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Posted by Marcello Gomes on 18:40:07 10/31/13
I'd like to start my report telling Toe that his self-fulfilling prophecy is becoming true in the past week. I have observed the arrival of one Herring Gull (immature first cycle), a couple of Ring-billed Gulls (immature second-year cycle), a dozen or so Caspian Terns (adult and immature). The piece-de-resistance was an immature leg-banded Peregrine Falcon heading north in 3rd gear as far as speed - all present by the intracoastal area seen from the boardwalk area at Snook Island area in Lake Worth.
House wren (two) and several buntings (Painted and Indigo) seen at Green Cay and Arthur Marshall Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge. Found one male HOODED warbler but it quickly went inside of a thick vegetation area and I could not relocate (near the Nature center area at Loxahatchee). Many Common Yellowthroats (immature, males, & females). The buntings were mostly brown (Indigo) and mostly immature & females on the Painted side. Had a pair of White-eyed Vireos scolding each other. One shot you can clearly see the dominant gray neck and head indicating that it's a young bird (added other previous shots in the season for contrasting delight). Had one gorgeous Yellow-throated warbler looking right at me on a cypress tree. It was feasting on a small berry/seed of it. Nothing unusual you say? True, but that is one eye-candy bird on my book.
Yesterday, I had a Northern Shoveler female at Peaceful Waters Sanctuary in Wellington. Many Loggerhead Shrikes were also present. The sad thing I witnessed but with a happy ending was a (most likely) a female Black-bellied Whistling Duck that was flanked by two young offsprings and one of them was caught in the heavy floating vegetation. The adult bird was distraught and kept alternating coming towards me and rushing back to the offspring in trouble. It kept harshly pecking the little one on the head and seemed to have been trying to submerge it (out of context it'd easily qualify as domestic battery). There was nothing I could do and I left hoping nature would fix itself. About 20 minutes later I came back and the Whistling family was all gone which was a good sign and made me feel relieved!
Migration has calmed down a bit and as Toe anticipated, "Winter is here"!
May November bring some more exciting news to us all!
Marcello
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