A WALK DOWN THE TRAILL

About a week or so back, both alder and willow flycatchers were observed in extreme southern Florida at a location nicknamed Lucky Hammock.  It is so named due to the unnatural good luck the namesake hammock has received in terms of rare avian species over the years.  I would say the sighting of both alder and willow flycatchers on the same day ranks up there for the site.  After the initial observation, John sent out an email to some of the Alachua birders to embark on a quest to find either or both species.

On Saturday a crew searched up and down the Cones Dike trail on Paynes Prairie for an alder or a willow, but came up empty handed (although Mike was 90% certain he heard an alder calling).  So a couple of us decided to try the Barr Hammock Loop at Levy Lake on Sunday.  Well, we started off along the north loop pretty early and the going as slow as the birds seemed to be sleeping in a bit.  However, a little further along the trail we started coming into ruby-throated hummingbirds, eastern kingbirds flying overhead, great-crested flycatchers, a family group of indigo buntings, blue grosbeaks, barn swallows, blue-gray gnatcatchers, and lots of female common yellowthroats.

After spotting a few prairie and yellow warblers, Rex told Mike and I to stop as he thought he saw an Empidonax species.  So we stopped and then saw the bird take flight and land on a Carolina willow.  We all knew we were dealing with an Empid, and likely an alder or willow as the head/crown was too rounded to be a least flycatcher.  Fortunately we are able to witness it call, as it gave a distinct "pip...pip...pip" call a couple of times.  Ding, ding, ding!  Ladies and gentlemen we have an alder!

Blurry photos of the 1st Alder Flycatcher on the north loop of the trail

We continued down the dike trail, with a noticeable spring in our steps.  We encountered more common yellowthroats, a northern waterthrush, an Eastern wood-pewee, prairie warblers, a warm-eating, a blue-winged, and loads of yellow warblers.  At one point along the trail we had 6 yellow warblers pop into one Carolina willow.  There was so much bright yellow around, you almost felt blinded.

Things quieted down a bit until we got to the south loop, but then they started to pick up a bit.  On our way back to the beginning we encountered a few mixed flocks usually consisting of tufted titmice, Carolina chickadees, white-eyed and red-eyed vireos, and various warblers such as yellow-throated, northern parula, and black-and-white.  At one point we came across the spot where Jonathan had observed a least flycatcher earlier in the year and Mike thought we should try and see if we could find another alder or maybe a willow there.  Well Rex and I were a little skeptical about Mike's premise, but we figured why not give it a try.

Sure enough, Mike caught sight of an Empid. and the hunt was on.  We all got good looks at it, with Rex picking out some of the finer details, but the darn bird was keeping mum.  We had started to leave, a bit disappointed we couldn't positively ID the bird, when we heard a white-eyed vireo mimicking the call note of an alder or willow flycatcher in the beginning note of it's call (we had also heard a white-eyed vireo mimicking the "chuck chuck" of a red-bellied woodpecker earlier in the day which was a first for all of us).  We decided to head back to positively ID the Empid.  We were fortunate to see it fly back in response to an alder call, but it still wouldn't vocalize.  Based on the buffy color of the wings, Mike surmised it might be an immature.  While waiting to see if it would vocalize, Mike heard the "pip pip pip" of an alder just ahead.  We caught enough glimpse of it to verify we had a second confirmed alder.  And it was very likely the silent Empid was an alder too, especially given the fact it flew into view in response to an alder call.

The silent and therefore unknown Empidonax sp.

If you'd just vocalize, we could positively ID you!

We couldn't believe our luck and decided to head for home.  But we weren't done yet.  We came into contact with a few more mixed flocks, and were able to scare up a prothonotary and Louisiana waterthrush, along with the first red-headed woodpeckers ever seen along the trail (spotted by Rex).  Even though it's a pretty lengthy hike (6 miles round-trip), the alders and 11 different warbler species certainly made it seem like a nice, short expedition.