Tuesday, April 10, 2012

04/09/2012, Cameron Parish

More White-winged Scoters yesterday on Holly Beach.  An adult male looked like the same bird as last Friday.















Here's a shot of the white-wing in the flock.  I'd torture you by asking you to find it, but I'm assuming the picture won't enlarge enough to give you a fair chance.  The white-wing is near the left edge of the flock, maybe the 4th or 5th bird or so.














There was also a nice solidly dark white-wing (aside for the white wings, of course) a little farther to the east.  In the morning, it was several hundred yards out, but by mid-afternoon, it or another just like it was in the surf just off the beach.












At Peveto Woods, I ran into good friends Mona and Paul Conzelmann; they had picked a good day for their first ever visit to the sanctuary.  The weather was great, and there were plenty of migrants around.  Dozens of Hooded Warblers livened up the woods, with about as many Worm-eating Warblers and Black-and-whites. Indigo Buntings and Blue Grosbeaks were in good numbers, and a few lingering winterers such as the White-crowned Sparrow below were still around.



















Melvin Weber was there, also, and he had 17 warbler species at Peveto, as well as the oddest find of the day, a Spotted Towhee.  It's especially funny if it's the same female that has been there since last fall.  I say that because it's only been detected a few times in the interim, and not at all since last February.  Jay Huner was also in the woods, but I didn't get a chance to find out what all he had seen before he left.

Friday, April 6, 2012

Cameron Parish, 04/06/2012

Today was a pretty good day on the coast.  There weren't a lot of diving ducks along Holly Beach, but Mac Myers and I found a lot of scoters mixed in with a few hundred scaup.  The final count was 17 Surf Scoters and 1 male White-winged Scoter.















In Peveto Woods, action started pretty slow, but migrants started to arrive as the day progressed.  We ended up with over a dozen warbler species, and good numbers of thrushes, vireos, and buntings.

We also came across a Lesser Nighthawk that we were able to get good looks at.



Monday, April 2, 2012

Pomarine Jaegers



















Some of the Pomarine Jaegers Dave Patton, Mac Myers, and I saw just off the Cameron Coast a couple of weekends ago.