Florida!!!!! (Katie and Isaac’s Version)
By Isaac Rath and Katie Milsky
Photos by Isaac Rath
During the week of April 2024, Katie and I traveled down to the Florida panhandle while we were on break between seasonal jobs. I’ve had a personal goal to see a Swallow-Tailed Kite for years, while Katie came on this trip wanting to find an American Oystercatcher for her life-list. We were unable to find either on our trip to the Everglades back in October. We spent every morning and afternoon traveling to different beaches and state parks looking for new birds we’d never seen before and in some cases, we had a lot of luck.
Now, call it what you want: Birding, The Hawk Stalk, Heron Starin’, Bunting Hunting, but I think the best name for this situation would be “Swallow Follow”. We went out to St. George Island State Park, where we were hoping to have some luck with the oystercatcher, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to find one. On that note- when looking for birds in oceanic/shore environments, it’s really important to pay attention to the tides. I studied in coastal California, but Katie is a midwesterner and doesn’t have much experience with them. As we crossed the bridge back to the mainland, googling where to find a smoothie for the drive home and looking up the broadcast for the Red’s game, we couldn’t stop thinking about the one that got away (for now). Katie even pulled over a few times, not willing to give up until we were away from their habitat.
A few miles later, just as I was starting to fall asleep in the car, I felt Katie tap the break and heard her gasp. Just as I open my eyes, I hear “There's your bird!” I’ll be honest, I had a hard time finding words, I was so excited and was trying to say “pull over!” and “Where’s my camera?!” at the same time, so all Katie heard was something out of a Sims game. We had driven through the Everglades and the Florida Keys looking for the Swallow-Tailed Kite back in October and November (not necessarily the right season to be looking for them, but we were hoping to catch some late migraters) and had no luck, and it was beginning to seem like this trip wouldn’t fare any better. Katie pulls over and watches the bird, and I grab my camera and run outside, following the Kite and watching it hunt. Just as it flies out of view and I go to get back in the car, we see two more. Needless to say, despite not finding the oystercatcher, it was a successful day trip out to the island and a successful trip overall. Some other birds we were both able to add to our life lists on this trip include Clapper Rail, Snowy Plover, Northern Parula, Northern Gannet(!!!!), Eastern Kingbird, Black Scoter, Whimbrel, Least, and Common Terns, and a few others. Our next trip will have American Oystercatcher as a high priority, as well as American Bittern.
One day of this trip we had cut our birding trip short due to a major storm heading in. Just as we got back to our 19th-floor condo across the street from the beach, I put the spotting scope up on the balcony and started looking around on the horizon, not really expecting to see much. We got extremely lucky and just happened to find a juvenile Northern Gannet. It was too far away to get any decent pictures, but due to the unique manner in which these birds dive into the rough ocean waters, and after chatting a bit and using some of our resources, we were easily able to determine what it was.
On our last day in Florida, we woke up super early to drive a few miles past Destin to Veteran’s Park Rookery. The park’s walkway was technically closed for construction, so we did a lot of wandering through the trees in the surrounding area. This was a great spot for birding; we were able to identify a total of 46 different species in about an hour. There were a few trees near the pond that served as the rookery, which had well over a dozen Great Blue Heron and Great Egret nests, some with chicks! Some unexpected birds we heard and saw in this location included the Baltimore Oriole (which is what Katie calls “the baseball bird”, along with the Blue Jay and Northern Cardinal), Black-and-white Warbler, and Prairie Warbler. Later that evening we went on a sunset cruise that departed from St. Andrew’s State Park, which we had visited earlier in the week, and photographed an Osprey nest that a Great Horned Owl had moved into and was raising her chicks in. On the boat tour, we were treated to dolphins all over the bay and a variety of Gulls, Terns, Osprey, Little and Great Blue Herons, and even a few Common Loons! At one point, we noticed that a Royal Tern had caught a fish and was trying to eat it while being chased and harassed by a few Laughing Gulls. All in all, we had a great week with some friends Katie met on the Appalachian Trail, and can’t wait to return to Florida soon!
