Day 115: April 24th – Better late than never

Sunny, but cool (66) and breezy

       Not quite as windy as yesterday, but at 7:00 AM when we left for our final visit to Merritt Island the temperature was a balmy 55 degrees.  We decided to forego the shorts and short-sleeved shirts and headed out dressed for winter.  After three months of warm Florida sunshine, this weather was alien to us, but we did manage to push on.

       The plan today is to concentrate on the woodlands of the refuge.  We’ve pretty well checked off most of the waders, shorebirds, ducks and other water birds, so we hope that we’ll finally be able to find some migrating warblers.  If you’ve been following this blog, you know that these little beauties have been hard to find this year.  We began in the Oak Hammock Trail and arrived to the song of the Northern parula.  This has been the most common warbler of the winter, but it is such a handsome bird that we never get tired of seeing it.  Starting off the hike with a sighting of a warbler gave us hope, besides.

       False hope, as it turned out.  We hiked the entire trail and never got another warbler.  Well, I said, “let’s head over to the visitor’s center and maybe we’ll find some birds there”.  Eureka!  Find them we did.  Finally the warblers were present in decent numbers.  The new species found along the boardwalk in the woodlands included the Cape May, Black and White, Blackpoll, Prairie, Redstart, Palm, and Yellowlegs.  Several Carolina wrens entertained us with their song as we searched the canopy for the warblers.  Why is that they always seem to be located right in front of the blazing sun? 

       Also along the trail,  a fellow birder pointed out a nearby nest of a White-eyed vireo.  The nest was no more than 2 feet off the ground and 2feet from the boardwalk.  The bird paid little attention to us as it continued to bring in new material and then pack it down into cup-shaped nest.  My flash did nothing to deter or frighten the bird, so I managed to get a number of decent images.

       Back at the Visitor’s Center feeders, we also found another First of the Year bird, the Rose-breasted grosbeak.  I generally count on finding his bird at my backyard feeders during the weekend of the Kentucky Derby.  This is definitely the earliest I’ve ever seen this striking bird.

       Sharon’s brother Jim and his wife Joanie are flying in to Florida this afternoon, and I’ll want to be back to greet them.  So, after a very rewarding morning of easy birding, we head back north to our condo in New Smyrna.  The warblers have finally arrived…..better late than never!