Local Specialties

We have caught 629 birds of 30 species as of Sept 15. Migration slowed down through our region in the last week, but a large new wave of birds was making its way down the state and had arrived at the latitude of Melbourne and Cape Canaveral by sunrise this morning. We are hoping these birds will be over Miami tomorrow morning and that some will stop by the hammock at Cape Florida, although there is little chance of overnight rain showers to encourage more to land. The second half of September is normally when migration really gets rolling, and the diversity of captures increases. Our first thrush, a Veery, also arrived today.

We have banded two of our local specialties this season. It is very unusual to catch Black-whiskered vireos in the fall at our location (springtime is a different matter) but a male was still singing around the netting area when we opened up in August. We eventually caught him on the 3^rd of September. They are very similar to the Red-eyed vireo, but with a longer bill, browner overall plumage and, of course, the black whisker.

Yesterday we banded our second ever Mangrove cuckoo, with the first banded just last year. This species seems to be increasing at the park in the last several years, possibly as the trees planted since Hurricane Andrew (1992) have grown and matured. This bird was a hatching-year in heavy molt and was not in migratory condition yet, indicating that he is local.