[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TAS BirdBoard ] [ FAQ ]
Posted by Toe on 12:26:59 05/05/13
Angel, Mariel, and Rangel ventured out with me yesterday, and despite the west winds we had high hopes of finding good birds. West winds are great for neotropical migrants, but can kill pelagic birding by blowing everything far to the east. Local fishermen have a saying: "Winds Out of The West, Stay Home and Rest." I'm glad we didn't heed that warning! Right off the bat we got a very different view of spring migration. We were seeing flock after flock of warblers passing by our boat the entire time we were out there. We were able to ID several species of warblers, plus Swainson's Thrugh and Bobolink. But, the most interesting land bird was an American Bittern flying high and having a tough time handling the winds. Bill suggested this might be a South Polar Bittern!
On the pelagics, we had the expected Brown Booby at Fowey Light. Upon heading offshore, we quickly got two Roseate Terns, which is a great species for Dade and a county bird for me, Angel and Mariel. I assume these two are part of the population that breeds up north and not the birds that breed in the keys. We ran offshore 15 miles but as expected shearwaters and such were not around due to the winds. But, we did get Sooty and Bridled Terns in small number, and a flock of 5 Red-necked Phalaropes. We also had 2 black Terns, which is another really good species for Dade.
While we did not have ideal pelagic conditions, we had great variety that made the trip a blast. I hope to have the new boat ready this summer to do this trips on a regular basis.
The list:
Brown Booby - 32
Northern Gannet - 40
Magnificent Frigatebird - 8
Red-necked Phalarope - 5
Roseate Tern - 2
Black Tern - 2
Sooty Tern - 8
Bridled Tern - 15
American Bittern - 1
Swainson's Thrush - 1
Bobolinks - many
Blackpoll, Redstarts, Cape May, Common Yellowthroat, Northern Waterthrush - all day long!
[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TAS BirdBoard ] [ FAQ ]