My son David put together a great itinerary for us, did all the research, set up car rental and hotels for January 20-25, 2019. All I had to do was tag along.
January 20, 2019 - Day 1
We drove to Detroit airport in very cold weather, around 10 degrees, to catch the 10:53am flight to Miami. The price was right at $184. I had enough miles on the Capital One card to cover the flight, so the real cost was $0!
We arrived on time, took the tram to the car rental station and were quickly on the road.
Our first stop was Long Key Natural Area in Miami (admission free). The first butterfly was ticked quickly, a Zebra Longwing, as we made our way to the butterfly garden. At the butterfly garden we found 2 Atala and 2 Three-spotted Skippers. It was getting late, so we headed to Homestead to check in to our hotel.
David had excellent information on where to find Black Rail in Everglades NP. We headed towards Research Road as evening set in. We hiked down Research Road without success. On our way back the sky cleared reveling a full moon - no flashlight needed. We tried one last spot by a small water filled clearing in the saw grass.After a few attempts, a Black Rail gave several hoarse grunting calls. A lifer for me. Our walk back with a full moon above was incredible.
Atala (Eumaeus atala)
January 20.2019
Long Key Natural Area
January 21, 2019 - Day 2
After a complementary breakfast at the hotel, we arrived at Everglades NP headquarters. A nice flock of warblers were feeding around the deck.
David's friend Kevin met us in the parking lot. We car pooled to Flamingo, stopping a few times looking for Mangrove Cuckoo - no luck. At Flamingo we hiked the Guy Bradley Trail. It was a little chilly to start the day, but warmed up rather quickly. As it got warmer butterflies got active. We saw Ceranus Blue, Cassius Blue, Gulf Fritillary, Monarch (resident population), Fiery Skipper, and Barred Yellow.
After the trail we went to the store at Flamingo, got lunch and drinks and watched Manatees (lifer mammal for me) play around in the marina.
After lunch we headed to another spot in the Everglades NP named Long Pine Key. This is said to be the most reliable site for the highly endangered Florida Leafwing. We spent 2+ hours hiking and searching for the elusive leafwing without success. We did manage to find a nice Twin-spotted Skipper and our first of the trip White Peacock.
Leaving Everglades NP behind (we would return) we went to Navy Wells Pineland Preserve just down the road. Here another rare and range restricted butterfly holds on - Bartram's Scrub-Hairstreak. We walk down the two track locating Barred Yellow, Southern Broken Dash, Queen, more Gulf Fritillaries. Then I heard David yell, "I've got one!". Kevin and I both made a dash to gaze at our most wanted butterfly of the trip - a beautiful Bartram's Scrub-Hairstreak! All was well in the butterfly world. Leaving Navy Wells, we headed to Frog Pond WMA (a.k.a. Lucky Hammock). A productive spot right at the parking lot produce Tropical Checkered Skipper, Clouded Skipper, Great Southern White, Long-tailed Skipper and more blues, Monarchs and Queens. With the sun dropping, we went to dinner to celebrate and bid farewell to Kevin.
January 21, 2019
Navy Wells Pineland Preserve
January 22 - Day 3
We started the day at Black Point Park and Marina. A Mangrove Cuckoo had been reported here for several days in a row. Nobody (including us) reported it the day we were there. We did however see our first Mangrove Skipper of the trip. Impressive! Leaving without the Mangrove Cuckoo was a disappointment for me as it would have been a new bird for North America. No worries.
Next stop for the day was Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens (admission $25). This place is amazing. Once in the garden we hike around before heading to the butterfly garden. Along the way we found our first Monk Skippers. A good size skipper. The butterfly garden was smaller than I hoped. As the day warmed, the garden became a busy place. Zebra Longwings, Monarchs, Cassius Blues and White Peacocks patrolled and took nectar. David was able to get his eyes on a Fulvous Hairstreak, but I was not as lucky - bummer. Leaving the butterfly garden for a hike through the rainforest zone, David found a roosting Hammock Skipper, our only one of the trip. We ventured back to the butterfly garden and found a few Large Orange Sulphurs flying.
Our next stop was the Deering Estate (admission $15). Here we would be looking for smaller yellows and sulphurs, we found none. Not sure if we searched the right place. We did find a Giant Swallowtail and Mangrove Buckeye, both new for the trip.
We had time for another stop at Navy Wells. We wanted to get more pictures of Bartram's Scrub-Hairtreak, but could not relocate them. We did find 4 Baracoa Skippers. These are small and hard to photograph.
January 23, 2019
Black Point Park and Marina
January 23 - Day 4
Day 4 was going to be a long one as we would be working the keys. We were out the door early. Fort Zachray Taylor Historic SP is at the very southern end of mainland Florida. It would be a 2.5 hour drive from our hotel to the fort. After navigating our way down the keys, watching Magnificent Frigatebirds glide over head, White-crowned Pigeons zoom by, and pelicans dive bomb unsuspecting fish, we arrived at the fort. We took the bike trail leading from the parking lot. We got to a shrubby spot just before entering a small scrub wood lot that looked promising. We quickly found 3 Gray Ministreaks, 1 Martial Scrub-Hairstreak and 10 more species. Gray Ministreaks are considered a very good butterfly. David continued to rack up impressive photos. Most impressive (by the numbers) were 16 Mallow Scrub-Hairstreaks. We also got our first and only Little Yellow.
We were not wanting to leave the fort, but other butterflies had to be seen. Earlier, David made contact with two very knowledgeable butterfliers, Amy and Leigh, that lived in the keys. They agreed to meet us and show us around National Key Deer Refuge. We met in the parking lot and took a short hike and found Palatka Skipper and a cooperative Florida Duskywing. After NKD Refuge we took a short drive to a place called Long Beach. The wind had picked up to the point of putting down all butterflies except an Eastern Pygmy-Blue that was holding on for all it was worth.
After we were done butterflying, we met Kevin to return his birding scope and have diner. Kevin told us about a restaurant called MEAT. It was said to have the best hamburgers in the US. We had to give it a try. I will say the burgers were very good. But being the best, you will have to be the judge of that. It was late by the time we got back to the hotel. David edited some pictures and I updated our species list.
January 23, 2019
Fort Zachary Historic SP
January 24 - Day 5
This was our last day of butterflying. Again we tried for Mangrove Cuckoo without success. Before we tried for Florida Leafwing again, we covered a few areas that were missed on our previous visit. We found a nice stretch of biden and verbena that had a host of skippers. Small skippers seemed to like the smaller flowers. We recorded Whirlabout, Fiery Skipper and Long-tailed Skipper.
With temperatures warming, and eventually reaching the mid-80's, we head back to Long Pine Key.
We started at gate 4 and walked about 3 miles back. We walked in and out of Rock Pinelands hoping for Florida Leafwing. We saw many butterflies, but the leafwing eluded us again. We came across our first Common Buckeye, Ocola Skipper and Phaon Crescent.
Since we were spending the night close to the airport, we headed towards Miami. It started to rain around 3 o'clock and ended any further butterflying. David suggested Chipotle's. We made the 50 yard walk in the rain and enjoyed tacos for dinner.
January 24, 2019
Everglades NP
Long Pine Key
It was an early start on the last day. We had to return the car, check in and get on board by 6:45am. We left Miami airport at 7am and arrived back in Detroit around 10am. We walked off the plane and into a blast of frigid air in the walkway. It was colder than when we left, but nice to be home.
Butterfly list:
Swallowtails
Giant Swallowtail - Papilio cresphontes
Polydamas Swallowtail - Battus polydamas
Whites
Great Southern White - Ascia monuste
Sulphurs and Yellows
Little Yellow - Eurema lisa
Barred Yellow - Eurema daira
Large Orange Sulphur - Phoebis agarithe
Hairstreaks
Atala - Eumaeus atala
Fulvous Hairstreak - Electrostrymon angelica
Martial Scrub-Hairstreak - Strymon martialis
Bartram's Scrub-Hairstreak - Strymon acis
Mallow Scrub-Hairstreak - Strymon columella
Blues
Eastern Pygmy-Blue - Brephidium isophtalma
Cassius Blue - Leptotes cassius
Ceraunus Blue - Hemiargus ceraunus
Brushfoots and relatives
Monarch - Danaus plexippus
Queen - Danaus glippus
Gulf Fritillary - Agraulis vanilliae
Julia Heliconian - Dryus julia
Zebra Heliconian - Heliconius charitonius
Phaon Crescent - Phyciodes phaon
Common Buckeye - Junonia coenia
Mangrove Buckeye - Junonia evarete
White Peacock - Anartia jatrophae
Skippers
Mangrove Skipper - Phocides pigmalion
Hammock Skipper - Polygonus leo
Long-tailed Skipper - Urbanus proteus
Florida Duskywing - Ephyriades brunneus
Tropical Checkered-Skipper - Pyrgus oileus
Three-spotted Skipper - Cymaenes tripunctus
Eufala Skipper - Lerodea eufala
Fiery Skipper - Hylephila phyieus
Whirlabout - Polites vibex
Sachem - Atalopedes campestris
Southern Broken-Dash - Wallengrenia otho
Twin-spotted Skipper - Oligoria maculata
Clouded Skipper - Lerema accius
Palatka Skipper - Euphyes pilatka
Ocola Skipper - Panoquina ocola
Obscure Skipper - Panoquina panoquinoides
Monk Skipper - Asbolis capucinus
January 23, 2019
State Road 939 at dead end
January 23, 2019
Fort Zachary Historic SP
January 21, 2019
Everglades NP
Guy Bradley Trail
January 21, 2019
Everglades NP
Big Pine Key area
January 23, 2019
National Key Deer Refuge
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