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.