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Posted by Rick Schofield on 16:13:34 02/23/12
I mentioned in an earlier post that Beth and I had the Yellow-headed Blackbirds at the Sem-Chi rice fields (sorry for my misspelling of their name before) this past Monday, February 20.
We went on to the Belle Glade Marina at Torry Island and had a very nice, low key walk around the retention pond there. (No power walkers, baby carriages, cell phones, alligator spotters.) While there was not a whole lot of bird activity, we did flush a bunch of Sparrows and Palm Warblers which flew up into the Pond Apple trees and eventually posed nicely for us.
There was one "Sparrow" that stood out from the others but we couldn't put a definite ID on it. But with the help of Chuck Weber, we're now pretty certain that it was a 1st year male Dickcissel.
I have to thank Chuck for his ID. But I also need to put a plug in for Richard Crossley's recent book, "The Crossley ID Guide" (Princeton University Press).
For three recent ID's -- (1st winter female) Black-throated Green, (1st winter female) Magnolia, and this (1st winter male) Dickcissel -- when I've opened to the appropriate page in his book, I've said right out loud, "That's my bird!" It's uncanny. I swear he was hiding in the bushes behind me, grabbed a photograph of the bird in question, went home and turned back time so he could include that photo in the book.
Scary!
You won't be carrying this around as you would a field guide (it's too big and heavy!) but as a reference at home or in your trunk it is great.
Rick
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