Key West Wildlife 1

We stayed in Key West for a little over a week, 22-31 January 2017. My next few blog posts report on some of the non-human wildlife we photographed. The pictures are, more or less, in chronological order, at least by day. The first is a Brown Anole, scurrying around the French bakery where we often enjoyed lunch. Also at the bakery, a Palm warbler watched us eat, although its culinary interests probably lie entirely with arthropods in the grass.

We found an American Coot at the Key West Botanical Garden. I was interested if the coot sported a red patch on its forehead.  A completely white patch would indicate a Caribbean Coot, which was once believed to be a separate species. Red and white-fronted coots breed with each other randomly where their ranges overlap. Furthermore, white-fronted birds rarely occur across much of North America. The two coot types are now thought to be color morphs without taxonomic implications.

We also found a young Purple Gallinule at the Key West Botanical Garden. One of the joys of eBird is that the app notes the status of the birds you try to report. Rare ones require comments from you and vetting by local experts. In the old days, travelers like we would not know if we were reporting rare birds. Indeed, I have not idea why Purple Gallinules are considered rare in the Keys. Once alerted, however, I made an extra effort to photograph the bird. A few days later our record was accepted by eBird.

A flock of Willets loafed on a rock in the ocean. Willets breed in prairies in the Upper Midwest and winter along the coasts of the United States south through northern South America. A second race breeds along the Atlantic coast of North America. The two populations differ in both average plumage, structure and calls. Willets in the Bahamas are year-round residents. I am not sure which race these Willets might be. Western birds tend to be larger than eastern populations. To me, the Willets in this photo appear to be relatively short-billed.