Rare Birds

July 6, 2020



 

 



Jeremy

Rare Birds

The fourth of July holiday has come and gone and it was a strange one for us, as for the first time in years we simply stayed at home and basically did not leave the house except to walk a frightened and beleaguered dog. Jack has a terrifying fear of the loud explosions that come every time fireworks are set off and as usual our neighborhood, like most across the United States had more than our fair share of individuals launching their own fireworks displays that kept Jack cowering most of the night.



 







Home fireworks displays were the only option here locally as all the organized displays that were to be held in the county were canceled due to the threat of the coronavirus, which continues to explode both locally and state wide. The city and county also had all the beaches closed for the entire weekend to dissuade large gatherings of the type that are known to cause the virus to spread. It was still a packed island full of visitors and so Kathy and I opted to just keep to ourselves and stay home all weekend.

 







Gae



The virus numbers continue to soar both here in Key West and throughout Florida which remains one of the 32 states that is currently seeing a drastic rise in cases. Florida is leading the way nationwide as more people here are becoming infected that anyplace else in the world at the moment. Case numbers across the United States rose to 2,886,267 as of today with 129,811 confirmed deaths related to Covid-19. Here in Monroe County the case number jumped to 380 total with 130 of those here in Key West and we have had 5 people die from the virus. 







 





It is all enough to keep us worried and cautious and staying away from people as much as possible. Before the onslaught of holiday tourists, Kathy and I and our friend Gae booked a private charter from our friend Jeremy who owns Zia Charters and who has been shut down throughout the pandemic and is just starting to book again, limiting his bookings to locals only and staying away from large groups. We thought it was a pretty safe option for just the four of us to go out in the backcountry and waited until a just about perfect weather day to go out.

 











It was absolutely beautiful and a spectacular trip out to near Snipes Point, where we avoided all other boats and people and had a perfect day on the water, snorkeling in the shallow backcountry crystal clear azure waters that were like something from the tourist brochures. Snorkeling that area is very different from either the reef or the nearshore waters off Higg’s Beach where we have spent time snorkeling this summer. An entirely different ecosystem can be found full of shallow ledges packed with spiny lobsters and tons of juvenile fish and other critters.



Kathy







But as beautiful as the snorkeling was and the sight of dolphins playing around the boat, the best part was the beautiful quiet solitude that a day on the water offered with such good friends. It was truly a special day, one that we hope to make a habit of, or at least a fairly regular addition to our calendar. Getting out in nature makes it easy to put aside the myriad of scary problems that the current state of our country is in, at least for a brief moment.











Another awesome natural distraction has been in the offing this week with the arrival of some rare birds, at least for the Florida Keys, to the local scene. Wild Flamingoes are seldom seen in the Florida Keys though I have seen them in the Everglades and in Southwest Florida, I had never seen one in the Keys until this week. A single pink flamingo has taken up residence up the Keys at Middle Torch Key and after seeing a number of my friends posting photos of it, I decided to take a drive up the Keys and try and see it for myself.







I thought it might be hard to spot, but the directions from my friend Mark Hedden, who is the President of the local Audubon chapter were spot on and I spotted him easily and spent about an hour watching him and getting some decent photos. I was inspired after seeing him and on the way home stopped by the small Monroe County Bird Sanctuary behind Higg’s Beach in Key West to see if the other local rare bird, a rosette spoonbill was still on hand.







I was happily surprised to find him not only there, but joined by a friend of the same species and I was able to watch the pair feeding in the small pond there for about another 30 minutes. Seeing two species of seldom seen rare birds, on the same day no less was pretty special and while I am not really a bird watcher, so to speak, I do enjoy watching native wildlife up close and personal. 









Finally on my only other trip out of the house this week, I stopped by to see our friends Rich and Alonda who were having a moving sale prior to their relocation to Gainesville. It is always tough to see friends leave and the pandemic has had people leaving Key West in droves as the economy here has taken a severe hit. Wihing them well in their new adventure. 

Rich and Alonda