STATEWIDE FINDS

I started the morning off down in Ft. Lauderdale where I had to be at a meeting with a client.  I had a little bit of time prior to the meeting and was close to Evergreen Cemetery so I decided to see if the overnight winds and front had left anything interesting for me to discover.  It was a very good decision because the cemetery was pretty lively...with migrant avian activity. 

I probably would have uncovered some more species, but I was almost late for the meeting because I was enjoying all the close looks at the myriad of migrants present.  I observed 10 different wood warbler species, with black-throated blues being the most dominant (after the palms).  Worm-eating, pine, prairie, ovenbird, american redstart, northern parula, black and white, and yellow-throated warblers were great treats.  Other migrants included a pair of male scarlet tanagers, swainson's and gray-cheeked thrushes, a somewhat late veery, and painted buntings (including a showy, vibrant male with 2 females). 

After the meeting was over, I decided to check out the Fern Forest Nature Center further north in Broward County to see if I could re-locate the yellow-bellied flycatcher reported there a few days earlier.  For being afternoon, the place wasn't too "unbirdy", with a few warbler species present, along with pileated woodpeckers, wood storks, and other typical passerines.  No yellow-bellied flycatchers were present.  In fact, I did not even run into one acadian or eastern phoebe...no Tyrannidae to be found.

On my way back I decided to take a short trip down SR 70 to see if I could find some caracara.  Before I encountered any, I found a triangular shaped wetland area on the south side of the road just west of Summerlin Road.  I slammed on the brakes (thankfully no one was behind me), made a quick u-turn, and hopped on the truck to see what was out there.  The wetland was absolutely slamming with waterfowl, waders, and shore birds.  Loads of american white pelicans, roseate spoonbills, glossy ibis, typical egrets and herons, and a limpkin were present.  6 duck species were present, including mottled, blue-winged teal, green-winged teal, northern shoveler, lesser scaup, and early american wigeon.  Many, many shore birds were present, but most were so small and far out, I couldn't ID all of them.  Those I could included killdeer, least sandpiper, long-billed dowitchers, lesser and greater yellowlegs, and a lone wilson's snipe and solitary sandpiper.

By then it was time to start heading back home, and besides a few adult caracara, there wasn't much to write home about, especially as it was growing to dusk.  All in all, it was a truly fantastic day, with being able to see all those different birds in one day and in all the different locales.  I've attached a few experimental photos using my iphone and binocs to "digi noc" the wealth of birds present off SR 70 in the Summerlin Road wetlands.

WINTER DESCENDS

Sunset at Paynes Prairie

This past weekend I spent a considerable amount of time exploring two of the larger wet prairies in the county, Levy Lake and Paynes Prairie.  On Saturday I led an intrepid group of 11 explores along the entire 6.8 mile stretch of the Levy Lake loop trail at Barr Hammock on an Alachua Audubon Society sponsored field trip.  On Sunday I decided to go solo on a leisurely evening stroll along the La Chua trail at Paynes Prairie.

At the Levy Lake trail, we spent about 6.5 hours traversing the entire loop trail.  North winds combined with a lack of any front or winds out of the south appeared to push most migrants right past the county and probably down into Central America or the Caribbean.  However, this didn't stop a flock of 8 northern rough-winged swallows from making a late appearance fairly early on in the hike.  We also ended up running into 9 different warblers, the group favorites being a Tennessee and a FOS orange-crowned warbler.  Other warblers observed included american redstart, northern parula, black-and-white, prairie, palm, common yellowthroat, and yellow.

Male Prairie warbler at La Chua

Many typical "snow birds" had already arrived in solid numbers.  The aforementioned palm warblers were fairly numerous, as were eastern phoebe, and catbirds.  A couple savannah sparrows were spotted, as were some house wrens and at least one marsh wren.  Nothing too out of the ordinary showed up, but everyone seemed pretty excited with what species presented themselves to us.  Everyone also seemed to share great conversations and bits of knowledge with each other, making it a very enjoyable experience.  We also were able to observe an adult bald eagle being harassed by a red-shouldered hawk, several sandhill cranes, a few black-bellied whistling ducks, and many other species.  Non-avian highlights included a large cottonmouth shed, a recently predated red-shouldered hawk, a white-tailed doe, and a striped mud turtle.  Apparently to test our mettle, mother nature decided to unleash a massive downpour on us with about 3/4 mile to go.  With nothing to do but grin and bear it, we all slogged on, laughing it off and splashing in the puddles which had quickly developed.

Sunday was a more relaxed effort, as I decided to stretch the legs and eyes a bit after completing my yardwork chores.  I went out around 3:30pm to just take in what the prairie was offering.  And what a wealth it offered me!  I started down "sparrow alley" to see what was lingering around this late in the day.  Large numbers of indigo buntings were flying all about, as were palm warblers and other expected species like white-eyed vireo, blue-gray gnatcatcher, eastern phoebe, blue jays, and northern cardinals.  I spent quite a bit of time just lazily meandering and then headed back towards the sink and then on to the observation platform.

Eastern phoebe

Brown thrasher

Blue Jay

Ground dove

Before I reached the sink, I stopped at "sora pond", and was delighted to find 5 sora out and about foraging at the fringes of the depressional, ephemeral pond.  Several more sora would end up being heard down along the main trail.  I can't wait to just hear loads of sora calling for the next few months!  What a glorious sound they all make together - making the prairie turn electric and alive!

Sora

A few belted kingfisher, anhinga, and several different species of wading birds were present at the sink and just beyond.  Common yellowthroat, more indigo bunting, Icterids, and many other species made their presence known along the main trail.  I finally ended up at the observation platform and decided to look for the female vermilion flycatcher which, if we can presume it's the same individual, had come back to the exact spot she did last year.  It only took a few minutes for her to pop out into the open and into a nearby Carolina willow.  She was actively foraging and looked simply radiant with the setting sun perfectly hitting her salmon colored flanks and undersides. 

Female belted kingfisher

Immature black-crowned night heron

Glossy ibis

Great blue heron (blue form)

The real manna came on the return trip from the platform.  Already elated by seeing the vermilion again, I was fortunate to see an american bittern take flight and move to another spot to forage.  As if it couldn't get any better, I noticed a sparrow fly by me which caught my attention for some reason (I had only been observing savannah sparrows prior to this individual).  It was only a few feet away from me, and I noticed the orange supercilium and malar region. I figured there was a good chance it was a Le Conte's, and when it finally came into the open along the trail, I was able to get great looks and a few decent photos.  I thought it was a bit dark in the flight feathers for a Le Conte's, but didn't even think about other possibilities given the location I was at.  However, upon inspecting the photos, Rex pointed out the gray median crown stripe and correct my incorrect ID of Le Conte's.  He identified the sparrow as a Nelson's.

Savannah sparrow

Savannah sparrow

Nelson's sparrow (next few photos)

In Florida, Nelson's are primarily restricted to coastal saltmarsh and beach dune habitats.  Like gray kingbirds, they are seldom seen inland.  So seldom in fact, Rex informed me it was only the third report/documentation for the county!  After looking more closely at the photos due to Rex's correct ID, I noticed the bill size and flight feather coloration were definitely more in-line with Nelson's than an immature Le Conte's (i.e. my incorrect identification).  I was lucky to watch this incredibly obliging and photogenic individual for quite a few minutes while it foraged on grass seeds.  After it left I headed towards the parking lot, where I heard a pair of great horned owls calling (initially heard when I was at the observation platform - incredible!), which capped off a great walk.

Female vermilion flycatcher - returned to same location!

LUNCHTIME EXPRESS

On Tuesday I decided to spend a little extended and leisurely lunch strolling through one of the gems of the Gainesville City Parks system, Split Rock Park.  I made the decision after having a pretty active morning at Cofrin Nature Park before going into work.  Cofrin was pretty active for the small park.  As soon as I exited my vehicle, a black-and-white warbler, magnolia warbler, and an american redstart lept out in front of me.  Common resident and migratory passerines were abundant and very vocal.  It made for an exciting morning jaunt before the daily grind.  Other notable sightings included acadian flycatcher, 2 veery, 2 ovenbirds, 2 hooded warblers, and a tennessee warbler.  Based on this great little morning venture, I figured it would be worth it to head over to Split Rock for lunch.

I'm glad I listened to my instinct, because it proved accurate.  Split Rock was teeming with avian activity all throughout my late lunch walk.  The oak hammock in the front of the park, the old swimming area, and the area around the shortcut held the best activity today.  For starting at 1pm, the level of activity was impressive.  The resident and migratory birds were actively foraging and vocal, making it a sensory overload in some stretches. 

I ended up with 11 warbler species for lunch, not a shabby tally.  Warbler species observed included ovenbird (5), northern waterthrush (1), black-and-white (1), common yellowthroat (1), hooded (2), american redstart (4), northern parula (2), magnolia (1), blackburnian (1), chestnut-sided (1), and yellow-throated (1).  The blackburnian was by far my favorite simply because they are one of my favorite warbler species.  Thankfully the adult female gave me fairly decent looks, but not long enough for my taste.  The chestnut-sided gave me superb looks, as it was foraging in the lower part of the understory and was pursuing caterpillar prey.  An immature male hooded was foraging a few inches off the ground nearby, and I was able to watch both forage quietly for a couple minutes.  The interesting part was seeing a nearby female northern cardinal catch and dismantle a luna moth.  This is the second time I've ever seen a cardinal take a luna for prey.  The only other time was in Gainesville, at Chapman's Pond.  Perhaps I'll have to look into how common it is for the species to go after the luna moth.  Time to go hit the books.

PELAGIC PASTIME

On the recommendation of a trusted ally, I finally decided to try my hand at some pelagic birding this year.  On the second to last day of September I embarked on my first pelagic birding expedition with an intrepid crew of some of Gainesville's finest birders.  6 of us crammed into a vehicle, making it seem like the prototypical clown car, and headed out to Ponce Inlet in Volusia County.

We decided to stop at a couple of spots the day before to make a little trip of it.  Our first stop was at the sod fields south of SR 100, along CR 305 in Flagler County.  The rainy weather on the drive out was a bit discouraging, but what ended up being a bit more discouraging was the long re-route we were forced to take down rickety, washboard dirt roads to reach our destination because the bridge had flooded and construction crews were working on repairs.  When we finally reached the sod fields, we found them fairly empty, save for some killdeer, sandhill cranes, american kestrels, palm warblers, a northern waterthrush, and a lone black-bellied plover.  We knew it was unlikely there may be an upland or buff-breasted sandpiper still lingering, but we thought we'd give it a shot anyhow.  You never know if you don't try.

Brown pelican with ruddy turnstone at Ponce Inlet

After the sod fields, we decided to check out the Ponce Inlet jetty as it was getting a bit late in the day.  We figured we may encounter some interesting shorebirds coming in for the night, or possibly the brown booby which had been seen for a few days earlier in the week.  We certainly were not disappointed.  We saw numerous brown pelicans, laughing gulls, sanderlings, snowy egrets, ruddy turnstones, western willets, lesser black-backed gulls, black skimmers, common tern, forster's terns, caspian terns, royal terns, sandwich terns, and a lone peregrine falcon which rained terror on all the gulls, terns, and shorebirds who were packed along Disappearing Island.  Did I mention the cory's shearwater?  I can't forget about this one!  The lone scope we had brought along helped ID not one, but two cory's fairly close to shore.  Most of us got distant, but reliable views, and it was really just a precursor of what was to follow the next day.

Snowy egrets and another ruddy turnstone at Ponce Inlet

Immature herring gull

1st cycle (?) ring-billed gull and laughing gulls

Easily the funniest part of the day occurred at dinner.  We had finished our meal and were enjoying the last beer of the evening before retiring early for the long day ahead.  All of a sudden we all heard a whip-poor-will calling from nearby.  All 6 of us craned our heads toward the call...only to find out it was the cellphone ringtone coming from the family eating at the table behind us.  The wife's ringtone fooled every single one of us, and it made everyone laugh pretty well.  I don't know if I've ever seen a more hilarious situation where so many experienced birders (sans myself) were fooled at the same time.  Kudos!

2:40am was our wake-up call.  2:40 am.  The voyage left port at 4am, which meant we had to arrive no later than 3:30am.  We arrived at the port on time and checked in.  Everyone on the expedition was treated to close-up views of a successfully rehabilitated white-tailed tropicbird, along with some juvenile loggerhead and green sea turtles.  All of these creatures were set to be released near the gulf stream on our trip.  What a treat!  It may be the closest looks I ever get of a white-tailed tropicbird unless one lands on my binoculars on another pelagic outing.  It was simply beautiful and chirping up a storm, something our trip leader announced he had never heard in all his years rehabbing this species.

Everyone boarded our vessel, the Pastime Princess, and we shoved off.  A few warblers were heard calling over head as we set to leave, and a few black-crowned night herons were observed on our way out of the inlet.  The constellation-filled night sky was absolutely breathtaking, as the slightly greater than half moon further illuminated our path.  Once we left the inlet, the seas became a bit choppier, and stayed that way until we hit the gulfstream.  Once daylight broke, we started seeing some singleton cory's shearwaters, which turned into larger numbers as the dawn progressed.  Audubon's shearwaters soon followed, along with more cory's.  A small flock of 5 red-necked phalaropes flew close to the boat, giving everyone pretty solid looks.

Cory's shearwaters soaring over the ocean waves

On our way out to the gulf stream, we encountered loads more cory's, a few audubon's, a pair of black terns, some unidentified "tropical terns" (which were likely bridled terns), a small flock of great egrets and great blue herons (migrating southwards), two pomarine jaegers, a parasitic jaeger, a palm warbler, and a black-and-white warbler.  Fittingly as we emerged at the edge of the gulf stream, we encountered our first of numerous black-capped petrels.  Throughout our excursion into the gulf stream, we ended up spotting 41 of these petrels.  This represented the second highest ever total of this species in the state.  What a beautiful bird to set the eyes on.  It was amazing watching them glide and cartwheel effortlessly along the crests and troughs of the waves, arcing and sweeping up along the waves.  It was a treat just to watch them fly around.

Photo above and below of the beautiful black-capped petrel (wish I had done it better justice)

 

We were also treated to loads more cory's and audubon's shearwaters, especially on our return back to port.  But before we left the gulf stream, we released the tropicbird, watching it fly off into the horizon without a second thought.  It was the first successful rehab and release of a white-tailed tropicbird in the state.  An amazing sight to behold indeed.  Perhaps even the best part of the journey.  We also watched the juvenile sea turtles be released into the largest patches of sargassum weed we could find and the little tykes were left on their own to defend their lives against predators and hide in the sargassum.  Good luck guys!

The way back to port was just as exciting as the way out, if not even better.  We encountered large feeding flocks of cory's and audubon's shearwaters.  A great shearwater was finally found in one of the large flocks, as well as a manx shearwater (a real rarity in Florida waters).  A couple band-rumped storm petrels were also seen by a few people, but the real highlight was encountering a long-tailed jaeger.  It's another fairly rare species for Florida, and one which was hoped for by many present.  It was likely the most photographed long-tailed jaeger alive.  It was so kind as to give everyone outstandingly close views of it for several minutes as it foraged around the open seas.  It was probably the best look at one I'll ever see in the state.  Our group also ran into some large flocks of terns, mostly comprised of black and common terns.  However, a few bridled terns were positively ID'd, and someone thought they observed an arctic tern in one of the groups.

Photos series below is a long-tailed jaeger:

When all was said and done, it was a tremendously successful expedition.  Good company and times were shared by most, and I have to say I certainly had a blast out there.  It's a grueling trip to reach the gulf stream and back, but so well worth it.  It was a trial by fire for me on pelagic species, but there's not a better way to do it than with some of the most experienced birders in the state on board to help point out the subtle nuances of all the species to allow you to fully appreciate what you're seeing and to learn to identify them easier and quicker.  I owe many thanks (and likely a few beers or fingers of scotch) to all those who made the experience so enjoyable and educational.  Well, don't take my word for it.  Get out there and sign up for a pelagic expedition if you haven't yet.  Even if you have, go sign up for another, because there are loads of interesting birds to encounter out there in the wild blue.

Actively foraging flock of cory's and audubon's shearwaters