Western Spindalis in FL ~ December 27-30, 2015

December 27-28, 2015

On Sunday, the 27th, Stephen Kloiber and I left my house around 11:30 AM and headed for Sunrise, Florida. Because of the extremely heavy traffic caused by everyone returning home from Christmas visits, a drive that should have taken about 19 hours turned into 21-3/4 hours. On the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, we hit one of many major backups, but the amazing thing about this one was that it was caused by everyone "rubbernecking" at a single Wild Turkey that was feeding in the median. We finally arrived at Markham Park near Sunrise, Florida at around 8:15 AM on Monday morning just as a small cloudburst occurred. Once the rain subsided, it only took us around a half-hour of searching until we got looks at the Western Spindalis that had been there since late November. I was very happy to get some photos of this Bahamian bird.

Western Spindalis of the "Black-backed" form.

There were six Spot-breasted Orioles associating with it.

Spot-breasted Oriole

We left the park and drove to the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. There, we found two flocks of Monk Parakeets.

Monk Parakeet

While taking photos of them, I noticed a hawk circling nearby, which surprisingly turned out to be a Short-tailed Hawk.

A light morph Short-tailed Hawk.

The water levels of the impoundments were pretty high, so the number of birds in them were pretty disappointing.

Next, we checked a couple spots in the Boynton Beach area for Nanday Parakeet but came up empty both times. At dusk, we headed north to the Melbourne area where we got a motel and crashed after being up for about 33 hours.

---

December 29-30, 2015

On Tuesday, the 29th, we birded Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands near Viera, Florida. There were many birds in and around the several impoundments.

An adult Turkey Vulture.

Great Blue Heron

An adult White Ibis.

An adult White Ibis in flight.

Glossy Ibis

Tricolored Heron

An adult Little Blue Heron

Sandhill Crane

Belted Kingfisher

An Anhinga with a speared fish.

An Anhinga in flight.

An Anhinga drying out its wings.

Forster's Tern

Caspian Tern

American Alligator

Pied-billed Grebe

Common Gallinule

Green Heron

We left there around noon and began the long drive back home, which was fine other than the occasional patches of thick fog that we ran into. We returned at around 4 AM on Wednesday morning, 2,585 miles later.

---

Dickcissel on Wild Creek/Little Gap CBC ~ December 20, 2015

While doing the Wild Creek/ Little Gap Christmas Bird Count, Adam Smith spotted and Jason Horn confirmed a female Dickcissel in a field along Church Road in Moore Township. I was able to get some documentation photos of it. This bird represents the first record of this species for the count.

---

Brown Booby in PA! ~ November 15, 2015

On Saturday afternoon, November 14th, Devich Farbotnik found an adult Brown Booby in the Tullytown area. I was unable to get down there and the bird was eventually seen flying towards the Delaware River late Saturday. It was looked for Sunday morning but wasn't seen. Surprisingly, the bird returned mid-afternoon. I left home and got to the spot as sunset approached. Happily for me, it was still sitting on a buoy out on the lake. Under decreasing light, I took several extremely poor photos of it solely for my records. This bird represents the 1st record for Pennsylvania! Congratulations on a great find, Devich!

---

Variegated Flycatcher in FL ~ October 28-30, 2015

On Wednesday, Jason Horn and I left his house around 10:30 AM and headed for Fort Lauderdale, Florida. After driving through rain for two-thirds of the way, we arrived at Evergreen Cemetery a couple hours before sunrise on Thursday morning. We got a quick snooze in before walking into the cemetery where several birders had already found the Variegated Flycatcher. We spent several hours checking out and photographing this rarity from South America.

We birded the rest of the cemetery, which was full of migrants. A Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, an Anhinga, and this immature White Ibis were along tiny Cliff Lake, which borders the cemetery.

An Ovenbird walked along its edge.

The trees along the border of the cemetery produced warblers that included Magnolia, Black-and-white, Yellow-throated, Bay-breasted, Northern Parula, and American Redstart. A White-eyed Vireo was also present.

At least a hundred Palm Warblers worked the grassy areas among the tombstones. Other birds seen there were Cooper's Hawk, American Kestrel, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Eastern Phoebe, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Summer Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Northern Cardinal, and a flock of parakeets, which were probably Mitreds.

Jason suggested that we head for nearby Royal Palm Park where I had the opportunity to get another "countable" bird. There, we found one Egyptian Goose on the strip between the two pools.

Common Gallinules were walking along the shore.

An adult White Ibis was also there. Was its missing foot the result of an encounter with an Alligator?

Other birds seen at the park included Mallard, Tricolored Heron, Limpkin, and Boat-tailed Grackle.

We left there around noon and began the long, 19-hour drive back home. Birds seen along the way included Cattle Egret, Wood Stork, Osprey, Bald Eagle, and Red-shouldered Hawk. I backed into the garage at around 1:30 on Friday afternoon with the trip odometer reading 2,528 miles.

---