On Saturday, November 9, Andrea Diamond led her first TAS birding trip, at Kendale Lakes Park in West Kendall. Following is Andrea’s trip report.

On Saturday, November 2, fifteen birders joined TAS Field Trip Coordinator Brian Rapoza for a full day of birding in Everglades National Park. Though we had to deal with intermittent rain showers, we still managed to tally 64 species before calling it a day.

On Sunday, October 13, twenty birders joined TAS field Trip Coordinator Brian Rapoza at Tropical Park to search for fall migrants. As has been the case since Hurricane Milton passed, fall migrants were everywhere we looked.

On Saturday, October 12, thirty-four birders joined TAS President Joe Barros for a post-Milton morning of birding at Matheson Hammock Park in Coral Gables. Fortunately, overnight rains came to an end shortly before participants began to arrive. The group spent most of the morning in the section of the park on the west side of Old Cutler Road

On Saturday, October 6, twenty-one birders joined TAS field trip leader Michelle Louden for a fantastic morning of birding at Plantation Preserve in Broward County. Though rain was in the forecast, it didn’t actually start raining until we had almost returned to the preserve’s parking area.

On Saturday, October 5, nineteen birders joined TAS Field Trip Coordinator Brian Rapoza for our annual fall trip to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Collier County. The traditional starting point for this trip is the Miccosukee Service Plaza at Exit 49 on I-75 in Broward County. From there, we headed north on Snake Road (CR 833) through the Seminole Reservation, then west on CR 846 to Corkscrew.

On Sunday, September 22, twenty-one birders joined TAS Field Trip Coordinator Brian Rapoza for a morning of fall migration birding at Greynolds Park in North Miami Beach. Bird activity in the park wasn’t especially high, but we still managed to find 31 species after about two-and-a-half hours of birding.

Thirty-two birders joined Luis Gonzalez on Sunday, September 15 for a morning of birding at A. D. Barnes Park. Here is Luis's recap of the trip:

Crandon Park, located on the barrier island of Key Biscayne, is one of the top biodiverse birding hotspots in Miami-Dade County. It’s situated in a critically important location, smack dab on the Atlantic Flyway, and is a prime spot for birds to stopover during fall migration. This strategic location, combined with a plethora of different habitats, have put it in the top ranks of Miami eBird hotspots with 271 bird species recorded to date. From tropical hardwood hammock, sandy beaches, coastal dunes, brackish water ponds, and other productive habitats, this is the place to be if you want to see a variety of birds within a compact area. Trip leaders Marc & Eliana Kramer chose this spot for the location of a Tropical Audubon Society field trip on Saturday, September 14, 2024.

Twenty-five birders joined Brian Rapoza and Luis Gonzalez for Tropical Audubon’s annual trip to the Everglades Agricultural Area south of Lake Okeechobee in Palm Beach County. The trip began at A1-FEB (Flow Equalization Basin) on US 27.

On Saturday, April 20, twenty birders joined TAS Field Trip Coordinator Brian Rapoza for a morning of birding at Crandon Park on Key Biscayne. We began the morning at Crandon Gardens, followed by walks on the beach at the south, then the north end of the park.

On Sunday, March 24, twenty-two birders joined TAS Field Trip Coordinator Brian Rapoza for our annual spring field trip to birding locations in Martin and northern Palm Beach County. This trip was originally scheduled to take place on Saturday, March 23, but with heavy rain predicted for that day, the trip was moved to Sunday. Though Saturday turned out to be not as rainy as expected, Sunday’s weather was much improved, so everyone who attended was happy with the one-day delay.

On Saturday, March 2, twenty-five birders joined TAS Field Trip Coordinator Brian Rapoza for a full day of birding in Everglades National Park. The caravan trip began at the Ernest Coe Visitor Center and ended in Flamingo. Our itinerary included stops at Royal Palm Visitor Center (Anhinga Trail and Gumbo Limbo Trail), the Bill Robertson Center on Research Road, Long Pine Key Campground and Picnic Area, Mahogany Hammock, West Lake and the Guy Bradley Visitor Center and Amphitheater area in Flamingo.

On Saturday, February 10, thirty birders joined John Hutchison and Brian Rapoza for the TAS trip to Shark Valley and Big Cypress National Preserve. Highlights included Purple Gallinules at Shark Valley, a Roseate Spoonbill at Oasis Visitor Center and both Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night Herons at Kirby Storter Boardwalk.

On Saturday, February 3, twenty birders joined TAS field trip leader Larry Manfredi for a morning of birding along the L-31W Canal along the eastern border of Everglades National Park. Over fifty different species were seen during the three-mile round-trip hike.

On Saturday, January 27, thirty-six birders joined Rachel DiPietro for a full-day caravan trip through Everglades National Park. This trip focused on wintering songbirds, seabirds, and resident wading birds.

On Saturday, January 6, forty-one birders joined TAS field trip leader Luis Gonzalez for a half-day of birding in the “Lucky Hammock” area on Aerojet Road in Homestead. As participants assembled in the parking area, they were treated to great views of a Vermilion Flycatcher that has been present in the area for several weeks.

The 74rd annual Coot Bay (Everglades National Park) Christmas Bird Count took place on Saturday, December 30. On count day, 22 volunteers counted 61,748 birds of 119 species, plus two additional taxa. The totals were 31,880 more birds and two more species than in 2022.

On Saturday, December 9, nineteen birders joined TAS field trip leader Luis Gonzalez for a full day of birding in Everglades National Park. The trip began in Flamingo, at the end of the main park road and ended at Frog Pond WMA, just outside the park’s entrance. This “backwards” itinerary, which requires a drive of an additional 38 miles to reach the trip starting point, allowed us to bird the Flamingo area first thing in the morning, rather than late in the afternoon, as we typically do on all other TAS trips to the park. On this particular day, that strategy, which requires participants to leave home at least 45 minutes earlier, paid immediate dividends.

On Saturday, December 2, twenty-six birders joined TAS Feild Trip Coordinator Brian Rapoza for a morning of birding at Black Point Park in south Miami-Dade. By trip’s end, a total of thirty-six species of birds had been spotted in the park.

On Saturday, November 25, twenty-five birders joined author, photographer and TAS Board of Directors member Kirsten Hines for Tropical Audubon’s second annual Accessible Inclusive birding trip at Crandon Cardons on Key Biscayne. We were greeted at the garden entrance by a Sandhill Crane, the last surviving descendent of a small flock of cranes that were introduced to the gardens over 20 years ago.

On Saturday, November 18, seventeen birders joined TAS Field Trip Coordinator Brian Rapoza for a morning of birding at Tropical Park in Miami. In spite of threatening skies, the group managed to tally forty-three bird species before calling it a morning.

On Saturday, November 11, twenty-eight birders joined TAS Field Trip Coordinator Brian Rapoza for a full day of birding in Everglades National Park. The trip began at the Coe Visitor Center and ended in Flamingo. Along the way, we visited Anhinga Trail, the Hole-in-the-Donut restoration area, Long Pine Key picnic area and campground, Pa-hay-okee overlook, Mahogany Hammock, Paurotis Pond, West Lake, the amphitheater area at Flamingo campground and Eco Pond.

On Saturday, November 4, twenty-eight birders joined TAS field trip leaders John Hutchison and Bruce Pickholtz for a full day of birding at Green Cay and Wakodahatchee Wetlands in southern Palm Beach County. The birding at Green Cay was so productive that we ended up spending the entire morning there! Notable sightings included several Sora and Least Bittern, an American Bittern and a couple of Marsh Wrens.

On Saturday, October 28, twenty-five birders joined TAS Field Trip Coordinator Brian Rapoza for Tropical Audubon’s annual visit to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples. Most of the group met at the Miccosukee service plaza on Alligator Alley (I-75), then caravaned to Corkscrew via CR 833 and CR 846, searching for roadside birds along the way.

On Sunday, October 22, thirty-one birders joined TAS field trip leader Bill Boeringer for the second and final half-day birding trip at A.D. Barnes Park for the fall migration season. Among the 58 species tallied during the trip were fifteen warblers.