SWLA Today (9/20/2015)

Cerulean Warbler, blurry but a good fall record. 

Cameron Parish, Labor Day 2015 (9/7/2015)

With gratitude in my soul to all of the Joe Hills that died to make America a better place for workers, I took a Labor Day trip to the coast this morning to see what had changed since Saturday. In short, a lot had.  There was no eye level swallow surge along the beach this morning, Caspian Terns were in big flocks, gnatcatchers were in single digits in all of the stops I made combined, I saw my first Marsh Hawk of the fall, Baltimore Orioles were passing through in groups, blackbirds seemed to be bunching up, and warbler diversity was down. Compared to Dan O'Malley's report from Maurepas Swamp where he noted major songbird movement, such movement was sparse in Cameron Parish. Perhaps his area was in last night's windstream and mine in a doldrum?

Best birds were this White-tailed Hawk...which I was thinking was a juvenile based on buff feather edgings on the mantle and the white markings around the eye, but need to bone up on to see if juves should have that bay patch on the shoulder...

Spot the hawk.

...and a Bell's Vireo.

But as with any good day, there were plenty of nice things to look at.

Blue Grosbeak

Olive-sided Flycatcher

Long-tailed Skipper? 

Swainson's Hawk

Cameron Parish, 9/5/15

Yesterday, Dave Patton and I braved the swarms of holiday beach-goers, thirsty mosquitoes, and possessed deerflies to see what was happening in Cameron Parish.  We arrived early enough to beat some of the beach traffic, but there wasn't much variety on Holly Beach.  A couple of Marbled Godwits were fairly cooperative.  We later saw one feeding on a mowed lawn in Little Florida at Peveto Woods. 

We ended up with seven Reddish Egrets on Holly Beach as well. 

Plover diversity was good as well, including some Semipalmated Plovers. 

In Peveto Woods, birds were spotty, while the lizards were striped.  Sorry, couldn't resist. 

We saw a few Monarchs throughout the day, both in flight along the beach and nectaring in woodlots. 

This moth was very cool. 

A few species of bird dominated the day. At every stop we had the expected migrant Yellow Warblers, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and Empidonax flycatchers.  Flying by and flying over all day there were Barn, Bank, and Cliff swallows. 

In terms of unexpected or early birds, we came upon a Vermilion Flycatcher on Chalkley Road. Being so early to the wintering grounds, it's tempting to assume it's one of last year's winterers returning for another winter.  We also startled up an American Kestrel from its frog dinner.  Both of these birds are a bit early, which apparently rendered them a bit blurry. 

All in all, a good day. Bugs were horrible at times, and by the end of the day there were a lot of people everywhere near the beach, but once we got inland a bit, the temperature and the pace cooled down.