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.