Interesting that migration was more in earnest there on Wed. I was in
Nashville, TN, not really so far away, on business Thursday morning and
although I was in downtown and had just a 35-minute jog to get a sense of
the migration situation, it was clear that things were moving. I heard-saw
only about 30-35 sp., but was a bit surprised to find single E. Wood-pewee,
Gr. Crested Flycatcher, Indigo Bunting, Summer Tanagers (several), and
Yellow Warbler all present in riverine forest/scrub along the river; they
all seemed a bit on the early side (at least compared to arrival dates I
recall from living in MD).

Scott Atkinson
Lake Stevens
email: scottratkinson at hotmail.com

>From: "Constance J. Sidles" <csidles at mail.isomedia.com>
>Reply-To: csidles at mail.isomedia.com
>To: Tweeters at u.washington.edu
>Subject: Central Florida trip
>Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 06:58:37 -0700
>
>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
>
>

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