We were out on a trip with our Tuesday morning birders and a group from the Halifax River Audubon led by most able leaders Chuck and Joan Tague. Both are remarkable birders, but also have a wide range of knowledge in many field of natural history. Our travels brought us to Flagler County and Washington Oaks Gardens and Fort Matanzas National Monument.
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| Fort Matanzas National Monument |
The Gardens are well known as being a warbler magnet during the spring migration. The first waves of warblers are moving through Florida just about now and we were anxious to see what the Gardens had to offer. What we found was a combination of migrating warblers such as the Prothonotary, Black and White, Palm and Black-throated warblers as well as nesting resident birds such as the Yellow-throated warblers, Northern parula, and Carolina wrens which we found carrying food back to the nest.
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| Yellow-throated warbler |
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| Northern parula |
What we did not expect was the number of migrating raptors cruising north high in the sky. At least 4 Merlins were among a number of high flying hawks. Hundreds of Tree and Barn swallows were also crowding the coastline….all beating a brisk pace for the northlands.
Other signs of spring included feeding caterpillars of the Monarch butterfly and Echo moth.
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| Monarch caterpillar |
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| Echo moth larva |
We’ll continue our monitoring of the “journey north” and the “signs of spring” as we round out our Florida winter/spring adventure. We still have a number of places to visit and many more birds are waiting for me to come out and take their photos. We’ll let you in on all that we find!
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