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Posted by Angel & Mariel on 22:14:25 09/29/12
Fourteen enthusiastic birders joined the "Nature is Awesome" duo for a walk around beautiful Bill Baggs Cape FL SP today. The day started off with a few birds in the No Name Harbor parking lot, which happened to be the birdiest part of the walk :) It wasn't long before we had raptors overhead, two Sharp-shinned Hawks gave us great looks and kicked off the walk. We strolled down the nature trail first, paying close attention to the bushes on the way up the hill. Many Common Yellowthroats were seen here with a few Prairie Warblers mixed in, a Bobolink was spotted and seen by most of us atop the hill. As we continued down the nature trail we had more hawks fly over including falcons which were now out in force.
Birds were quiet and sparse but we we managed to find other wildlife to watch in between birds sightings. A male Painting Bunting was almost the highlight of the day but an encounter between a Merlin and a Peregrine Falcon stole the show. The two merely collided just feet away, the sound of the stronger Peregrine Falcons wings tearing through the wind was awesome, we generally do not get this close to Peregrines! We also got great looks at American Kestrels, Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks which were also migrating south. The presence of these majestic bird of prey may have been one reason for the lack of passerines seen today or likely a combination of factors. As it got hotter and the raptors continued to fly over we saw less birds and more of the finish line, No Name Harbor. Two Gray Kingbirds were on post as we got back to the parking lot. We watched the two hawk insects for a few minutes as we said our good bye's and headed our ways. A big thanks to all the birders that made it out to the walk, we hope to see you out in the field sometime.
Here is a list of birds seen today:
Magnificent Frigatebird
Double-crested Cormorant
Brown Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Green Heron
White Ibis
Osprey
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Accipiter sp.
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Laughing Gull
Royal Tern
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Common Ground-Dove
Chuck-will's-widow
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Gray Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
Fish Crow
Barn Swallow
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Parula
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Palm Warbler
Worm-eating Warbler
Ovenbird
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Cardinal
Painted Bunting
Common Grackle
Nature is Awesome
Angel & Mariel
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