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Posted by Angel & Mariel on 23:24:10 10/10/11
While birding an overgrown field on campus last week a female type Dickcissel was found feeding alongside a few Bobolinks. This morning 10/10 the bird was present again but the Bobolinks were not seen and the field was mowed. The Dickcissel was seen near the same area but was now along the edge of the mowed field feeding on seeding grasses. Tried to get a digi-binned shot of the bird with the cell but it flew south a short distance. When the Dickcissel landed another bird jumped up and perched in the open, a Blue Grosbeak!
Last week was pretty productive around campus with a nice assortment of both Raptors and Passerines. Besides the expected common migrants a few goodies were present. On 10/5 the Dickcissel was first seen, new birds in the area included Magnolia Warbler, lots of Common Yellowthroats, a Baltimore Oriole, Gray Catbird and a Merlin.
10/6 The Raptors came out to play in the wind as well as many new passerines. Several Cooper s Hawk patrolled the skies as a Sharpie, Short-tailed Hawk, Merlin and a few Buteos streamed by. Osprey continue to push south way up high in the thermals. Blackburnian, Tennessee and Pine Warbler were all new additions to the campus list. More Magnolias s showed up with Indigo and Painted Buntings as well as many Western Palm Warblers. Cape May Warblers were being Cape May s, chasing any bird from their tree. The first Wood Stork of the fall showed up overhead. Yellow-billed Cuckoos continue to move through heading south. An unidentified Empid looked and felt like a Least Fly; would have loved to confirm with voice but no such luck.
10/7 Not too many birds around but a Hooded Warbler was awesome to see for an extended amount of observation time as it fed along fallen trees and leaf litter. Raptors continue to fly by with many too high to ID and many more making it by undetected. A few Falcons and Buteos were easy to pick out of the clouds though.
10/10- Hooded Warbler was feeding in the same area as on Friday! Lots of Raptors overhead with multiples of each Cooper s Hawk, Northern Harrier and Merlin. Three Wood Storks appeared out of a thermal and circled for a bit. A Miami-Dade police chopper landed in the field and flushed a bunch of unidentified birds including some Palm Warblers and both Indigo and Painted Buntings. White-eyed Vireos were noticeably new, scolding and being the feisty little birds that they are.
A series of good days on campus were nice as we await better migration weather this week. Check out Badbirdz for more information on migration and birding forecast, see you there!
Nature is Awesome
Angel & Mariel
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