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From: sandee@loligo (Daan Sandee)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Florida Keys
Keywords: Dry Tortugas
Message-ID: <254@vsserv.scri.fsu.edu>
Date: 6 Oct 89 12:47:29 GMT
References: <814@crltrx.crl.dec.com> <16275@siemens.siemens.com>
Sender: news@vsserv.scri.fsu.edu
Reply-To: sandee@loligo.UUCP (Daan Sandee)
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Organization: Florida State University
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In article <16275@siemens.siemens.com> tjo@edsel (Tom Ostrand) writes:
>herlihy@crlmh.crl.dec.com (Maurice Herlihy) writes:
>
>>I'm going to be in the Florida Keys in early October.  Any birding
>>advice?  Also, how hard is it to
>>to make a day trip to Fort. Jefferson from Key West?
>
>I'll be in the Keys in mid December.  I already know 
>that one day plane trips from Key West to Fort Jeff are available,
>check the AAA Florida book for name of the company.  Price is
>~ $100 for round trip.  
>
>My question is: is this trip worth taking?  Are there any 
>knowledgeable rangers or such in the Tortugas who can lead 
>interesting trips, or at least point one to good places? 
>How close are the good places to where the plane lets you off?
>    Tom Ostrand   (ostrand@cadillac.siemens.com)
>	Siemens Research Laboratories
>	755 College Road East 
>	Princeton, NJ  08540

Birding hilites at Ft Jefferson are (1) the sooty tern/brown noddy colony
which operates from March thru September and (2) migrants, especially
cold front fallouts - end of April and mid-October. In winter, there's
nothing to see that you wouldn't see on the Keys. Of course, you can
always strike lucky and see a booby or something, but don't count on it.
As to the need for a tour guide : in two hours, you can see all there is to
see - walk around the island AND see the fort itself. Also, it's a 100-yard
swim to the next island where you can do a bit of beach combing. Unless
you have a boat, that's it.
I made the trip in late November and birding-wise it was a disappointment.
The only thrill was the plane ride itself.


Daan Sandee                                                 sandee@sun6.fsu.edu
Supercomputer Computations Research Institute
Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4052        (904) 644-7045