The Dry Tortugas

The Yankee Freedom III

The bow of the YFIII

This morning our 4 person tour loaded onto the The Yankee Freedom III along with loads and loads of eager tourists. The Yankee is the National Park's daily ferry to the jewel of the the Dry Tortugas: Fort Jefferson on the Garden Key. The trip is another 'revisit' for me. My previous Tortuga trip was via a small cruise boat, which doubled as our hotel for several days. This time the trip is for a single, birdy-laiden, heavenly day.

The journey out of Key West was and remains, 70 miles on quite a bumpy sea, Thank heavens I don't get sea sick. Unfortunately for our little squad, the hurling masses included stalwart soul, Steven. He had the tenacity to stick it out, even though going in, he knew it was going to be rough. The man is quite the trouper!

Approaching Fort Jefferson on the Garden Key

The Garden Key dock

And are the Tortugas worth a green-gilled morning? Perhaps the Tortuga's recent claim to fame as a location where Captain Jack Sparrow sailed? A little, maybe. Is it then Fort Jefferson, when it was a prions, in which of Dr. Mudd did a stint for having tended to the infamous John Wilkes Booth? Nope. Come on, you know better. it's the birding!

Larry scoping for the Black Noddy

On debarking the Yankee, our little group hot-footed it north to view Long Key over which clouds of Brown Noddies shrieked. Larry set up a scope to look for the sole Black Noddy, known to prefer a particular perch on a beach-side snag. The noddy was not there, leading me to realize just how lucky I saw a Black Noddy in 1998... which is not to say I wouldn't love a second chance to  . We knew we could try again for the noddy later, so we headed off for the interior of Fort Jefferson.

View of Fort Jefferson, as we headed
back from looking for the Noddy 

Over the moat and into Ft. Jefferson

The fort is a beautiful building, it's bricks worn and beaten down by many a tropical storm. We hoped yesterday's storm might cause a 'fall out', i.e., tired birds dropping into the fort for a rest. That, did happen to a degree. There were warblers and other birds everywhere you could look. As for exhaustion, sadly there were Barn Swallows dotted throughout the grounds, like the one below that sat by the moat, looking woebegone, and tired.

Bedraggled little Barn Swallow

Inside the Fort, the interior is a lush & green. garden and everywhere one looked there were birds.

Lots of grounds in the Fort interior

The entrance in the interior of the Fort 

The birds can seem 'tame' as did the female Hooded Warbler below. She hopped around at eye level in one of the trees (seen above). I got the photo below from distance with my long lens. The pink knobs on the lower right of the photo are the knuckles of another birder who walked right up to the bird for phone photo. 

Female Hooded Warbler  

There's never knowing what will pop up in the fort on any given day it amounts to a crap shoot. Today I won the shoot - Larry pointed out a little grey-ish thrush, which was a lifer for me; a Grey-cheeked Thrush.

Cute little biddie; Grey-cheeked Thrush

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, Ovenbirds, Yellow, Magnolia, Black and White, Black-throated Green Prairie and sundry other Warblers, with Kingbirds littered about. Hungry Cattle Egrets strolling around on the lawns like they owned the place.  

Gray Kingbird

Scattering of Eastern Kingbirds

Indigo Bunting

Overhead Frigatebirds surveyed the grounds, and various raptors paroled for their lunch. I saw one Peregrine Falcon, a few Merlin and many Sharp-shinned Hawks. 

Magnificent Frigatebird

Aerodynamic Merlin

Tyrant of the Tortuga: Peregrine Falcon

Really, the fierce-some little Sharp-shins were everywhere and I've never had a better opportunity to get action Sharpie pics. I shot one swooping bird just outside the fort, getting many interesting shots of the bird sailing past tourists. 

Sharpie swooping past tourists that did not notice the bird

It was interesting to hear Larry say that for all his b'jillion trips to the Tortugas he has never seen a Cooper's Hawk. Wow! That thought should keep me up nights wondering. 

It occurs to me - as it rarely does - I ought to show pics of the grounds itself, however bird free, as the Fort is awesome. I probably spent an hour or so wandering about on my own. Everywhere there were birds and history. The view below faces where rangers are boarded as well as where a Northern Waterthrush hopped around the underbrush. 

Facing Ranger's Quarters

Remnants of old barracks with 'case-mates' or gun rooms in the rear

 The building below was the Hot Shot Furnace. Cannon balls were loaded at the high end and super heated to cherry red balls when they emerged at the bottom.

Hot Shot Furnace

Bottom of Hot Shot Furnace, where cannon balls emerged

The super heated cannon balls were taken via tongs, to be shot from cannons to hit enemy ships.

Larry crossing 'Large Parade Magazine' whatevertheeff that is

Larry told us that several times escaping Cubans have shot for Fort Jefferson as a good place to seek their initial refuge. There are several such 'chugs' at the fort, that were used by freedom seeking Cuban refugees.

One of several 'chugs' or escape boats at the Fort 

At noon all returned to the Yankee Freedom III for a quick buffet lunch.  Headed for the lunch, I noticed all the Yankee's dock, and the front of the fort, tame Ruddy Turnstones darted about. They behaved more like pesky pigeons than shorebirds. They begged picnickers for crumbs - and of course, got it.  Got no pics begging but a great one of one Turnstone so close to my feet, I had to back up to get the photo below.

Ruddy Turnstone

The winding stone stairwell

Post lunch we returned the Fort for and took the ancient winding stone stairwell up to the top of the fort, by the Lighthouse.

The views from the top of the Fort are marvelous.

View from 2nd landing of stairwell on the way up

The view, stepping out of the stairwell - that's cannon 'dead' center

Looking back at the cannon and the lighthouse

Looking north past the moat

Southern view

Larry took up a post in front of the Fort lighthouse, setting his spotting scope towards Long Key. 

There, huge flocks of Brown Noddys and Frigatebirds swirled. A peregrine dive bombed the isle, which kept the birds on their toes... or rather on their wings.

Frigatebirds and Brown Noddies by the Long Key

Alas, again the Black Noddy was a no-show, as it was probably out there somewhere among the falcon stirred Brown Noddies. I did get a better look at the noddys earlier, out by the 'coaling docks'. The coaling dock is now in ruins of just the posts but that is where lots of noddys and gulls take it easy

Coaling Dock with its Noddys and a scattering of terns/gulls

Four Brown Noddys

The Yankee headed left dock around 3:30 and headed onto the turquoise sea. The captain slowed down so all could have a peek at the Hospital Key where flocks of Masked Boobys littered the shore.

Hospital Key 

Enlarged, teensy bit better view of Masked Boobys





I spent the trip back to Key West on the ship's bow, hoping to see a Bridled Tern. Oooo had I gone to the top deck with Larry and the others I'd have seen my lifer. Rats! Oh well, another time.

Sooty Tern on the return to Key West

I wished this trip to the Tortugas could be an overnighter, but mustn't be greedy. Maybe I'll make it back a third time, and maybe that trip will be an overnighter. Still, no complaints - our tour group wasn't done birding for the day.

My precious....

[UPDATE.. er... Backdate: Just for the heck of it, here below are recently re-discovered scans of negatives from my 1998 Florida trip. Below is the original, the greatest, the First Yankee Freedom boat. On that trip o' so many years ago, there were maybe 30 of us birders. We boarded the Yankee in the evening, and as the ocean was gawdawful, it didn't head out to the Tortugas until nearly midnight. The trip out was so rough as I lay in my bunk, in a room with at least a half dozen other women I could hear of the engine chugging away. Under that drone, I could hear the sound of abject misery, my roommates dry heaving. Next morning the skuttlebutt was the captain had also had a barf fest. Saints praise my sea-stalwart genetics. The trip to the Tortugas was so rough, a couple of passengers refused to take the boat back to Key West. Nope. Didn't swim back, a sea plane was hired to fly them back to Key West. 

My 'ride' in 1998, the original Yankee Freedom

I can't believe I'm even posting this, but here I am, or was, back in 1998. Note the fat knees and massive grin. 

How old is this photo? Note faint ratchet marks along the the top, from the negative I scanned this from, not to mention, notice I'm wearing a watch. Do you even remember what watches are?

On that trip, our boat load were the only tourists on the Garden Key for three days, save for other tourists at the Garden Key's campground. My group would return to the Yankee Freedom for meals and for sleeping at night. Daytime we'd tour the Garden key sometimes returning on board to boat around the Tortugas to view its Tortuga islands, such as the Hospital Key. One day we snorkled on the shores of the Loggerhead Key.  

Male Frigatebird, art by David Sibley

One morning we took turns ferrying to the Bush Key for a closer view of the Brown Noddys and nesting Frigatebirds. The male Frigates had massive, & rather obscene looking red throat pouches with which an equally obscene noise was produced. All that and I got NO photos as I had nothing more than a 25 mm lens back then. 

There Be Dragons in the Keys

Dragon, ready for its Jurassic Park close-up

Whizzing through the Keys

There be Dragons in the Florida Keys; all manner of beasties and birds. Today we headed south from Homestead, down Highway one, passing though each key. Larry gave us commentary as he drove and was sure to point out some of the sights. On Key Largo, we saw the little brown boat used in 1951's classic movie, The African Queen staring Humphrey Bogart and  Katherine Hepburn. I'm a classic from 1951 too, but unlike the Queen, I haven't sailed around the world twice.

The African Queen

Thar be deadly Poisonwood Tree

We arrived at Long Key, and as we entered Long Key State Park, a raccoon shot across the road, and before we knew it, Larry was leading us on a trail to look for a sparce exotic, the Key West Quail Dove. which either evaded us, or more likely had moved on to an area with better food. While we searched, Larry told us the names of many of the tall canopy of trees. They had interesting names, such as 'Gumbo Limbo' and 'Poisonwood' that has blistering sap. The spots on the tree on the left, are spots of oozing sap. Ewww...

There are thatched Seminole and Miccosukee structures all over Florida and they are made using Thatch Palm. The little palms are scattered all over on the Long Key trails.

Thatch Palm

Barbed Wire Cactus

A cactus that to my eye resembled the cacti of the Southwestern states, is an endangered cactus of the keys; Barbed Wire Cactus.









There were Sea Grape, a tree whose mildly grape flavored fruit is a favorite of many wild birds and mammals, including humans.

Sea Grapes shown are unripe - when ripe, are purple 

After searching one side of the park for the Key West Quail Dove, we went to the other side to search for Zenaida Dove. That was fun as we had to traverse a long wooden boardwalk over swamp.

Traipsing the Golden Orb Trail 

The Golden Orb Trail had its charms. There were little holes at the side of the white sandy trail, in which baseball sized Blue Crabs lurked.

Baseball sized Blue Crab in its burrow

Another crab I saw along the trail were little Mangrove Tree Crabs.

Only an inch worth of crab 

Walking the trail was fun, even though the spot shown below was flooded with ocean waters on the walk in, requiring taking off shoes to wade through. I did so, and was ticked off when my pedometer unfastened itself and PLUNK into the salty wet it sunk. It survived, & thank heavens, so did I.

Where the trail was under salt water on our way in,
high and dry on our way out

When we reached where the Zenaida Dove was last seen, we looked high and low but did not find the dove. Larry suspects the bird was off hiding on its nest.  I suspect it was off playing canasta with the Quail Doves.

We all headed further south, and on Key West. Larry took us to a shore where we enjoyed viewing the birds on the far off pier.

Three Roseate Terns, all in a row

The Roseates put on a show for one of their mates,  
as one sang capella, and a second danced a jig

a less musically talented Least Tern

And last and certainly not a Least, a Royal Tern

The terns were fun to watch, but then, so were the lizards at this particular spot. There was a huge Iguana around 2 feet long.

There was a Curly Tail Lizard, that was pretty dinky after seeing it's giant cousin nearby. Here are two views, which show the lasso-like tail on this tropical lizard.




















We did a little birding on a Key West golf course. There were numerous Black Bellied Plover on the greens, and we were delighted to see this bird, which unlike most of the other birds, was still decked out in its breeding plumage.

Beautiful Black-bellied Plover.

Me, a Bahama Mockingbird? I don't think so!

The next stop was Zachary Taylor State Park, which I vaguely remember from my 1998 trip. Larry wanted to check out the current report of a 'alleged' Bahama Mockingbird, which he correctly predicted was a cute little immature Northern Mocking bird.

There were lots of other birds around, and come to think on it, a fair number of beautiful Butterflies. Of course it was the largest, brightest ones that caught my eye. Shiny! Purdy!

Julia Heliconian Butterfly

We still had a fair amount of day ahead of us. We located the motel - the Sea Shell - and checked into our rooms. By that time, the skies had opened up, and as predicted earlier , the tropical rains came a pouring down. I don't think any of us cared much. Rain is just an opportunity to see where ever you are at, in another light. And anyway, with 3 of the four of us having come from California, pouring down rain was kind of a treat. So through the rain we all headed out for a nice dinner in a part of Key West that reminded me of New Orleans. A Great dinner was enjoyed, and there is eagerness for our trip tomorrow, when we head for the Dry Tortugas.

The outside of the restaurant which had atmosphere to spare

Two Birds, No Stone

Long-horned beetle exploring a Florida cactus flower

Black Vulture in left, Short-tailed Hawk on right.

Today began with careful scanning of the skies near the western shores of Lake Weohyakapka, looking for Florida specialty species - the Short-tailed Hawk.  Was surprised to learn from Larry, the raptor's normal prey are birds. Can't fault that diet, as must admit, am fond of eating birds too.

The inset of the Short-tailed Hawk 

There were plenty of birds near the lake - the usual water birds; cormorants, herons and the like, as well as feathered landlubbers such as Great-crested Flycatchers andVultures. The vultures, Larry told us, were the key to our quest. Short-tails like to soar with vultures. as their prey ignore carrion eating vultures, so do not notice the hawk overhead. Driving on there was no  success, causing us to face the horrid thought, perhaps today wasn't our day. Then... huzzah! Larry spotted a dark phase, Short-tail Hawk over a forested area. I was on the bird in a flash, shooting off 25 or 30 shots. Then I looked down at my camera to check my shots, and then rat! I'd shot a string of black photos. *(@)#!  the camera's control dial had been accidentally be set to 'Eff Claire'. Note to self: Check camera's settings at the start of every day, EVERY TIME!

By now, the Short-tail was farther off, but a string of photos managed. The pix are out of focus, but that's because that beauty was so far off. The photo shown is an inset from the upper photo. I must say, a fuzzy pic makes for a happier 'moi' than no photos at all. It took me um... 18 years, but as of today, the Short-tailed Hawk perches proudly on my life list. Go me!

Our next bird was also a 'speciality' meaning birders 'flock' to Florida just to see the species. We now looked for the Florida Scrub Jay. To start, Larry took us to where the species had been easily seen in the past. Arriving at the local State Park, the friendly woman park ranger looked suitably grieved to inform us the birds were for no known reason - absent. However, she was quick to give us a map and directions to a location where the birds have been seen recently. Soon Larry was driving the van in an ever-decreasing Fibonacci swirl. Eventually we arrived at - inhale deeply prior to saying this out loud - Allen David Broussard Catfish Creek State Park - Whew!

The park was strange, as the ground beneath our feet was sand.

Sandy parking lot at Allen Dav... er... Catfish Creek Park

Soon we were treading a park trail, which was akin to walking on a sandy beach. Between the warm air and the difficult to walk on sand, I fretted a bit, a total waste of energy, I can tell you. With everyone disappearing up the slope, I moved as fast as my tubby legs could manage.

Innocent sandy, shrubby habitat at the park

On the bright side, there were butterflies flitting about, and yellow bloomed prickly pear cactus to distract from the sandy walking. It wasn't long at all before we stopped and Larry focused his trained hearing for Jays. As earlier in the day, success didn't just pop out of the shrubbery - we had to skulk around, listening and watching. Then, Larry heard a tell tale raucous call off down the hill. He headed into the shrubbery and I headed right after him.

Prickly Pear Cactus were scattered in the brush

Hurrah! Two Florida Scrub Jays flew nearby, sitting tippy-top on trees. They called and seemed to be scouting the area out themselves.

Florida Jay calling 

A bit of a pose here...

Everyone managed pretty good views of these rare birds of Florida Scrub lands. The Jays are endangered because much of their preferred habitat - scrub - has been developed. You would think the birds not having beach front property would have spared the species, but you would be wrong.

The Jays weren't lifers for any of us, which didn't dim our pleasure at viewing the birds one danged bit. Myself, I was thrilled to finally get decent photos of them - the Jay species, not the motley group shown below.

Larry, Steve and Marian after successful Jay viewing