Met
Wim (pronounced “Vim”), Suus (“Soosh”), and Kees (“Case”) at the old building,
and after filling their little cooler with cold water we were off! They were part of a Birding Breaks tour from the Netherlands that
coincided with our annual Spring Tour, and they had already been birding steadily
since Keith picked them up in Houston on the 16th! I had the privilege of guiding them for three
days starting today, and our goal was migrants on the Island!
Anna
Manual had already taken them out there the day before (as that was the day of
the actual front, such as it was), but migrants always hang around a day or two
after a front, so the “day after” promised to be good as well. Suus and Kees both had “big guns”, so when I
mentioned shorebird and larid photo ops on The Flats, they were very
interested! Just as we pulled in and I
stopped long enough to get my bins out, three dark birds were on a distant bush
that I just assumed were Indigo Buntings, but Kees declared, “Bobolinks!” “You’re kidding!” said I, and thus started a
day with miracle bird after miracle bird (although we had to work pretty hard
for some of them)! J
Suus and Wim enjoy some vagrant Bobolinks (below)
The
group mentioned that they had seen Franklin’s Gulls flying over on a previous
day but really wanted to see some sitting, so after enjoying the Bobolinks we
had barely rolled forward when a huge
flock of Franklin’s Gulls wheeled over, acting like they wanted to land on the
shore! Eventually they did, so we went
after ‘em, and I had never seen
Franklin’s Gulls so pink in all my life!
They were gorgeous! The other beach bums seemed to pale in
comparison, but we had nice looks at breeding-plumaged Short-billed Dowitchers,
Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plovers, Dunlin, and even a Common Tern in with
all the others who were trying to impress their respective mates!
A Franklin's Gull wheels in to join the substantial flock (below)!
These birds become very rosy in breeding plumage!
Can you find the one oddball bird in the group?
Least Tern pair
Sandwich Tern pair
Black-bellied Plover really gets his black belly this time of year!
Semipalmated Plovers
We
then wheeled into the Convention Centre, where we actually had to park in the
“real” parking lot as the place was packed already! The Official Greeters were there
(Black-bellied Whistling Ducks), but we were also greeted with a mob of Indigo
Buntings, in the center of which, trying to hide, was a sharp-looking
Clay-colored Sparrow! (That’s the height
of birding irony when you’re more excited about a sparrow than these brilliant
blue buntings!) The water feature was
fairly quiet with only a few Catbirds and a Tennessee Warbler coming in at first, but
that could have been because Momma Mottled Duck had her ducklings in there
hogging the bath! J
Killdeer in the median of the Convention Centre drive
A gang of Indigo Buntings is hiding a Clay-colored Sparrow (also below)!
Tennessee Warbler
Indigo Bunting
Kees
had figured out his own routine from yesterday, so we kind of followed him
around, and coming around the corner “Salineño Mike” was on the bench with
another gal, pointing out both Swainson’s and Gray-cheeked Thrushes! My charges need the Graycheek, so Mike
abandoned his post and let us have the bench, and we got great looks! Baltimore Orioles were out the yin yang, with
the odd female and young male Orchard still hanging around. I suggested sitting on the “corner bench” for
awhile to see if the thrushes would come in there (I had the Wood Thrush a
couple of weeks ago there), but we weren’t there long before Wim came running
for us – he found a Rose-breasted Grosbeak!
So we all scurried to the area near the back deck and waited, where in
the meantime what I thought was a pewee at first morphed into an empid of some
kind; I was leaning towards Acadian, but it didn’t look green enough. I mused, “Where’s Dan Jones when you need
him?” and after we refound the grosbeak and enjoyed him, soon to be upstaged by
a Louisiana Waterthrush J, here came Dan! We showed him the pictures and he said it
sure looked like an Acadian to him, so that was good enough for us! J
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Swainson's Thrush
Baltimore Oriole
Acadian Flycatcher
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Louisiana Waterthrush
We
soon got word that Cerulean and Blue-winged Warblers were being seen on the
boardwalk, so out we went! There were
indeed warblers out there, but we sure had to work for them: Canada,
Black-and-white, and Black-throated Green were the major players, but my
guidees from earlier in the week (Linda, Murray, and Patty) had found a
Black-throated Blue at the end! So when
one of our local birders Pat DeWinter refound it and called us, we headed out
there and waited, and were finally rewarded with very quick views!
Unfortunately Suus and Kaas never saw it, but since they had already
seen it in Florida they weren’t too disappointed… J But on the way back Kaas found another
prize: the female Cerulean Warbler! That was definitely a hit!
Since Suus and Wim had missed the Least Bittern the day before, we decided to head out on the other boardwalk, pausing long enough to log the Roseate Spoonbill, Spotted Sandpiper, and comparative looks at both yellowlegs in the “east pond”. Continuing on, I warned them that a flight view might be all we get, and to look for a tiny heron with big, buffy wing patches! I had barely gotten that out of my mouth when the bittern flew right across! That was good enough, so we did an about face and headed back to the gardens, where we added Myrtle, Yellow-throated, and the female Cape May Warbler to the list!
Black-throated Green Warbler
Since Suus and Wim had missed the Least Bittern the day before, we decided to head out on the other boardwalk, pausing long enough to log the Roseate Spoonbill, Spotted Sandpiper, and comparative looks at both yellowlegs in the “east pond”. Continuing on, I warned them that a flight view might be all we get, and to look for a tiny heron with big, buffy wing patches! I had barely gotten that out of my mouth when the bittern flew right across! That was good enough, so we did an about face and headed back to the gardens, where we added Myrtle, Yellow-throated, and the female Cape May Warbler to the list!
Yellow-throated Warbler
Female Cape May Warbler
Lunch
called, and the gang suggested eating at one of the benches in the “circular
area”, as they had had oodles of birds the day before there! It was definitely quieter today, as I can’t
even recall if anything came to visit, so we wolfed down our food and headed to
Sheepshead, enjoying a cooperative Catbird from the car on the way out! On the way I stopped at
Oleander on a whim (based on a report the night before of Golden-winged
Warbler), and I couldn’t believe it: we
had the whole place to ourselves, and it was hopping! Hooded, Kentucky, and
Chestnut-sided Warblers, Ovenbird, Blue-headed and Red-eyed Vireos, Painted
Buntings, Eastern Wood Pewees, and a Summer Tanager all made appearances, and
some (like the Hoodies, Kentucky, and pewee) were very friendly indeed! A Tropical Kingbird tittered, and just as I
mentioned that we’d have to go track that one down, he came to us! That was special!
Gray Catbird
Enjoying the birds at Oleander (R-L: Wim, Suus, Kaas, and two other birders...)
Eastern Wood Pewee
Four views of a friendly first-year Hooded Warbler
Kentucky Warbler sneaking through the grass
Sheepshead
was pretty quiet except for the orioles, but we managed to add Northern
Parula (always by the orange), the Northern Waterthrush who was still at the
back of the South Side, both Buff-bellied and Ruby-throated Hummers, and
Barbara’s Warbling Vireo J! A Wood Thrush made his Curve-billed Thrasher-like rapid-fire call from the back, but never showed for us. But the absolute highlight was a male Golden-winged Warbler that came in
to the South Side and eventually gave everyone great views!
Fuzzy snapshots of a rapidly-moving Golden-winged Warbler, a "most-wanted" species on many birders' migrant wish list!
What
a day! And for an Island-only day, we
didn’t do badly with 95 species (and we didn’t even make it to the Birding
Center)! Bird list:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Mottled Duck Blue-winged Teal
Neotropic Cormorant
Least Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret
Cattle Egret
White Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Turkey Vulture
Harris's Hawk
Sora
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Black-necked Stilt
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Dunlin
Least Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Laughing Gull
Franklin's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Least Tern
Caspian Tern
Common Tern
Royal Tern
Sandwich Tern
Black Skimmer
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
Lesser Nighthawk
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Buff-bellied Hummingbird
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Acadian Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Tropical Kingbird
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Barn Swallow
Marsh Wren
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Ovenbird
Louisiana Waterthrush
Northern Waterthrush
Golden-winged Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Kentucky Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Canada Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Clay-colored Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Summer Tanager
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Painted Bunting
Dickcissel
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Great-tailed Grackle
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
House Sparrow
95 SPECIES
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