GOOD PICKENS

 

I suppose there's no other way to begin this blog entry, so I might as well get it out of the way now.  My girlfriend and I left on vacation on May 5th, heading to Milton, FL to get away from everything and enjoy some nature and solitude.  Since we had a long drive to Pensacola Beach where we were spending the first night, we left somewhat early.  Then I got the text.  While we were getting close to Pensacola.  I had to look twice to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.  "KI WA at San Felasco."  No way in hell I told myself.  It must be a joke.

It wasn't.  Mike Manetz, local birding extraordinaire, had found just the second ever Kirtland's Warbler in the county's history.  Naturally I just left for vacation.  I can't tell you how long I wrestled with turning the car around and heading back to Gainesville.  My girlfriend just gave me a look that said "There's no way in hell we are turning around now."  I don't even know if I could truly justify it, but I still toyed with the idea.  Talk about starting the vacation on a dour note.  I was very excited all day with the prospect of getting to bird Gulf Breeze National Seashore/Ft. Pickens that evening and the next morning, and here I was already feeling ho-hum about it, thinking there was no way I was going to replicate what had been found in Gainesville that morning.

However, it didn't take long birding at Ft. Pickens to pique my interest.  Least terns were flying around everywhere, with males flying around with small fish in their bills trying to attract the attention of females.  The first battery we stopped at was Langdon, and it seemed to be the hotspot for me both times out.  Right off the bat I saw a brilliant male scarlet tanager, a swainson's thrush, and a bold, breeding plumaged male magnolia warbler.  On the way to the fort, we saw a gull-billed tern, bald eagle, and loads of osprey.  At the fort we were treated to another brilliantly plumaged male scarlet tanager and several blue grosbeaks. Barn swallows flew close overhead, as did a common nighthawk.

A striking male Scarlet Tanager

Female Blue Grosbeak on the fort grounds

The next morning I headed out early, determined to find some great birds to make up for missing out on the Kirtland's.  I arrived at the entrance only to find it didn't open for another hour and I did not have a camping code to unlock the gate.  So I waited a short distance away and decided to check out a little part of the beach, which ended up yielding a few bobolinks, a nelson's sparrow, and what I assume was a juvenile sora, although my first instinct was yellow rail.  While walking through some vegetation to get a good ID on the nelson's, I flushed out the rail.  Of course it flew in the direction of the rising sun so I could not get a good look to see if I could see any white on the wings.  However, I noted where it landed and just a few seconds later I was right were it should have been (close to an open, exposed area) and it was nowhere to be found.  Just like a yellow rail.  And it made no noise when it was flushed.  Not that it is an identifiable feature, but in my experience with soras, they usually will make some noise when flushed.  And you typically can find them again with little trouble.  This bird was just completely hidden or gone, in no time flat.  Just like a yellow rail.  Alas, I could not positively ID it, so I was left assuming it was a juvenile sora.

Following this shot of adrenaline, I walked the beach noting the black-bellied plovers, willets, semipalmated sandpipers, ruddy turnstones, and white-rumped sandpipers.  Soon it was time to get into the park and back to Battery Langdon.  I ended up birding it twice - once when I arrived and again as I left.  Both times yielded different species and great finds.  I had a male and female scarlet tanager, male and female rose-breasted grosbeaks, eastern kingbird, red-eyed vireos, tennessee warblers, a male blackburnian warbler, yellow warblers, common yellowthroat, magnolia warbler, black-throated blue warblers, ovenbirds, veery, swainson's thrush, and gray-cheeked thrush.  All three thrush species were found within about 150 feet of each other, in about a 10 minute span.

Male Blackburnian Warbler (who was only an arm length from me)

Swainson's Thrush

Eastern Kingbird

I then headed to the fort, determined to find the lark sparrow I dipped on the evening prior which had been hanging around since October.  I found it right away foraging in the grass with some brown thrashers and a mockingbird.  It must have been quite accustomed to all the foot traffic because it kept foraging closer and closer to where I stood watching and photographing it.  It was gracious (or hungry) enough to give me long, unobstructed looks at the field markings and feeding behavior.  The same blue grosbeaks were back out, along with the male scarlet tanager.  Barn swallows were flying close by, and the beach off the dock held a spotted sandpiper along with the other typical shorebirds.  Traveling around the various Batteries around the fort yielded courting and copulating least terns, several gull-billed terns, red-breasted mergansers, common loons, and indigo buntings.

Handsome Lark Sparrow on fort grounds

Feeling quite satisfied with my morning already, I checked out some of the other Batteries a short bit away from the fort.  It was getting late in the morning when I arrived at the Ft. Pickens Park/Battery Worth area.  I checked out the park first and didn't find much of anything hanging out.  I walked up to the back (facing the Gulf) and was enjoying another gull-billed tern when I spotted two ducks not far offshore.  I figured they were probably scaups, but I got the bins out and thought they actually were too solid dark to be scaups.  Thinking I might have a pair of scoters in front of me, I raced down to the shoreline for a closer look.  Thankfully these two were in no hurry, so I got my bins up and found out I was looking at a male and female surf scoter.  The males two white head patches (front and back of head) and bill coloration were unmistakeable.  I was ecstatic and couldn't believe my good fortune.

Gull-billed tern foraging along shoreline

Courtship display of Least Terns (copulation did occur!)

Male and Female Surf Scoters just offshore!

I left the Ft. Pickens area quite satisfied with the fantastic array of species I was fortunate to have observed.  It might not have been the same as seeing the Kirtland's, but it sure made up for it in a big way.  When we arrived in Milton at our cabin, we had some nice birds right outisde our front porch.  We saw a chuck will's-widow fly down every night just a couple feet of our porch and sit there for a few minutes getting ready to begin its nightly chase for insects.  Summer tanagers, brown thrashers, and great-crested flycatchers were singing like mad.  Yellow-billed cuckoos, northern parula, ovenbirds, prothonotary warblers, and hooded warblers were all found in close proxmity to our lodgings as well.  On our kayak trip down Wolfe Creek, we were fortunate to hear prothonotary and swainson's warblers, along with a broad-winged hawk.  All in all, it was a great trip for birding and a great exploration of a part of the state we had yet to visit.