Birding in Miami (1 Viewer)

[rcbirds]

Hi All,

I'm hoping someone can suggest a place to do a little birding in the South Beach area. I will be tagging along with my husband as he goes down there later this week to work and I would like to squeeze in a little bit of birding. I'm not looking for any epic trip or anything just something scenic where I can see a few nice birds. Any suggestions? I'm staying near Collins/ Washington Ave. and it would really be great if anyone had a suggestion that was close by...

Thanks,
rcbirds

 

[Mike Richardson]

Hi recdirds
I visited Miami 3 years ago but did most of my birding outside of the city in places such as the Everglades.
However, I did visit a number of sites such as Matheson Hammock Park and Key Biscayne that did produce some good birds. Both these sites are in Miami but not that near to where your staying. As it was my first trip to the USA since I got into birding, most birds were new to me so I suppose it depends what your after. Even walking along South Beach produced several lifers such as Royal Tern and Brown Pelican.

I know you don't want to travel far but if you get chance Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge is well worth a visit.

Sorry I couldn't be more help.

 

[Jim M.]

Hi,

I did several days of birding in South Florida in December, but do not have any locations in Miami that I visited that I would strongly recommend. But here is a link to a list of Miami birding locations from the Tropical Audubon Society website that you might want to look through.

http://www.tropicalaudubon.org/locations.html

Hope this helps,
Jim

 

[Tero]

It is difficult if you do not have a car. But look for the largest parks on the map and see if you can get there.

 

[Guidenet]

Fairchild Botanical Garden

Let me suggest Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden. It would be cab or drive from South Beach but worth it. This is one of my very favorite locations in Miami. There are many varieties of palms, plants and wildlife including birds.

http://www.fairchildgarden.org

http://www.fairchildgarden.org/uploads/images/Visiting_Fairchild/map03.jpg

 

[Mike Richardson]

Let me suggest Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden. It would be cab or drive from South Beach but worth it. This is one of my very favorite locations in Miami. There are many varieties of palms, plants and wildlife including birds.

http://www.fairchildgarden.org

http://www.fairchildgarden.org/uploads/images/Visiting_Fairchild/map03.jpg

View attachment 123290

If I remember correctly, Fairchild is just over the road from Matheson Hammock Park. I agree Fairchild is a nice place to visit and has some interesting feral wildlife such as Green Iguanna.

 

[rcbirds]

Thanks All

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. Unfortunately, I did not get to fairchild garden. But I did go all around Lummus park and saw wonderful views of Brown Pelican and Royal Terns. I was amazed at how close I could get to the terns! Not to mention what large groups of them I saw.it was quite a treat!

Looks like I may go back soon with my husband (for work) so I'll have to check out Fairchild.
Cheers!
RCbirds

 

[csanchez7]

Hi,

Let me just add that Mattheson Hammocks, right next to Fairchild Tropical Gardens, has some pretty decent birding trails itself. I counted a couple dozen species along the nature trail that cuts through the mangrove swamp of Mattheson Hammocks. Here are some of the more interesting species I've seen there:

Brown Pelican, Osprey, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Black and White Warbler, Semipalmated Plover, Laughing Gull, Double-crested Cormorant

...along with more common fare such as Blue Jays, Mourning Doves, Boat-tailed Grackles, Herring Gulls, etc.

Carlos