Blue Goose ~ Days 237 and 238

January 19 and 20, 2015 ~ Miami, FL to Key West, FL to Miami, FL

Expectations clashed with reality today. The road to Key West from Miami is NOT one long bridge over open water, occasionally anchored on small idyllic "keys." At least half the route is gas stations, sandal stores, restaurants, marinas, tire shops, bars, tattoo / massage places, grocery stores, tourist attractions, local "museums," resorts, police and fire stations, watercraft-related businesses and on and on...It quickly became tedious. True there are some protected areas, including state parks and four NWRs, only one of which is easily accessible. This is Key Deer; the others are the numerous islands/keys of the Key West and Great White Heron NWRs. The fourth one is Crocodile Lake on North Key Largo (not open to public because of its small size and the desire to avoid wildlife disruption by non-wild you and me.)

Esther is a geocacher, and Long Key State Park had both geocaches and a rare bird: the Key West Quail Dove. Of course we stopped here, paid our $6, easily found her cache at the public beach and drove to the parking lot for the Golden Orb (named after a spider) Nature Trail where the elusive dove has intermittently been seen. I took a boardwalk over shitty-smelling red mangroves and saw a Yellow-crowned Night Heron standing in the mud but soon realized I was not on the dove trail, so I backtracked.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron - Long Key State Park - FL

Esther stayed in the car while I walked a quarter-mile down the trail, mangroves on one side and drier forest on the other. I got to the Poisonwood Tree, moving slowly and peering into the trees and leaves. All was very quiet. Some of the birders who seriously seek out this bird return repeatedly and stay for hours, silently watching between tree roots and dried leaves for any slight movement. The dove is hanging round here though, and with persistence would be seen, often early in the morning. But not by me after my 15-minute chase.


We continued to Key Deer NWR on Big Pine and No Name Keys. After getting information at the VC from the most welcoming and cheerful woman at the desk, ("If you don't see the deer, come back and I will give you your money back..."), we first went to The Blue Hole, a former quarry, in which the saltwater that seeps in through the limestone is overlaid by less dense freshwater (all originating as rain fall) and making The Blue Hole the only fresh water "lake" in the Florida Keys. A couple of alligators live here and a variety of other wildlife visit and can be seen if one has patience. I saw my second Yellow-throated Warbler, and Esther found a clever geocache. We moved on and walked a trail into amazingly peaceful habitat and soon saw a pretty little Key Deer, browsing as it slowly moved through.

Key Deer - Key Deer NWR - FL

The entire population of this deer is estimated at only 800. They are a subspecies of the Virginia White-tailed deer, average 26 inches at the shoulder and weigh 75 pounds.

WWW.FWS.GOV

Why are the Key deer endangered? Low population numbers,development pressures, habitat loss,and threats from hurricanes have all been important in the listing of this species as endangered. Currently,illegal roadside feeding contributes to road kills which account for 70 percent of the annual mortality.

As always, the pristine habitat gives the visitor a chance to see the land as it was. While refuges are managed, it is usually with the goal of mimicking natural events. In places like Florida, the contrast between land altered by human intervention and land in its natural state is incredible.

Key West: Tourists and free-roaming cinnamon-colored roosters, the old and slightly disheveled cemetery, Hemingway's house (a drive-by), the buoy marker for the southernmost point of the US where the adjacent street was filled with posing tourists being photographed.....bicycles, narrow streets, parking issues, charming old cottages and homes surrounded by gardens and flowers and trees....a Florida spiny lobster tail dinner (rubbery, with no taste) in a restaurant near Duval Street. We had ordered and then the electricity went out for 15 minutes. Whether that affected the quality of the lobster...don't know, but it was totally unremarkable. We had tried to find another small seafood restaurant (Seven Fish) and moved carefully down streets with names like Olivia, Elizabeth and Virginia, but failed to find a parking space, so settled for this other venue.

The next day we geocached a couple of places. (Esther ended up with a dozen to add to her life-time list of over 1200). She talked me into re-visiting the Key West Quail Trail. We met several serious birders who had been there for four hours, keeping watch, moving slowly on the trail and in the general vicinity, wearing light-colored clothing and hats and mosquito dope. One lady had a portable chair kind of attached to her butt. They were pleasant and soft-spoken and had obviously not seen the dove (yet). I figured this group represented at least 20 hours of searching. Esther and I contributed another 30 minutes, taking cues about looking by watching the others. This second "chase" was also unsuccessful for me, but I was glad Ess saw the process. I would have loved for her to be the one to spot the dove...sort of like a mobile, difficulty 5 geocache.

Golden Orb (Key West Quail Dove) Trail - Long Key
State Park - FL

I had never been in Key West; Esther had but a long time ago. Later, we decided we should have gone to  Bill Baggs State Park instead, for both the birds and the caches, but then I wouldn't have seen the refuge(s).

Still, driving back the next day, the route somehow seemed more scenic. The expanse of sky, the hundreds of lesser keys and the light and ever-shifting colors of the ocean was lovely.

We were back in Miami mid-afternoon and had deck-time for a couple of hours before a delicious dinner of grilled hamburgers, sweet potato fries and corn on the cob. And then watched Bill O'Reilly and the pre State of the Union chatter, at which time I retired to read in bed.

Great White Heron NWR - FL
(lower keys in Gulf of Mexico)