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Posted by Justin Miller on 22:26:49 03/23/13
Fairly busy at Green Cay today - purple martins and various swallows numbering in the hundreds...really taking over the houses and flying over all open water patches. Many least bitterns - at least one nest, and one pair looking like they're building a nest. Sora continue in good numbers. Black-necked stilts have arrived en masse - several dozen of them. Various warblers continue throughout, by the entrance, the chickee hut, and the cypress stand...including palm, yellow-rumped, prairie, pine, black and white, plus northern parula...and blue-headed vireo have started to come in good handfuls - at least 3-4 at each of the entrance and the chickee hut. Painted buntings still in surprisingly high numbers - at least 2 male and 2 female at the southeast feeder, 2 female and one male at the entrance feeder, and 3 male & two female at the chickee hut feeder. Grey catbirds also continue throughout the park by the dozens.
I also stopped by Wakodahatchee where I hadn't been for 3 weeks - it had been just too crowded...not as bad today as the heat was coming on with the swampy humidity which drove away a lot of the non-birding tourists. Black-bellied whistling ducks are mounting a near-takeover of that park - had to be 40+ of them. Also stilts are there in very large numbers - several dozen at least. Wood stork island is looking standing-room-only - lots of nested storks filling that spot. Great blue herons continue to have some bad luck with chicks this year - what seems like a high number of chicks have died shortly after birth or within a few weeks after...right by the first pavilion, the nest closest to the boardwalk has a GBH with two, maybe three chicks (I only saw two)...one was lying dead over the side of the nest. That same tree stand had several other GBHs leave after losing their chicks, and the other main nesting islands had the nests at either end, including the one with the wurdemann's mix, lose their chicks.
Other birds at Wako included: black and white warblers, blue-headed vireo, palm, yellow rumped, and prairie warblers, grey catbirds, and sora.
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