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Posted by Angel & Mariel on 17:29:55 04/03/12
Better late than never :) Birded the park on Sunday along with many visiting birders in search of the La Sagra s Fly. On the drive we encountered thick fog in the downtown area which was a great sign as we in search of migrants that may have grounded. Started before sunrise and quickly heard some warbler chips around the front gate, Northern Parula, Palm, Prairie, Yellow-throated and Cape May Warblers were feeding in the fruiting trees. A probable Mangrove Cuckoo flew across the road from the origin of the bike trail to the mangroves on the other side of the street. Despite a good effort to relocate the bird we came up empty. The buff underside along with the brown back and wings best fit Mangrove Cuckoo though.
Next stop was the south end of the nature trail in search of the Flycatcher along with Christopher from GA. Chris had heard the bird but he wanted looks of his lifer La Sagra's Fly. He retreated back to his car to grab his camera so he could photograph the flycatcher, when he returned he had morphed into two. Gordon came along with Chris and was ecstatic to see the bird perched out in the open for us. We watched the bird for a few minutes before it disappeared into the buttonwoods. Two Merlins had been flying over the area all morning causing birds to stay low and a bit quite. Gordon took off and Chris and I went over to look for Archie the Great Cormorant which came in flying from the SW a few minutes after we arrived at the lighthouse. Archie sat and preened for a while before tucking in his head to rest.
While scanning offshore we got on a small dot over Fowey Rock Lighthouse which turned out to be a Merlin flying in off the ocean! We decided to head back over to the nature trail to see if we could relocate the La Sagra s and met with Ed and his wife Cheryl Kwater which were looking for the bird. We good quick looks of the flycatcher as it flew across the dirt path and into a restricted area but not before perching up for quick looks. A FOTS Common Nighthawk flew over us while waiting for the flycatcher. We stayed for hours waiting on the bird to surface, we think the bird heard that Larry Manfredi was is the park making his way with some clients cause the bird stayed quiet and well hidden. We left Larry and friends behind and went off in search of lunch.
After lunch the heat had set in and birds were less active. A walk through some shaded areas produced some nice warblers including a male Hooded Warbler! Spent the rest of the afternoon watching the ocean behind the lighthouse and were rewarded with 1 adult Brown Booby and a possible juvenile bird flying behind the adult. A few adult Gannets were out an about as well as a flock of migrating Great Egrets. After 2 hours of seawatching a second Merlin flew in off the water. It was awesome to see these magnificent birds of prey flying over open water.
Luck had it that some migrants did come down to enjoy Cape FL for the day. We had a few FOTS birds including Chimmney Swift, Common Nighthawk, Louisiana Waterthrush, Worm-eating Warbler and Least Tern. Ended up with 13 species of Warbler. Spring migration is definitely off to a start, get out there and bird!
Nature is Awesome
Angel & Mariel
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