Posted by Vince on March 10, 2003 at 18:33:37:
All:
I should have posted this earlier but I've been too busy birding the last few days! On Saturday, 03/08/03, after having left the TAS group on the ENP fieldtrip, several of us from Naples saw a Hairy Woodpecker about 3/4 - 1 mile or so south of Lucky Hammock in the afternoon. The bird was in a tree along the west side of the road. There was a group from Brevard County (Phyllis Mansfield, Dick Novier, Don Feuss etc.) at Lucky Hammock at the time and as we were driving back out to S.R. 9336, I told Don Feuss that we had seen the Hairy and that they should go check it out. Whether or not they did, I can't say. . . .
As for the bird -- a male, it was noticeably larger than a Downy would be with a noticeably larger bill. This first caught my attention.... The fact that there were no black spots or markings of any kind on the outer white tail feathers clinched the i.d.
I talked to Juan Villamil who said he and Kevin Sarsfield had a Brown-crested Flycatcher at the Annex earlier in the morning and I think a White-crowned Pigeon or two. We saw neither.
However, earlier in the day, before the fieldtrip "officially" convened at the Coe Visitor Center, our group was late because we stopped at the Kendall RR tracks. We found one (for sure) and possibly two Dickcissels along with a half-dozen or more Blue Grosbeaks, a few Painted Buntings, a Grasshopper Sparrow etc.
Good birding!
Vince Lucas