Hey tweets, it's good to catch up on all the posts (247 of them, to be
exact) about spring in Tweeterland. I've been in central Florida for the
past 2 weeks, trying to find birds. I say trying because the locals all
reported that this has been the worst migration season in 10 years. The
weather was perfect for the birds to just keep flying on by. I must say, I
was relieved to hear that my almost complete dearth of birds was due to
natural causes and not to lack of birding skill, as I had begun to fear. I
mean, I went walking through the woods at East Beach (Fort DeSoto), a
famous spot for migrants, and I never even saw a bird. I did see forlorn
birders walking the trails from the time to time. We were a pathetic sight.
We'd look a question at each other, shake our heads or shrug our shoulders,
and mournfully move on. The only things with wings were the mosquitoes, who
seemed to think that massive quantities of pyrethrum and DEET were mere
condiments at the feast. They dug in with gusto, right through denim jeans
and a bug shirt.

I did run into two birders from Oregon who had gone on a 3-day boat trip to
the Dry Tortugas, where they had seen numerous lifers. They had returned to
Sanibel by way of inland Florida. On the way back, they reported seeing a
positive parade of limpkins in the ditches and so many swallow-tailed kites
that it became almost boring. Needless to say, I leaped into my car and
headed out, for a 200-mile roundtrip wild goose chase. No limpkins. No
kites.

Then Wednesday rolled around, a Wednesday never to be forgotten. The cold
front that had been dropping snow in Chicago moved into Florida and brought
a cold, steady north wind that blew all night and all day. It dropped the
birds straight out of the sky and into East Beach, where the bushes were
practically dripping with songbirds: yellow-billed cuckoos (note the
plural), rose-breasted grosbeaks, scarlet tanagers, summer tanagers,
orchard orioles, Philadelphia vireos, red-eyed vireos, Tennessee warblers,
Cape May warblers, prairie warblers, palm warblers, black and white
warblers, prothonotary warblers, ovenbirds, Swainson's warblers,
worm-eating warblers, gray kingbirds, indigo buntings, ruby-throated
hummingbirds, and a record for the park: a lazuli bunting that had Florida
birders coming from all over the state.

Altogether I saw 131 species on my trip, including 8 lifers. - Connie
Sidles, Seattle

csidles at mail.isomedia.com