When northern Minnesota is still a snowy, slushy and muddy mess, why not head to south Florida?!

The 70-mile boat trip to Dry Tortugas National Park in Florida is a MUST for birders, bird lovers, snorkelers, photographers and anybody who loves history and nature. Tickets on the Yankee Freedom cost $240 (as of 2026) and must be made months in advance. The boat trip is about 2 1/2 hours each way, which gives you 4 1/2 hours on the island.

There are big breeding colonies of birds that are not found anywhere else in the Lower 48 including Brown Noddy, Masked Booby, Magnificent Frigatebird and Sooty Tern (only a couple other nesting locations in U.S.). And the shear number of birds nesting on Bush Key is overwhelming. Up to 100,000 birds!

But Dry Tortugas Garden Key (where the boat lands) is also a resting and recovery spot for tired migrants heading north in spring. On this trip we find dozens of Palm Warblers, several Northern Parulas, Prairie Warblers, Merlin, Yellow-billed Cuckoo and more.

Sparky’s lifers were “Caribbean” Osprey (subspecies from Cuba, Bahamas), Bridled Tern (ABA lifer #679), and Uber-rare Cuban Pewee! (only a dozen North American records and Sparky ABA Lifer #680).

And since this area has amazingly clear water and healthy coral reefs, Sparky tries snorkeling. He finds colorful fish including Cocoa Damselfish, Sergeant Major, Yellow Jacks, Blue-striped & French Grunts and even swims with a Great Barracuda!

Other aquatic highlights include a Loggerhead Turtle and some type of shark.

Dry Tortugas is one of the smallest National Parks from a land surface area, but does encompass a huge area of ocean. Fort Jefferson on Garden Key is the largest brick structure in the western hemisphere. It was built for U.S. defense in the mid 1800s but is most famous for jailing Dr. Mudd, a conspirator in the Abraham Lincoln assassination and the person who set John Wilkes Booth’s broken leg.

—South Florida bird photography Part 1—Nearly eaten by Croc!

In Part 1 of Sparky’s Florida birding adventure, he takes his Canon R5 and Canon 100-500mm lens to South Florida…IN SUMMER!

Birding and bird photography stops in the South Miami, the Keys, and the Everglades include:

Brewer Park-Miami (parrot roost-Red Masked Parakeet, Chestnut-fronted Macaw)

Black Point Park & Marina (Mangrove Cuckoo, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Common Myna)

John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park-Key Largo (Magnificent Frigatebird)

Big Pine Key (White-crowned Pigeon, Key Deer, Gray Kingbird, Black-whiskered Vireo)

Fort Zachary Taylor S.P.-Key West (Roseate Tern, Least Tern, Sandwich Tern, Great White Heron, Common Ground Dove)

Key West Botanical Gardens (Magnificent Frigatebird)

Flamingo Boat Launch-Everglades National Park (American Crocodile, West Indian Manatee)

Part 2 will cover Florida from Miami up to Jupiter and inland to Johnathon Dickenson State Park and more.