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Saturday, February 18th 2012

6:44 AM

The Magnificent Seven: 7 Birds You Are Unlikely to Find Outside the Florida Keys

Magnificent Frigatebirds roosting in the Key West Wildlife Refuge

According to international birding guide, syndicated birding columnist, and Florida Keys Audubon vice-president Mark Hedden's February presentation, the seven birds you are unlikely to find in the U.S. outside the Florida Keys are as follows:

1) The Magnificent Frigatebird, whose only breeding ground in North America is Long Key in the Dry Tortugas.

2) The Great White Heron, which is the white morph of the Great Blue Heron--a coloration which exists on only in southernmost Florida and the Caribbean.

3) The White Crowned Pigeon. The Florida Keys boasts the only population of White Crowned Pigeons in North America.

4) The Short Tailed Hawk. These raptors come in white or dark morphs, and only about 500 exist in North America, all inhabiting Florida. They live in upper Florida in the summer, and migrate to the Keys in winter.

5) The Black-Whiskered Vireo, a neotropical migrant which breeds in South Florida.

6) The Antillean Nighthawk. In North America, this nightjar breeds only in the Lower Keys between Key West and Marathon.

7) The Mangrove Cuckoo, who subsists almost solely on caterpillars.   

How many of the Magnificent Seven have YOU spotted?

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