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Posted by Angel & Mariel on 10:43:09 09/26/08
Yesterday afternoon we stopped by Matheson and found a good variety of birds. First bird we saw seconds after getting out of the car was a Dark morph Short-tailed hawk. It was perched up on top of the pines searching for its next meal. We walked over to the stone pavilion where we found lots of new birds that were foraging franticly as if they were getting ready to fly that night. At "Least" one flycatcher showed it itself for several minutes giving us awesome upclose views. It posed like it was on a turntable, showing us all sides of the bird... awesome! After a short time there we ran into "Rafael the amazing artist" which had been birding the area just before we arrived. He had a beautiful Orchard Oriole (male) which we wish we would have not missed. We birded with him for a while seeing awesome numbers of Black-throated Blue and A. Redstarts, and one tree that had been taken over by several Prairie Warbler. They did not want to hang out with the rest of the warblers; they apparently were too good for them.
We also had a great Raptor afternoon, we saw two Short-tailed Hawks both dark morph, they flew over and one perched up for great looks. Two Peregrine, two Merlin, Coopers, and a Broad-winged were patrolling the park while we were there. We had an awesome time birding with Rafael observing the best numbers of migrants we have had down here all fall.
After Matheson we headed to Toe's where we enjoyed at "Least" one great beer to celebrate an awesome afternoon of migrant birding.
Here is the list:
Cooper's Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Short-tailed Hawk
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Least Flycatcher (great looks)
Eastern Kingbird
Gray Kingbird
Yellow-throated Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Parula
Cape May Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Worm-eating Warbler
Ovenbird
Northern Cardinal
We definitely can't complain for only a little over an hour! It is always amazing for us to enjoy observing migrants.
Nature is Awesome
Angel & Mariel
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