2 OUT OF 3

Today began with an audible (Jonathan's words), one I was not to pleased with initially but was incredibly pleased with in hindsight.  I initially drove up to the Progress Park entrance to San Felasco State Park this morning only to find out when I pulled up there was an off-road bike race scheduled.  I thought it would not be a productive day with all the racket.  So I decided to still try my fortunes out at San Felasco, but at the Creek Sink trail a few miles to the south.

I was initially on my own, but after hearing so many hooded warblers singing and calling, along with louisiana waterthrush chipping away, I was lingering longer than I usually do.  Fortunately it allowed me to run into Jonathan and Ellen and we decided 6 eyes were better than 2 or 4, so we hoofed it through 2.3 miles of San Felasco's forested goodness in search of whatever migrants we could scrape up.

Underside markings of an ovenbird

I jokingly told Jonathan I was on a mission (and since we were all together it had turned into a mission for all of us) to find cerulean, golden-winged, and kentucky warblers and this was serious business.  Obviously I was joking, but with so much activity so early in the morning, I figured maybe we'd at least get a glimpse of a kentucky or hear one chipping.  Well to keep it brief, I ended up being luckier than I thought possible today.  Shortly after joining up we ran into a couple of worm-eating warblers, one of which was singing!  It was the first time I've ever heard one sing in Florida, and it was a very beautiful song to hear.  After this unexpected good fortune, we ran into some dense tangle and were able to see a female kentucky warbler!  One down, two target species to go.  Well, it took awhile to find the second of the three, but we did do it.  Towards the end of our hike, we came into a large mixed flock containing northern parula, hooded warbler, american redstart, ovenbird, black and white warbler, prothonotary warbler, chestnut-sided warbler, and best of all, a female golden-winged warbler!  Just a little further, we came across another mixed flock with hooded warbler, northern parula, ovenbird, worm-eating warbler, and a male golden-winged warbler!!!  2 out of 3 is never bad, especially when jokingly establishing target bird species.  In fact, 2 out of 3 is outright stupendous.

Female golden-winged warbler!!!

Male hooded warbler

Prothonotary wabler taking flight - check out the underwing patterns

 

Same juvenile prothonotary warbler - look at the bill coloration to see it's a youngster

All told, it was an incredibly gorgeous morning weather-wise.  The deep, thick forests of San Felasco hold more than enough merit on their own, but when you throw in the variety and richness of bird-life lying in wait there, it just adds another dimension to the majesty of the park.  I could traipse through there all day long, just inspecting various fungus and be extremely elated.  It truly is a magnificent location.

Well everyone, we are now starting into the thick of migration, so check Badbirdz Reloaded for weather forecasts and go and check out your favorite local haunts to see what is to be found out there.  You'll never know if you don't just put one foot in front of the other and keep doing so.  The migrants are waiting, go find them!

COMMON AS DIRT

A couple days back Jonathan and I had decided to head down to La Chua trail on Paynes Prairie on Tuesday evening to just explore what may be lurking out there.  However, this good idea turned into a great one Tuesday afternoon when he spotted a silent Empidonax sp. out near the barn.  He alerted the proper authorities and later in the afternoon Mike took his recording equipment out and was able to get positive "pip" calls from 2 alder flycatchers!!!

Now this brought the total amount of alder's up to 4 in the county right now, with a distinct possibility of there being up to at least 6 individuals.  So, our expedition to La Chua had even more purpose and we were not disappointed.  With relative ease, we were able to relocate the 2 alders Mike had confirmed, getting decent looks and even better, lots of "pip" calls.  In fact, one of the individuals sang a decent portion of its song, solidly clinching the ID.  Stoked, we decided to see if we could find a willow somewhere or even more alders.

We decided to hoof it down Sweetwater Dike and also search for the painted bunting Lloyd had been frequently seeing since late last week.  On our way, we were treated to a sky chock full of barn and bank swallows, and probably a cliff in there somewhere.  We also encountered indigo buntings, blue grosbeaks, and a variety of warblers including northern waterthrush, prairie, and yellow.  As we neared the location where the painted bunting had been seen, Jonathan stopped as he thought he heard another alder.  Sure enough, we listened intently and heard the "pip"of yet another alder.  We thought there may have possibly been a second one, but we could only confirm there was one out there.  A third alder!!!  Even more stoked, we decided to start heading back as the night was slowly creeping in around us.

Just after starting back, I thought I saw something a little bit larger than a warbler, but rusty in coloration.  I told Jonathan to stop, and after a minute or so of searching the salt bushes, I saw I had been quite mistaken and had seen the male painted bunting Lloyd had originally found!  How sweet!  It was somewhat cooperative, but didn't come out to give a good photo, not that it mattered much since there was little useful light at that point.

Thrilled, we really started back to the car.  On our way back, we saw some black-crowned night herons flying in to the water control structures, joining the green herons, great blue herons, and snowy egrets to feed.  We also heard a great horned owl as we inched closer to the parking lot.  All said, it was a fantastic little evening jaunt on the La Chua trail.  The trail that never seems to disappoint.

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.

FORK IN THE ROAD

This post has everything to do with finding the fork in the road.  Well to be correct, it's really about finding about a fork-tailed flycatcher (Tyrannus savana) in the road.  Well, alongside the road to be more specific.  Actually, to be more accurate, it was found perched on the overhead power lines.  Truthfully, the aforementioned fork-tailed flycatcher was really splitting time between the power lines and the adjacent disturbed field full of alive and decaying thistle (Cirsium sp.), dog fennel (Eupatorium capillifolium), and bluestem (Andropogon sp.) at the Lake Apopka North Shore Restoration Area (LANSRA) - Jones Avenue Basin.  But whose going to get nit-picky when you're dealing with a fork-tailed flycatcher?  Not me.

Fork-tailed flycatcher perched on power line.  Note the shorter tail feather length which likely indicates an immature individual.

After I got back to the office late Wednesday night from a long day of field work, I was checking on some email and was waiting for some documents to download.  I decided I'd check eBird and BirdBrains to see if anything interesting had been sighted in the state.  Lo and behold, a fork-tailed flycatcher had been seen and photographed at LANSRA.  Well this stoked my internal fires to say the least.

2013 has been the unofficial Year of the Tyrannidae for me.  It started on January 1, observing the ash-throated flycatchers (Myiarchus cinerascens) along the Cones Dike trail at Paynes Prairie.  It just continued form there, as I spent nearly the next 4 months down in extreme south Florida and was treated to a panoply of Tyrannidae members, most of which I have mentioned in previous posts this year.  So there was no doubt in my mind I was going find this bird.  I was even fortunate to be going near the area for work 2 days later, so I thought this was going to be incredibly advantageous schedule-wise.  Then came the posts about how the bird had been sighted in a restricted area normally off-limits to the public, and that access had only been granted the first day only.  My hopes were dimming.  Then finally the posts came on Friday the St. John's River Water Management District (SJRWMD) staff had been incredibly kind enough to let birders into the restricted area just to see the flycatcher.  It was all I needed.  I knew where I was going to be Saturday morning...LANSRA.

As the weather patterns have been keeping true to the age old rhythms of afternoon/early evening rain showers this summer in Florida, I knew I had to get out somewhat early to catch sight of this bird.  So there I was walking down the restricted road when I saw a group of birders concentrated in one location - they must be watching the fork-tailed, I thought to myself.  So I ambled down the road and about halfway down I ran into what else, but a couple of Gainesville birders who came to see the flycatcher.  We exchanged pleasantries and they told me where it had been seen.  I finished moseying to the spot and there it was perched on the power lines stretched out between the old, wooden, creosote soaked utility poles.

Notice the yellow crown patch, a seldom seen feature

Wing displayed as taking off in flight

It appeared to be an immature based on the somewhat duller overall plumage coloration, as well as the black tail feathers were not fully grown out as in an adult.  It was incredible to finally see this bird to say the least.  I watched it with a couple of other extremely nice birders for a short while.  As they left, it flew off into the adjacent disturbed field.  I decided I was going to crouch down under some of the thicker roadside vegetation, so as not to disturb the flycatcher when it came back, and possibly just get some great time to observe its habits.  No sooner had I stepped towards the vegetation, and a bustle of rapid movement and a low, piercing squeal rang out.  I looked by my feet and I saw a red rat (or corn to some) snake (Pantherophis guttatus guttatus) had just caught and was constricting a hispid cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus).  I called the other birders back thinking they may find this scene interesting (you don't get to see this everyday), and we watched the corn snake loosen its jaw hinges and begin to devour its prey. Absolutely fascinating. 

Adult red rat (aka corn) snake constricting a hispid cotton rat

With jaws unhinged, it begins to devour its prey

Shortly after this, the birders left and I was on my own with the flycatcher.  I probably watched it for 45 minutes.  I watched it successfully hawk for insects, get harassed by a mockingbird, and flit to and fro between the thistle-dominated field and the overhead power lines.  I truly enjoy getting to observe the habits and behaviors of species.  I find it helps me identify them easier in the future and also gain a clearer understanding of what truly drives the species to do what it does and where it does it.  It was a truly glorious day.  I couldn't believe my good fortune at being able to watch this bird in Orange County, Florida when it should in all rights be in Texas or Mexico chasing after a myriad of different insects.  You have to love these immature birds who (for some reason - food sources, weather conditions, etc.) end up in places they don't typically belong.  Manna from heaven indeed!

Its not everyday you get to frame an eastern kingbird and a fork-tailed flycatcher in one shot

Besides the fork-tailed, there were multitudes of fascinating birds to behold.  An eastern kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus), yellow-billed cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus), barred owl (Strix varia), a pair of glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus), bobwhites (Colinus virginianus) and blue grosbeaks (Passerina caerulea), along with several indigo buntings (Passerina cyanea), ground doves (Columbina passerina), and swallow-tailed kites (Elanoides forficatus) were out and about to be observed.  The other highlights of the day were seen and heard by the aforementioned Gainesville birders.  They were lucky to add an early fall migrant, a yellow warbler (Dendroica petechia) and what was likely an escaped caged bird, a female pin-tailed whydah (Vidua macroura).  I thought it was quite interesting that this wydah also happened to be in the same location as the flycatcher, seeing as the male of the species has tail feathers whose length would give an adult fork-tailed a run for its money.  Unfortunately I was unable to relocate the bird, but it appears they were able to take useable photos to accurately ID the individual.  What an odd day and location for these two species to be observe.  But I guess that's life for you.  You can never predict when and where something will occur.  It's these surprises which keep life interesting and a great adventure!

Immature eastern kingbird

A yellow-billed cuckoo with caterpillar prey

Male indigo bunting

Ground dove perched on power lines

Swallow-tailed kite soaring and foraging overhead

Adult green heron

Immature boat-tailed grackles

HERE COMES THE RAIN

It's pretty much been a return to normalcy throughout the state this year regarding the daily summer rains.  In fact, the last week or two has seen quite a deluge of precipitation.  Certainly it's a huge deal, as it is helping to recharge the aquifer and abate the long-term drought.  However, it does put a damper on how often one gets out to bird.

Yesterday it was a mix of rain and overcast weather, but it seemed to let up in the early evening.  Upon checking the weather radar, it appeared most of the rain had subsided for the day, or at least the next few hours.  So I decided it might be a decent chance to go bird the prairie and check out what wading birds and other species may be lurking about before bedding down for the night.

The weather continued to be overcast, but it seemed the rains would be held in-check while I went for a walk along the trail system.  I had brought my camera along with its waterproof case, but I decided to leave it in the truck because I didn't feel like lugging it around and it was probably not going to rain on me.   Big mistake on my part.

Some of the "wild" horses foraging near the barn

For a long while, the weather was nice and cool, with a light breeze.  Some of the horses were foraging around the barn.  Birds were out and singing and calling all around.  The typical wading birds were out foraging (great blue heron, great egret, snowy egret, etc.), as an osprey was tearing apart a fish for dinner above the sink, and several male indigo buntings and blue grosbeaks were out singing their hearts out.  Even a mother orchard oriole was bringing a caterpillar meal to her 2 young fledglings just off the trail where red-winged blackbirds had made their nests and reared their young this year.

Adult female orchard oriole with juvenile

Adult male blue grosbeak belting out a tune for the ladies

I figured since the weather was looking fine I would head down to the observation platform and see what was present.  A few minutes later I noticed the sky was turning pretty dark on the east and south ends of the prairie, and I could see rain coming down.  I still chanced it, figuring I may just have enough time to get to the platform for a couple of minutes and make it back before the rains hit.  Another big mistake on my part.  I didn't even reach the platform when the rains unleashed.

I ran as fast as I could to the platform to stand under it for shelter from the storm.  Right where the short trail begins prior to the platform, I scared a king rail off the trail and into prairie as I was running full steam ahead.  I made it to the platform and all the equipment was dry so far.  I thought it might pass over quickly, but I was wrong yet again.  With no end in sight of the rain and lightning and thunder now making an appearance (with me just standing under a nice magnet for the lightning to boot), I decided to make a run for it.  I wrapped up the camera and binoculars under my shirt and made a mad dash for the parking lot.  I ran non-stop all the way to the boardwalk by the sink.  Along the way, about halfway to the boardwalk, I accidentally chased off a pair of adult king rails.  Apparently this species enjoys popping out on the trails near nightfall when it is pouring down rain.  I made it to the covered part of the boardwalk, rested a minute and then headed for the barn.  Again, I rested there for a minute to catch my breath.  It was still coming down in buckets, so I decided to just run for the truck.

I finally made it to the truck, where I had luckily kept some towels.  I quickly dried off a bit, and checked the equipment to see if it had made it through my stupidity.  Luckily everything was pretty dry and no damage seemed to have been incurred.  I dried off the equipment and headed for home.  So, the lesson learned is don't take anything for granted and don't assume anything, especially when you've lived in the state long enough to know the summer rains can be unpredictable.  So be prepared and don't slack off just because you don't feel like carrying the load.

A NEW KING IS CROWNED

It seemed it would be a fairly simple task to provide some commentary and/or updates during the June Challenge (JC) this year via this blog.  Apparently between working out of town and actually getting some time to bird when home, it proved a more difficult task seeing as it's the day after Independence Day and I'm just getting to writing about the JC.

A lack of severe weather (aka tropical storms) and a return to more typical water levels in the local wetland environs severely limited the number of rarities encountered this year, especially compared with the species last year's drought brought in for the JC.  However, some good finds at Newnan's kept it interesting.  Caspian, least, and forster's terns were identified on the lake, along with a greater yellowlegs and tree swallow.  In fact, except for backyards, the rarities were pretty much confined to Newnan's. 

Even though the rarities weren't abundant, it didn't diminish the challenge one iota.  I had a blast running around and checking places I sometimes forget to during the summer.  I followed a hot lead on a hairy woodpecker at LEAFS and was rewarded with observing a pair where the most recent prescribed burn occurred.  While there I was also fortunate to collect some solid BBA II data, such as fledgling pine warblers, eastern bluebirds, and brown-headed nuthatches.  I also ran into a recently killed scarlet kingsnake probably dropped by an american crow.  Certainly it's something you don't get to see by sitting indoors during June.

Juvenile eastern bluebird at LEAFS

Adult red-headed woodpecker at LEAFS

Brown-headed nuthatch in flight at LEAFS

Juvenile pine warbler foraging in recently burned portion of LEAFS

Over at Possum Creek I waited over 2 hours to see an adult yellow-crowned night heron, all the while questioning my sanity.  Thankfully there were two similar-minded individuals present who made passing the time quite a treat.  In fact, I had more fun waiting to see the bird and enjoying my company than actually seeing the bird.

Later in the month I decided to combine atlasing in one of my blocks with the JC at San Felasco SP, north of Millhopper Road.  I was fortunate to collect great breeding data on several species and also got great looks at hooded warblers, eastern wood-pewee's, red-eyed and yellow-throated vireos, northern bobwhite, numerous red-headed woodpeckers, and a cooper's hawk.

Adult male hooded warbler singing to attract a mate

Adult red-eyed vireo foraging at San Felasco SP

The JC even spurred a few of us out to Barr Hammock just for kicks to see what was present.  No rarities were present, but there certainly was a wealth of expected freshwater marsh and shrub marsh species present.  Getting out to some places you might forget about during the summer months is another one of the great attributes of the JC.  Heck, even checking out the super moon at the 441 observation platform in the prairie provided great looks at barn owl and black-crowned night heron. 

Yellow-billed cuckoo with insect prey in bill

Singing adult male blue grosbeak

Not a bird, but a luna moth drying its dew-laden wings in the early morning sun is always a superb sight to behold!

The last interesting bit of birding for me came on the second to last day of the JC.  In an attempt to gather a few last minute birds, I checked out the Newnan's Lake environs.  Even though I had heard no gulls or terns had been spotted earlier in the day, I figured since I was there I might as well check out Palm Point to see if anything had come in by chance.  After scanning the lakeshore for quite some time I decided to pack it in and head home.  Halfway to the parking lot I had looked up watching the vultures soaring overhead when one didn't look quite right.  It was smaller than the surrounding vultures, had upswept wingtips, and was hovering like a...short-tailed hawk!  Sure enough, I was looking up at a dark morph.  I got the word out as quick as possible, but only two people were able to make it out.  We watched the hawk intermittently from the parking area for nearly 2 hours as it soared, foraging overhead.  What a great species and high note to end my JC!

Sadly I missed out on the JC potluck party because I was yet again out of town for work, but I was elated to hear Jonathan Mays took home the trophy!  I couldn't believe his tally, especially given he missed quite a bit of the month being out of town himself.  Rex again showed his JC dominance with a strong second place finish.  I was surprised to find out I tied with Lloyd and Howard for third place - a great duo to be tied with indeed!  So there you have it, a new king of the JC was crowned this year. 

JUNE CHALLENGES TO LOCATE THE BREEDERS

Wow, apparently I'm getting very lazy about posting blogs here as it has been almost a full month since my last one.  Sheesh.  Since I've finally been more evenly splitting my work time between the field and office, it has given me the opportunity to catch up on atlasing my quad for the Breeding Bird Atlas II project.  Interestingly it has coincided with the 2013 June Challenge.  However, as much fun as it is to participate in the JC, the atlasing definitely takes precedence over the JC endeavors.  However, one is allowed to assist others with their quads, right?  With that mindset I decided it wouldn't hurt to participate in this year's JC as much as possible (I missed a full week being out of state for work), while atlasing and hopefully collecting some extensive breeding data for not only my quad, but others' as well.

I was lucky enough to be present for the first 2 days of the challenge, which thankfully fell on a Saturday and Sunday this year.  Before meeting the Audubon-led trip at Longleaf Flatwoods Reserve (LFR), I decided to check out Fish Camp Road (which is about a 1/4 mile south of LFR) for lingering chuck-will's-widow and maybe a barred owl.  All I had to do was turn down the dirt road and I heard my first chuck calling.  However, this being the JC, I had to see the bird as well.  I just drove a short distance and saw one flying overhead, then another, and finally one other.  Difficult bird to see #1 - check!

After not hearing or seeing any owl species, I noticed it was time to head over and meet everyone at LFR.  About 35 other intrepid JC'ers showed up to kick off the JC in appropriate fashion.  Although there were no yellow-crowned night herons observed flying overhead like last year, we did manage to get sightings of bachman's sparrow, common nighthawks, red-headed woodpeckers, and both american white pelican and black-bellied whistling ducks flying overhead.  It was a solid start to the morning for everyone.

Red-headed Woodpecker

Another birder and I decided to stay behind to look for the hairy woodpeckers which had been seen by many in late winter.  We searched for quite a bit, but were only lucky to encounter a downy woodpecker.  We then left to re-join the group over at Newnan's Lake.  However, we went to the wrong boat ramp and figured everyone had already left for the prairie, but decided to stay and see what was present.  Boy, did we a pay a price for going to the wrong boat ramp.  Even though we got great looks at green heron, osprey, and a few other wading birds, the rest of the group were treated to great looks at limpkin and laughing gulls at the other boat ramp.  D'oh!

Immature King Rail

We ended up joining the group at Paynes Prairie to finish out the morning as they were getting ready to hit the trails.  As always, the avian diversity along the La Chua trail was impressive.  Most everyone was fortunate to set their eyes on purple gallinule, whooping cranes, roseate spoonbills, blue-winged teal, blue grosbeak, indigo bunting, white morph great blue heron (not that subspecies count for the JC), northern rough-winged swallow, least bittern (difficult bird to see #2-check!), and king rail (difficult bird to see #3-check!).  As the morning was turning into a hot early afternoon, some of us decided to linger along Sweetwater Dike and Sparrow Alley, while most of the group disbanded and headed home.  Those of us who stayed were treated to looks at orchard oriole, yellow-billed cuckoo, ground dove, and bobwhite (difficult bird to see #4-check!).  When all was said and done, there was an impressive tally for the first day.

Purple Gallinule in field of Hyacinth

The second day I took it easy and only went out in the late afternoon to bird.  I went back to La Chua in search of the yellow-breasted chat we dipped on the prior day.  It was an excellent decision.  I ended up finally hearing a male singing just west of the transmission line, and was able to get a brief glimpse of it in a nearby persimmon clump.  After this great addition to my JC list, I headed to Cellon Creek Blvd. to see what was out there.  Lucky for me several species which can sometimes be difficult to find (especially in one spot), were present and drying out from the downpour which had just passed through.  Species such as eastern kingbird, loggerhead shrike, eurasian collared dove, purple martin, and easern meadowlark were out and about.  I didn't see any southeastern american kestrels there, but I figured there had to be one or two nesting a short distance away at the entrance to San Felasco via the Progress Center.  All I had to do was drive up and an adult male was perched on one of the overhead power lines.  It capped off a great beginning to the 2013 JC, especially since TS Andrea came through while I was away and brought species like caspian and least tern for only a day or so.  Ah well, it's probably a good thing, seeing as I have lots of atlasing to catch up on still and only so many opportunities to verify breeding status in my quad.

Wood Stork soaring overhead the La Chua trail