The next day I was back out at the Island
again, but this time I didn’t have to drive:
visiting photographers Venu and Sam (both from India, but Venu was now a
Michigan resident) had been with professional photographer Ruth Hoyt on a
special nature photography ranch and had gotten some spectacular pictures
(including their coveted Painted Bunting, so I was off the hook J), and since they
had a rental car, they wanted to use it!
They requested an extra day of birding/photography (Venu was the more
dedicated birder of the two), so I was thinking “Island” anyway this time of
year for photographers, but especially today as rain was in the forecast for
everyplace in the Valley except the
Island! So out we went, making the
requisite stop at the “Blue Shack” on SR100 since we just had the one car (with
two cars the day before I opted for the safer Observation Area Parking Lot down
the road), and nailed the Aplomado Falcon almost immediately! Cassin’s Sparrows and Eastern Meadowlarks
were singing for the day, and just as I stepped back into the car a Chihuahuan
Raven showed up!
Distant Aplomado Falcon
Chihuahuan Raven
We went straight to the Convention Centre,
where we were greeted by the Black-bellied Whistling Duck contingent (and a
family of White Ibis to boot). As
expected, things were a mite slow at the water feature, but a Yellow and a
Blackpoll Warbler had come in for a bath, and Catbirds were mewing here and
there. Venu wandered into the back area
and got an Ovenbird up close, which sent Scarlet and the rest of us scrambling
back there, but he was long gone, of course!
So we looked at the Flats and enjoyed a Clapper Rail strutting around
out in the open, and a female Orchard Oriole and a Tropical Kingbird in the
trees (Scarlet advised us that in the morning that’s often the best vantage
point). The gulls and skimmers (and even
the Reddish Egret) were still there, along with the calling Sedge Wren, but a Blue-winged
Teal had replaced the female Redhead!
Shooting the ducks next to the "whaling wall"
Not the best shot, but check out those neon legs on this Blackpoll Warbler!
Venu and Sam check out the wave of Franklin's Gulls flying by!
Clapper Rail trying to sneak across the mudflats...
An ominous cloud started forming, and some
of us had been watching the radar (there was a monster storm north of us), but
the south end of that storm started dripping on us, so we hightailed it back to
the sheltered side of the building and waited out the rain! What a surprise, but a pleasant one, as we
were sure this was gonna bring in the birds!
And once it cleared a bit we all spread out, and sure enough, a few nice
things dropped in here and there: three
soaked Indigo Buntings (someone had a Painted that I missed), a Hooded and Wilson’s
Warbler, and even a singing Dickcissel, which got Venu all excited! It was “right there”, but we just couldn’t
get a look before it flew off.
Sam chats with a local while looking for migrants
Sam joins Jason, another guest at the Inn, at the water feature.
Male (upper right) and female Redheads (male also below)
Flyover Franklin's Gulls (also below)
Roseate Spoonbills dolling up
Youngsters have white heads
Cattle Egrets in breeding plumage
Brown Anole that's actually green...
Now that the sun was out the guys were
anxious to go on the Flats, so Venu courageously took his rental car out there
(I told him to beware of the glass bottles that the revelers had tossed around
the day before L), and positioned the car where they could
get great shots of Royal and Sandwich Terns, Black Skimmers, and mating
Laughing Gulls! Sam would even get on
his belly and get nose-to-nose with the skimmers! J We got great looks at the little Least Terns,
and a lone Common Tern was in with them.
I spotted a pink-breasted Franklin’s Gull in with the Laughers, so we
maneuvered over there, only to notice that it looked like he had a neck injury!
L
Shorebirds were slim pickin’s, with just Black-bellied Plover (but several in
breeding dress), Ruddy Turnstones, some Sanderlings, and a couple of Willets.
Least Tern (below also)
Common Tern (also below)
Injured Franklin's Gull (showing wing pattern below)
Venu and Sam get down on the birds' level!
Black Skimmers
We got lunch after that then headed to
Sheepshead (Tamie and Father Tom had cottoned us onto some Blue-winged Warblers
hanging out over there), and interestingly had the whole place to ourselves
except for this other couple who said that the minute the last crowd of people
left, the birds came in! There were at
least three Baltimore Orioles coming in to the water feature, and in addition
to the lovely Blue-winged Warbler (which made several appearances), we were
visited by a friendly Black-throated Green Warbler, a Black-and-white, and a
female Rose-breasted Grosbeak, along with a male Ruby-throated Hummingbird
attacking the feeder and a singing Warbling Vireo! Someone found a Worm-eating Warbler on the “sunny
side”, but it was indeed too sunny for me, so after enjoying another BTG and a
White-eyed Vireo over there I returned to the “shady side” where Huck and Peggy
Hutchins had shown up and were enjoying the show.
Black-and-white Warbler
Even though you can't see the head, the black wedges on the undertail coverts are diagnostic for this species!
Huck and Peggy (not in the picture) arrive while Sam and Venu are glued to the feeders!
Blue-winged Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
News of a “flock of Dickcissels” drove us
back to the Convention Centre, and while the “flock” was gone, I did hear one
making its brat call, and Venu was
able to track it down and get a look!
They wanted to hang around the water feature, so I went out back,
promising to text if anything good came up, and ran into Dan Jones and another
gentleman who pointed out an Eastern Kingbird to me!
By that time it was evident that the
migrant show was probably over (about the only thing that came in to the water
feature was a Collared Dove with a missing foot), so we visited the Flats one
last time, enjoying a white morph Reddish Egret doing his “dance”, before
calling it a day, wrapping up with 81 species.
One last photo shoot before heading home...
Bird List:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Redhead
Brown Pelican
Least Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
White Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Harris's Hawk
Clapper Rail
Sora
Common Gallinule
Black-necked Stilt
American Oystercatcher
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Willet
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Laughing Gull
Franklin's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Least Tern
Gull-billed Tern
Common Tern
Royal Tern
Sandwich Tern
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Inca Dove
Lesser Nighthawk
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Crested Caracara
Aplomado Falcon
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Eastern Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Chihuahuan Raven
Purple Martin
Barn Swallow
Sedge Wren
Marsh Wren
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Blue-winged Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Cassin's Sparrow
Summer Tanager
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Dickcissel
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
House Sparrow
No comments:
Post a Comment