So Close, Yet So Far.
As we’ve been birding and cruising all over the North American continent this year, our journey has not been about the numbers. We’ve taken our time to savor each and every bird we encounter, appreciating its behavior and natural habitat, and relishing the one-on-one experience between man and nature. However, in this last month of 2018, being so close to reaching 600 birds for the year, we switched gears a little bit and turned up the heat. Coming full circle back to Florida, it’s been a downright race to up the ante and hit the 600 mark! So, where were we in the numbers game? We had made it to 597, and could not for the life of us locate a Chuck Will’s Widow — a Florida nocturnal bird we needed. Until we learned that our Miami friend had one wintering in his yard! A nighttime visit to Homestead, and #598 was checked off! What’s next? During the Long Pine Key bird count in the Everglades, fellow birders located the ever-so-elusive Black Rail near the Nike Missile Site, a bird that we had not yet found. Black Rails are notoriously difficult to locate, and 99.9% of the time they are only heard but never seen. So before the crack of dawn on the very next day, the two of us were up at 4 am and by 6 am were out in the Everglades, cupping our hands around our ears intently listening for the soft “kee-kee-krrrrrrr” call of the rail. After about two hours of frantically searching up and down the road along a section of wet grassland, we heard it! A sweet sound we will never forget - and bird #599! 599!!! Only one more to go for 600 - but there were no new birds left to find in all of South Florida. Ay dios mio! What would we come up with next?
599 and running out of time. Not a single bird species left in South Florida that would help bring us closer to the unreachable 6-0-0. But guess what, up at the polar opposite end of our lengthy state, there was another solid chance to add a +1. Could we realize our goal after all this time? A Purple Sandpiper had recently been spotted on a rocky jetty in Jacksonville, and an American Flamingo had been seen on and off at St. Marks refuge in the panhandle near Tallahassee. That gave us two chances, with a backup plan in case one was a miss. It was time for another detour! Off we went on a 1000-mile 3-day bird-finding mission to North Florida. We were focused, tenacious, and committed…. and with just a little luck and determination, we not only found ONE of the two targets, but we got BOTH! We surpassed our goal of 600 and made it to 601! WOO-HOOOO! The best Christmas/Hanukkah present ever and it wasn’t anything material… but another amazing experience and the satisfaction of crossing our seemingly unreachable finish line together.
Dream. Discover. Bird on!
-Marc & Eliana