{"id":189,"date":"2010-09-10T21:55:05","date_gmt":"2010-09-11T02:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emptynestbirder.com\/?p=189"},"modified":"2020-09-15T14:11:30","modified_gmt":"2020-09-15T19:11:30","slug":"cuban-pewee-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emptynestbirder.com\/?p=189","title":{"rendered":"Cuban Pewee in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rare Bird alerts were going wild last week with the reports of a very rare Cuban Pewee in the Florida Everglades.  There have been only 3 prior confirmed sightings of this species in North America.  We decided to go try to find it.  Our search for the Cuban Pewee would be supplemented by the possibility of a Western Spindalis, reported seen on September 6 and 7,  in the same general area where the Pewee was being seen. <\/p>\n

As soon as we arrived at the reported site, an excited birder motioned to us to come up a trail leading into the wooded area near Long Pine Key.  We followed instructions and were rewarded with an immediate view of the Cuban Pewee right above the trail.  The light wasn’t very good, but the view was sufficient.  However, we decided to try for a better look the next morning.  When we returned the next morning there were a dozen or so birders already on site.  Soon one came running up the road to report the Pewee was perched about a quarter of a mile down the road.  Everyone scurried to the location, slightly off the road, and we were all rewarded with terrific, close-up views of the Pewee, in good light.  Some of the photographers went annoyingly close to the bird, but he stayed throughout the commotion.  Barbara got some good shots from a distance.  Although we did not hear the Pewee give its distinctive call, the prominent half crescent behind the eyes,  the unusually large bill,  the wingbars and the absence of tail-flicking were determinative. <\/p>\n

Cuban Pewee<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"cuban-peewee\"<\/p>\n

After looking at the Pewee for as long as we wished, we moved off to try to find the Spindalis, with no luck.  (The Western Spindalis is a relatively new name for what was previously called a Strip-headed Tanager).  No one else has reported seeing it after September 7.  The “locals” tell us that the Spindalis nested in the vicinity last year and fledged a couple of young.  It was kept quiet to avoid any unnecessary nest disturbance by over exuberant birders or photographers, a very good precaution, I might add. <\/p>\n

While looking for the Spindalis, another birder spotted a Chuck-will’s-widow, primarily a nocturnal bird,  perched on a horizontal branch not far from the road.  I have never seen this bird before in daylight.<\/p>\n

Chuck-will’s-widow<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"chuck-wills-widow\"<\/p>\n

A young couple from Indiana encouraged us to go look for the Plain-capped Starthroat which was being seen regularly in Arizona, so we have deceided to try that sometime.  They thought the Starthroat was a much nicer find than the Pewee, but I am sure others would dispute that. <\/p>\n

Encouraged by attacking mosquitoes, we left the Everglades Park and  drove down an old road just outside the Park. Among the sightings there was a nice close-up of a Red-shouldered Hawk.<\/p>\n

Red-shouldered Hawk<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"hawk\"<\/p>\n

Having exhausted our “must see” list for the Everglades and vicinity, we headed to Miami to try for White-winged Parakeets.  No luck on the White-winged Parakeets, but the Baptist Hospital grounds in Kendall were loaded with colorful, noisy Mitred Parakeets<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"mitered-parakeets\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Rare Bird alerts were going wild last week with the reports of a very rare Cuban Pewee in the Florida Everglades.  There have been only 3 prior confirmed sightings of this species in North America.  We decided to go try … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-northamericanbirding"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emptynestbirder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emptynestbirder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emptynestbirder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emptynestbirder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emptynestbirder.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=189"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/emptynestbirder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1738,"href":"https:\/\/emptynestbirder.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189\/revisions\/1738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emptynestbirder.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emptynestbirder.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emptynestbirder.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}