Volume 8 Issue 5

November 2008

Welcome Back Birds and Birders
By Barbara Gay

As I write this it is still October and the winter birds and late migrants are still showing up in Michigan, such as:  Golden Crowned Kinglet, Red-throated Loon, Boreal Owl, Horned Grebe, White-throated and White-crowned Sparrow, Cackling Goose, Jaeger and Scoter.  Hawk Watch is in progress with a count of 50,932 coming through Lake Erie as of Oct. 6th.  Broad-winged Hawks accounting for the largest number at 36,210.  Crane festivals are being held at their staging areas in the north.  It is being reported that many of the warblers are still coming through.  The migration is late this year due to a very wet May and June on their breeding grounds, so many birds were late nesters.

What does this mean to us birders here in Florida?  Well it’s slow, but, maybe we will have an extended time to catch migrants.  The Black-throated Blue Warbler I had in my yard is certainly one of those special fall sightings.  Other migrants being seen in Florida are Red-breasted Grosbeak, Red-eyed Vireo, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Indigo Bunting, Ruby-crowned Kinglet (still many being reported in Michigan), American Redstart, Chipping Sparrow and Palm Warbler.  Shorebirds, some still north, are some of our first arrivals in Florida, unusually arriving in good numbers

When we did the monthly count at Emeralda in October there were large numbers of Common Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds showing up and let’s not forget the many Catbirds that have surely arrived, many seen but more heard as they make their catlike mew notes from the bushes.

By this time we have gone on 3 walks and had our first club meeting of the 08/09 season.  Hopefully we have been treated to many of our feathered friends as they arrived or passed through our state on their way further south.

So don’t forget to STOP, LOOK AND LISTEN where ever you may be.  There might be a surprise in the bush.

To view bird sightings in Florida and other states go to birdingonthe.net  and click on the state you want to view.