Vagrants in the Neighbourhood

Monday, February 11th

We had a few interesting birds visit here lately with a pair of Mega Rarities in South Florida. Both made very short stops before moving on. Locally, the Great White Pelican, probably having arrived somehow from Western Africa, made its third brief visit to Ding Darling NWR on Sanibel Island. Her last stop here was so very brief.  Maybe just a few hours, before flying off, to who knows where.  

Great White Pelican seen February 29, 2016 at Ding Darling NWR

Great White Pelican seen February 29, 2016 
at Ding Darling NWR

Compare her to the American White Pelicans
 that she is associating with. 

  Note that the American White Pelican 
is the largest bird in North America

We first saw this mystery bird back in February of 2016. Lots of us got to see her then,  She returned briefly the following year, again in February. She wasn't reported last year.  No one really knows her provenience.  Is she an escapee or a true vagrant?  As no one as ever reported the loss of such a bird, and as it lacks any leg bandings, it is more probably a vagrant that somehow traversed the Atlantic Ocean. One possibility it became a stowaway after following a fishing trawler traveling from the Eastern Atlantic toward our coast. And we have yet to find out where spends her time other than her appearances here. I read that researchers would find it helpful to report any banded ( need the band info) American White Pelican that it has associated with.

Another Mega Rarity to North America is a brief appearance In Palm Beach County of a Dark-billed Cuckoo.  A South American bird species with only a single reported visit to Texas in. This current encounter was first reported on the 6th and last seen on the 10th. An huge crows of Birding enthusiast had gather by the 9th and 10th. No doubt some flying in for this usual find.

Checklist with phots of the Dark-billed Cuckoo provided by Hugh Whelan     .https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52548955

These birds can be considered  Vagrants  due to the being so outside of their home range.

Variegated Flycatcher'

Another Mega Rarity seen for a couple weeks in Evergreen Cemetery, Ft Lauderdale

in October 2015

Back in December 2008

Back in December 2008 I was one of several people stacking out the bird feeders at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary's Bunting House, waiting on s White-throated Sparrow to pop out. Not a great rarity, but diffidently out-side of its expected range and a potential lifer for me.  Well I was in a conversation with a British birder who asked me if I Twitched. Twitched? What's that? Its a British  birding terminology meaning to chase after rare vagrant birds.

 

A Pair of a Brants were visiting vagrants at 

Bunche Beach

December 2016 through January 2017

The following month, the chase was on. I had the bug.  Chased after the Ruff at Myakka River State Park, a Masked Duck near lake City, a Harris's Sparrow on the LA Chua Trail and the nesting Least Grebes in Boca Raton. 

Today, I've slowed down a bit. But there is a quartet of vagrants from the Caribbean drawing a lot of birders twitching after a La Sagra's  Flycatcher, Thick-billed Vireo, Western Spinalis, and a Bananaquit in Miami. 

Bunche Beach

Saturday, January 14th

Live Atlantic Giant Cockles were exposed today during an 
exceptionally low tide at Bunche Beach

A report of the sighting of a long-billed curlew, yesterday, led me to return to Bunche Beach today. Arriving just before dawn, I wasn't alone. Peter Hawrylyshyn and Meg Rousher have also arrived, as well as a couple of ladies here, taking advantage of an extremely low tide, to do some shelling.

Brants

As the day brightened, the low, low tide was exposing a lot of live 'shells'.  Primarily giant cockles and lightening welks. One lightening welk that the ladies found was at least a foot long and was involved in consuming a clam. These live 'shells' can not be collected. It is unlawful to collect live shells silver dollars or starfish in most south Florida waters

A pair of Brantley, rare to Florida, have taken 
up residency at Bunche Beach

The pair of rare-to-Florida Brants continue to be found at Bunche and can often be very tolerant of of observers and photographers. Hopefully they'll be hanging around for awhile.

Reddish Egret, note the antennae attached to this birds back 
and its leg band 

Common Tern

Ring-billed Gull

Wintering shorebirds, gulls, terns, American White Pelicans have been quite numerous.  A few Common and Caspian Terns have been reported, along with many Piping Plovers, Semipalmated and Black-bellied Plovers. Occasional a lone Bonaparte's Gull has show-up.  The same with Lesser and Greater Black-backed Gulls.

 Least Sandpipers and Red Knots can be seen on the exposed sea grasses and the exposed mud flats attract Black Skimmers, Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls, Royal, Sandwich and Forster's Terns, Sanderlings, Ruddy Turnstones, Short-billed Dowitchers, Dunlins, spotted Sandpipers and Western Sandpipers. In the shallow waters we see Marbled Godwits, Willets, Reddish, Snowy and Little Blue Egrets, Tricolor Herons, Roseate Spoonbills, White Ibis and Brown Pelicans. In deeper water  a couple of Common Loons, a Horned Grebe and a half a dozen Black Scouters can sometimes be seen.  In the skies watch for Ospreys and Magnificent Frigatebirds as well as large flotillas of American White Pelicans. 

In the mangroves look for Yellow-crowned Night-herons and Belted Kingfishers. Palm Warblers Gnatcatchers are also present in the mangroves. Plus an Orange-crowned Warbler has been seen on a regular basis. I've made six attempts on sighting this small bird. 

Sandwich Terns

Red Knots

Piping Plover

Willet

Brown Pelican

Common Loon

Foster's Tern

A Pair of Brants Visit Ft Myers

Sunday, December 18th

Last February we had birders and photographers from far and wide descending on Bunche Beach Preserve to a get a look at a Star Attraction. An American Flamingo had become a regular visitor to Bunche Beach for about a couple of weeks. It was a lot of fun

So now we have a new Star Attraction at Bunche this weekend. A pair of Brants have shown up. It is very unusual to see this species this far south and is extremely uncommon in Florida. So scores of folks are returning to Bunche Beach to see and photograph these geese.

Yesterday, I received messages from Dave McQuaid encouraging me to get over to Bunche and I eventually was able to do so.  But the geese had moved off. After scoping the flats, without success, I started heading back to my car, when I ran into Stan Damen. So headed back with Stan to re-scan the flats.  Again no geese.

Brant at Bunche Beach

Now it was time for plan B, which was to relocate the search to the nearby Causeway Islands Park. So as we headed back to the cars, we stopped to chat with a nice German lady who was scanning the beach. But what do you know, she has the Brant sighted in her scope. Seems the goose had flown into the spot we had just vacated. So for a third time, it was back to the far end of the beach to get some photographs. The Brant was cooperative, but the angle of the sun made good photography difficult.  It wasn't a Lifer for me. I had seen them up in Virginia Beach last year, but was new addition to my Florida Bird List.

Besides the surprise arrival of the Flamingo and the Brants this year we had that three day visit, the end of February, of a Great White Pelican at nearby Ding Darling NWR. A couple of unusual vagrants that we saw this year a Broad-billed Hummingbird in Naples and a first ever recorded visit of a Pacific Golden Plover to a sod farm out in Palm Beach County back in April. Never know what unusual avian visitor might turn up.