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Posted by Mark Faherty on 18:20:56 12/11/06
Funny Toe should suggest we look out for spring migrants...
While training for the upcoming bird survey season this morning at Lucky Hammock (that's right - this was on-the-clock birding) with Mandy Holmgren, a Bobolink flew over calling, heading NORTH.
I heard it call a few times while I was sorting through sparrows, but dismissed it as too improbable - some kind of auditory trick. These guys winter south of the equator, afterall. Then it flew right overhead. I checked Robertson and Wolfenden later at the office and it mentioned there were less than 5 winter reports, none verified. Well, this one won't be verified either, but there it was.
The Summer Tanager was at the hammock along with a couple of Ruby-crowned Kinglets (yawn), there were at least five Blue-headed Vireos around, and the warblers included Cape May (Annex), Redstart, Parula, Prairie, and Chat. I had a Grasshopper Sparrow and some Painted Buntings as well. At the Annex a sapsucker briefly landed on a telephone pole where a Red-bellied was stashing fig fruits, Acorn Woodpecker-style. Interestingly, I found the following sentence in the Birds of North America account for Red-bellieds: "Apparently does not store mast in s. Florida (Breitwisch 1977)." I beg to differ...
We're heading up to some deep Big Cypress pinelands tomorrow - I'll keep an ear tuned to the higher frequencies in case of Creepers and non-Ruby-crowned Kinglets.
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