestic Blue and Yellow Macaws, (one of our target species) as well as the lovely, whistled phrases of Northern Mockingbirds and singing Northern Cardinals. Added to this mix we also heard the calls of Palm Warblers and House Wren. Turkey Vultures were slowly waking up and skimming the tops of the pine trees against a blue sky full of puffy white clouds. Michele Louden’s excellent Jamaican coffee helped most of the Phoebes wake up, too, and we mobilized for a morning walk back through the trails we covered the night before.

 We were hoping for warblers and other small songbirds, and we were not disappointed. Some flowering Live Oaks attracted a mixed flock of Palm Warblers, Yellow-rumped Warblers (Myrtle subspecies), Pine Warblers, one American Redstart and several Northern Parulas. The Parulas were singing their rising songs while a White-eyed Vireo also serenaded us. In a more densely wooded area we were able to coax two Ovenbirds into view, strutting around on the leaf litter like miniature chickens. All in all it was a very pleasant time for all, and the time spent getting to know other Phoebes better was as welcome as the birding!

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Birds We Saw

E-Bird Checklist by Miriam Avello

• Double-crested Cormorant

• Cooper’s Hawk

• Red-shouldered Hawk

• Eurasian Collared-dove

• White-winged Dove

• Mourning Dove

• White-crowned Pigeon

• Turkey Vulture

• Blue-and-yellow Macaw

• Red-masked Parakeet

• Eastern Screech-owl 

• Eastern Phoebe

• Red-bellied Woodpecker

• White-eyed Vireo

• Blue-headed Vireo

• Blue Jay

• Fish Crow

• Purple Martin

• Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

• House Wren

• European Starling

• Gray Catbird

• Northern Mockingbird

• Common Grackle

• Ovenbird

• Common Yellowthroat

• American Redstart

• Northern Parula

• Western Palm Warbler

• Pine Warbler

• Prairie Warbler

• Yellow-rumped Warbler

• Northern Cardinal