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Posted by Angel & Mariel on 00:41:26 05/15/11
We took a stroll around Barnes today in search of the Connecticut Warbler that has been seen in the past few days and found it within five minutes. The bird did not come out into the open but did stay within view for over an hour which gave us time to learn more about this seldom seen species in Miami. We were surprised to see how tolerant the bird was to people walking by as well as kids on bicycles and even a couple of runners. We spotted the bird along the eastern side of the trail between the boardwalk and the butterfly garden. It stayed well hidden working through the leaf litter as well as some small shrubs along the fence. We observed the bird trying out different foraging techniques while there. The bird was slow and deliberate while walking along the ground flipping over leaves in search of insects and other prey. It would also spend time looking up onto the underside of leaves which can be seen in the photos while looking for insects to glean. It would look up until it located spiders or other insects and then jump up to grab its prey. It used this method often while we watched it forage and was very effective at succeeding. Another foraging behavior it exhibited was a fly catching type method where it would hover at the edge of a shrub while trying to glean insects off of leaves. It was not as successful with this method but it did try this several times. The bird also foraged inside of a shrub just south of the butterfly garden and had better success picking ants and other insects off limbs and leaves while it walked from limb to limb.
We feel so lucky to have had the chance to watch the bird for as long as we did. We learned a lot about the bird s behavior as well as different foraging techniques it displayed while we studied the bird. It was shy but did not seem to mind three different cats that were within twenty feet at times or mind the casual biker or runner. It was not very cooperative from a photography stand point but it was very obliging at allowing long views. After about an hour and fifteen minutes we lost it in the ferns closer to the boardwalk which is when we decided to leave.
Nature is Awesome
Angel & Mariel
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