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2002 MIAMI CONFERENCE REPORT

18-22 January 2002

The Miami Conference promised a respite from winter weather and excellent birding, and it certainly delivered on both counts! Temperatures ranged up into the low eighties each day under beautiful partly cloudy skies and the birding was consistently first rate! Most birders visiting south Florida are particularly interested in waterbirds, specialties of the region, and introduced exotics — and we had some great views of birds in each of these groups.

For many, wading species are the highlight of any birding trip to south Florida. Waders observed on Conference field trips included American and Least Bitterns, Reddish Egret, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, both White and Glossy Ibises, Roseate Spoonbill, and Wood Stork — along with all of the more common egrets and herons. Other waterbirds of note were Anhinga, Magnificent Frigatebird, Mottled Duck, Clapper, King, and Virginia Rails, Sora, Purple Gallinule, Common Moorhen, Limpkin, Sandhill Crane, and Black Skimmer.

Although no "mega-rarities" showed up during the Conference, most of south Florida's regularly occurring specialties were well observed. Numerous Snail Kites were seen near the Shark Valley entrance to the Everglades and one even obligingly ate an Apple Snail in full view of a busload of participants. Short-tailed Hawks, in both light and dark morphs, were observed on nearly every field trip. One afternoon a beautiful dark morph Short-tail soared around for nearly ten minutes right over two of our buses as they were unloading at the hotel parking lot! Another south Florida specialty, White-crowned Pigeon, was seen on a couple of the field trips. Perhaps indicative of their apparent decline, Smooth-billed Anis were not seen on our field trips, despite our best efforts to locate them.

Introduced species are of interest to many birders and we dedicated a half-day trip to searching for these interesting birds. Among those already on the ABA checklist, we observed Eurasian Collared-Dove, Monk Parakeet, Red-whiskered Bulbul, and Spot-breasted Oriole. White-winged Parakeet was missed, but Yellow-chevroned Parakeets (now the more numerous of the two) were seen in good numbers. A number of other exotics were also observed, some in considerable numbers. These included Muscovy Duck, Purple Swamphen, Red-masked Parakeet, Blue-crowned Parakeet, Black-hooded Parakeet, Hill Myna, and Common Myna.

Other birds of particular interest included species out of their normal range, or those generally occurring only in small numbers in south Florida. Among these were White-tailed Kite, Swainson's Hawk, Peregrine Falcon, Chuck-will's-widow, Bell's Vireo, Lark Sparrow, and Painted Bunting. Wintering warblers were numerous and a rather remarkable 20 different species were recorded on the Conference field trips.

The collective total of ABA checklist species seen and heard during our four days of birding came to 138. The addition of introduced species observed but not (yet) on the ABA checklist brought the grand total to 146. A complete Conference bird list is posted on these pages.

While the field trips are always the centerpiece of any ABA Conference or Convention, programs, social activities, and the chance to meet new and old friends are also an important component. Entertaining and informative programs were provided each evening after dinner and also on Sunday afternoon. Larry Manfredi got us off to a great start the first night by whetting our birding appetites with an introduction to the area and its birds. The next evening Sonny Bass brought us up to date on the status of the endangered Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow. Larry Manfredi again took the lectern on Sunday afternoon and presented a very informative program on introduced species in south Florida. Our other scheduled speaker for Sunday afternoon was unable to attend due to a medical emergency, so I filled in with an impromptu bird slide quiz. On Sunday evening noted professional photographer Kevin Karlson presented a fascinating program on the Dry Tortugas and on Monday evening the Editor of Birding, Paul Baicich, helped us learn more about the importance of shade grown coffee to our birding future.

Jane Kostenko and Tyler Bell (Assistant Managers), and Nanci Hawley (Registrar) again performed superbly as the Conference staff and their good work is greatly appreciated. Kudos go to Kevin Sarsfield who did a terrific job as the Conference's Field Trip Coordinator — and to Joe Barros, Paul Bithorn, Bill Boeringer, Jeff Bouton, Brian Rapoza, Larry Manfredi, Juan Villamil, and Jeff Weber who led the field trips. Thanks also to the attendees who took the time to visit Miami and attend the Conference!

– Ken Hollinga

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