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Posted by Carlos Sanchez on 16:45:56 01/13/10
I arrived today at Lucky Hammock before first light, hoping for a Short-eared Owl (which was a no show, again). It was very cold (36F) and all vegetation is showing major signs of frost damage. The hammock itself contained a small flock of wintering passerines, including a couple White-eyed Vireos (one dark-eyed immature bird), Blue-headed Vireos, Great Crested Flycatchers, Northern Parula, and Prairie Warbler.
I headed to the western edge of the fields, spotting a Barn Swallow flying low over the fields mere feet from me. Fieldmarks included long pointed wings, long forked tail, blue-black upperside, and pale undersides. White tail spots were observed on the upper surface of the tail. The northwest edge was very birdy, with the best bird being a Least Flycatcher which was first heard then seen.
I then headed to the eastern edge of the fields and almost immediately found a Brown-crested Flycatcher. Fieldmarks included a large, all dark bill; pale edges on tertials; pale gray face and breast; pale yellow lower belly and undertail coverts. It called very softly compared to the almost noisy birds wintering at Matheson.
Robin came by at around that time and put me on my first Swainson's Hawk in a long time. We also had both light morph and dark morph Short-tailed Hawks soaring high. A brief visit to the Annex was not very productive. As I was driving along the main road, I observed two Swainson's Hawks -- one of which banked right over my "patch" (#2). Great ending to the morning!
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