Exploring, birding at Fort Jefferson in Dry Tortugas

I recently made my second trip to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas National Park – the nation’s most remote national park. The fort – the largest brick structure in the Western Hemisphere – is located about 70 miles west of Key West and is only accessible by ferry or seaplane. (And after this trip, I have now visited the park via both modes of transportation.)

But this was my first visit to try to find some birds on Garden Key, the piece of land where Fort Jefferson is located. The National Park Service says fewer than 40 species of birds are typically present there in the winter, though nearly 300 species have been recorded as part of fall or spring migration.

I didn’t know what I might find on this trip, but the first bird I came across was a Palm Warbler – a pretty common bird across Florida this time of year. I didn’t see either of the park’s notable year-round visitors, a Masked Booby and a Brown Noddie.

But .. I did come across one pretty interesting bird. One is a Roseate Tern, which I spotted resting on the beach in its non-breeding plumage. AllAboutBirds.org says of the Roseate Tern, “Hard hit by the plume trade at the turn of the 20th century, Roseate Terns are still federally Endangered or Threatened in the U.S. and are on the Partners in Flight Yellow Watch List.”

Overall, there were shore birds I expected to see and some other birds that I was a bit surprised to find so far away from the mainland.