In March I made a very short visit to Florida on the way back from my trip to Colombia.
This visit focused primarily on a (successful) search for two very rare birds at Long Key State Park.
The Zenaida Dove is very similar to a Mourning Dove, but it is slightly browner, with a much smaller tail,
and it has a conspicuous white mark on the wing (formed by white tips of the secondaries).
The species is common in the West Indies, including Cuba, yet it almost never crosses the water to Florida.
One individual turned up in Long Key State Park in late February 2016 and was regularly seen until April 16
(followed by a single surprise sighting in May).
Based on improbability of observation, this was the rarest bird I had ever seen in
North America (at the time).
I returned here on my April trip so that my travel companion could see the dove, but we had to give up
after about 6–8 hours of searching.
Eventually we learned that we were there two days after the final April sighting.
The Black-faced Grassquit is another species that is common through the West Indies (except Cuba)
and only rarely wanders to Florida (although it has been seen more often than Zenaida Dove).
This female, a rather drab and nondescript bird, was in Long Key State Park from February to late March.
On the return visit in April, we did at least find Reddish Egrets, both color morphs.
Here is a red morph.
Reddish Egret, white morph.
