I went on a family vacation to Key West and was excited to re-confirm some lifers that I thought I saw before I was into birding but not 100% sure. The main example was a White Crowned Pigeon that I thought I saw years ago in Key West but that was before I was a "good birder". After driving through the Keys and possibly sighting some lifer White Winged Dove, we arrived at our hotel on the north side of Key West. Within a minute I saw a White Crowned Pigeon, not predicting that I would see them during most of my visit. I also saw great views of Frigatebirds within my first day.
One of my other target birds was White Winged Dove that I had unsuccesfully chase sightings up in New York and once in Boston, MA some yeats ago. (long story after Boston) On a whim, I walked to a nearby housing development near our hotel and counted 9 WW Doves all in one tree. It seemed anti-climatic to find a life bird so easily that I chased for so long before. I saw several other the rest of the trip.
We went on a boat trip with other people to look at dolphins and go snorkeling and I saw 3? terns that I was hoping were lifer Bridled Terns. I did not get good photos but looking at ebird, seems more likely there were Bridled Terns than Sooty Terns.
My family did a swim with the dolphin visit, and while we were there I was happy to see about 9 Swallowtailed Kites flying overhead. Little did I know, that they could be seen in the hundreds during this time since it's their migration.
On another boating excursion, we rented a private boat to take us around snorkeling etc. On the way out, we saw lots of Frigatebirds and a Great White Heron. The captain had an opinion that I disagreed with saying all Great Blue Herons go through a white morph phase. On the way back, we looked for a continuing Wurdermaan's Heron that the captain told me about but instead we found an Anhinga.
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