Broad-winged Hawks, Yellow-headed Blackbirds (50+), etc...


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Posted by Marcello Gomes on 22:41:46 02/03/15

Hi there,
Had an opportunity to encounter a pair of Broad-winged Hawks right in my neighborhood this past Sunday. Amazing things happen when I don't force myself to go birding... At any rate, at a distance I assumed they'd be the default omnipresent Red-shouldered Hawks. But as I approached the birds and heard their high-pitch whistling I knew they were not. I know a small amount of Broad-winged Hawks winter in South Florida. Ebird had it labeled "rare"for Palm Beach county. The bird in flight had some white above the bill whereas the one on pole had lots of dark gray in its face. Talk amongst yourselves...

Moving right along...last week, I was driving around western Palm Beach area and on my way home I stopped at Semi Chi Rice plant to see if there was anything unusual I found a lot of Yellow-headed Blackbirds. Without my binoculars I could see some yellow up at the higher levels of the structure. When binoculars were used, my jaw instantly dropped with the amount of Yellow-headed Blackbirds I saw. In one shot, you can count about 45-46 of them. There were some more outside of the frame so I am estimating the numbers to be between 50-60! There were a dozen and half adult males and the rest females/ immature ones. They were flanked by hundreds of Brown-headed Cowbirds ( don't assume the care factor is too great for them:)).

Have some other shots I have posted recently if anyone cares. I just wanted to tell you up front that the male Painted Bunting is reserved for Toe though!

If you want to see the complete list of birds I have seen, just go to ebird under Palm Beach of course.
Best,
Marcello




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