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Posted by Rick Schofield on 13:32:22 05/03/12
Sorry for the delayed notice but I wanted/needed to make a positive confirmation before posting this. (Thanks, Robin, for helping out.)
I was at Spanish River Park in Boca Raton yesterday morning between 10:00 am and 12:00 noon hitching up with John Shelly and Dave Hasse -- both much better birders than I. Things were very slow but at one point, they were deep in the underbrush searching for Ovenbirds and Swainson's Warblers while I stationed myself at a fruited Gumbo Limbo right next to an also-fruited Strangler Fig. This has been the birdiest spot in the park recently and it was again yesterday. While checking out a Blackpoll, I heard a short, sharp, high-pitched Wheet which was repeated one more time. I immediately thought Flycatcher but the call was not the typical Great Crested note.
I tried to get my friends' attention but they were incommunicado for a few minutes. When they finally emerged from the brush, I caught their attention and had them come take a look. Between the three of us, we all agreed that there was little if any yellow on the underside, the bill was entirely black, there were wing bars, there was no discernible crest, and it was smaller than a Great Crested.
Based on the field marks that we all agreed on, I could only come up with La Sagra's. And I mentioned to John and Dave that there was a La Sagra's found at the nearby Gumbo Limbo Nature Center last year (or was it the year before) at this time.
I can now safely say, thanks to Robin Diaz, that this was, indeed, a La Sagra's Flycatcher. She's even accused me of stealing the one from Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park as it's been missing now for about 10 days. :)
So for those of you in or near Palm Beach County who couldn't/didn't make it to Bill Baggs, you now have a much shorter trip to Spanish River Park if you're interested in the La Sagra's.
Rick
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