Posted by Paul Bithorn on April 16, 2004 at 21:04:34:
West Palm Beach birder, Linda McCandless, left me message earlier today reporting that she, Linda Most and Leo Miller located a Red-legged Honeycreeper just before noon in the Florida Keys. It was found on Grassy Key at Mile Marker MM 59 while birding their way south for a Saturday departure to the Dry Tortugas. Unfortunately,she did not mention the sex of the bird in her message.
They spotted the colorful Caribbean vagrant flitting around in a row of Bottlebrush Trees on the west perimeter of the parking lot of the Wreck Key Restaurant, which is adjacent to the Dolphin Research Center. Could this migratory species have arrived from the Yucatan Peninsula on the the coattails of the strong westerly winds that we recently experienced or amongst the cloud of migrants shown on radar departing Cuba on Noel Wamer's post earlier this week?
The fifth South Florida record in the past year is beginning to cast a shadow of doubt on the supposition that these birds may be escapees from the exotic bird trade. The Florida Ornithogical Society's Records Committee will have the daunting task of trying to ascertain the origin of these birds.
Life is good....................