Posted by Larry Manfredi on September 02, 2003 at 15:05:39:
Today Christine, Philip and me went to look for the reported Black-faced Grassquit found by Bryant Roberts yesterday in Everglades National Park. We arrived at 9:30 a.m. in the area that Bryant reported seeing the bird yesterday and searched for at least one hour without luck. We searched near the campground entrance and farther in along the road without hearing or seeing the Black-faced Grassquit. Feeling frustrated we got into our vehicle and drove north along the road in the direction of the main park road with the windows down to hear. We drove not far from a small hammock when I heard the bird singing on our right beside the road. We jumped out of the vehicle and were able to get great looks at an immature male Black-faced Grassquit! The bird actively sang and feed up and down the road for a distance of about 100 yards. We saw it feeding right in the middle of the road, along the grassy area by the road and back in the pinewoods. The bird looks most like a female in the illustrations in most books although it has small area of black in the throat, which would make it an immature male.
I was able to take some slide film photos which might come out as well as the digital photos on my website below. I was also able to get some great sound recordings as well. I phoned Sonny Bass the park biologist who alerted David La Puma, they both drove to the area and were rewarded with great looks. They both saw the bird carrying what looked to be nesting material but they did not see any kind of nest. This is probably typical behavior of a male looking for a mate.
Great find Bryant and good luck to those who are able to look for this bird.
Larry Manfredi
Homestead, FL
E-mail: birderlm@bellsouth.net
http://www.southfloridabirding.com