We flew from London Heathrow to Miami on 8 February, arriving in the late afternoon and picking up our rental car at the airport from Hertz before driving down to our hotel in Homestead. We were staying at the Hampton Inn, which is comfortable and convenient for visiting the Everglades National Park, which is only a short drive away. The park proved to be good as an introduction to Florida birding, with a number of trails and boardwalks that allow you to get close to the wildlife, making it excellent for photography.
We visited on 9 February and once parked, we first walked the 1,200 m Anhinga trail, which is one of the most popular trails in the park. It proved very productive and gave us excellent opportunities to photograph White Ibis, Purple Gallinule, Wood Stork, Green Heron, Anhinga, Double-crested Cormorant and Tricoloured Heron.
We had brief views of an American Bittern in the reeds, but it never emerged to the point where we could get a good photograph. The passerines and gulls were more obliging and we saw Grey Catbird, Common Yellowthroat, Blue Jay, White-eyed Vireo and Laughing Gull.
Both Black and Turkey Vultures were flying over the park and some were even on cars in the carpark picking at the rubber seals around the car windows.
We had good views of pair of Osprey that were nesting near the water and repeatedly flying back to the nest with food.
We made a second visit to the Everglades National Park on 10 February and explored some of the other trails, including Paurotis Pond and the Pa-hay-okee Overlook. We again saw a good mix of birds, including the very common Yellow-rumped Warbler that showed its yellow rump very clearly, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Eastern Phoebe, a Double-crested Cormorant with a fish, Loggerhead Shrike and Northern Mockingbird.
