Day 52: February 21 – Indian River Lagoon revisited

       Mid 70’s, sunny, 5 mph breeze

       It’s Tuesday with Don at the Indian River Lagoon Reserve once again.  We had a nice crowd of about 18 people today.  Some are experienced birders, some novices and some brand new to the “sport”.  Whatever the level of expertise, it’s always good to have more eyes checking out the canopy, the ground level and the lagoon.  We started with a good number of species, but it was more of the same we’ve been seeing each week……Downey woodpeckers, tons of Yellow-rumped warblers, and the Brown thrasher we’ve now seen on two consecutive weeks.

 

       We found the lagoon to be at max tide. Rarely have we found the water higher than today, and the bottom line is that this means fewer than normal birds present in these waters.  A lone Hooded merg, another solo Red-breasted merganser, a single Great blue heron and so on. 

       We do have some excellent birders with us, however.  While most of us are checking out the lagoon for any different species, Alan checks out a song he is pretty sure is the Orange-crowned warbler.  He asks me if hey are found on the preserve and I have to admit that I’ve never seen one here before.  Leader Don say that he has had one earlier this year, however. So, we walk back and check out the area where Alan says he thought he might have had the bird.  Before long, we are on the bird, and sure enough, it is a new species for the day and new bird for my “year-list”.  As Alan says, “if you can’t say for sure that is any other warbler, chances are, it may well be an Orange-crown.  The bird refuses to stay in one spot long enough to give us the “gallery shot”.  

Orange-crowned warbler

       But, it is good enough to confirm that the bird is without question the Orange-crowned warbler we were hoping for.  Another rewarding sighting just when we thought that today would be a day of the usual cast of characters.  You just never know…….