Tropical Audubon Society

South Florida’s Voice of Conservation

Hi All,

This past Saturday Paul Sykes, and Bill Blakeslee and I were returning to north Georgia after enjoying an exceptional early morning session observing the Antillean Palm-Swift on Grassy Key.

We were passing over what is marked as Channel Two on Google Maps and about to enter the south end of Lower Matecumbe Key. I was checking out all the birds I could as we were going along when I spied 3 somewhat monstrous shapes perched on the tower wires at 24.843724, -80.751137 just west of the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail and the Overseas Hwy (Hwy 1).

I knew I had been mostly awake and traveling for the past 28 hours but there they were; three Magnificent Frigatebirds perched on wires! We thought this noteworthy and pulled over so I could get a little footage as none of us had ever seen frigatebirds perched on wires before. So far I haven't been able to find anyone else who has ever seen them perched on wires either, although I am sure some folks have.

The eBird checklist with handheld phonescoped video screen captures of the three frigatebirds:

https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S58369699

Also pretty cool that Paul saw the first Antillean Palm-Swift 47 years ago in 1972 in the Key West Cemetery, and now has seen the second, congrats to him!

Enjoy and Good Birding All,

Mark

Mark McShane
Georgia Birder-at-Large
Lawrenceville, Gwinnett County, Georgia
www.neargareport.com