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Scarlet Tanagers, strange place for a warbler flock, proof of migration





I'm noticing quite a few Scarlet Tanagers passing through right now.  Several
seen each day over the past several days, mostly males.
While the tanagers are where I would generally expect them to be (in the tops of
trees), I ran into (almost literally) a flock of warblers in a place where I did
not expect them to be.  I was driving along West Lake road (right across from
the ponds of duck fame) when I noticed a bunch of small yellowish birds in the
middle of the road.  I slowed, they moved, then I parked.  The birds turned out
to be a flock of 8-12 Pine Warblers.  I had not noticed this particular habitat
type mentioned before in any of the texts <g>.
We just returned from a wonderful week in the western Caribbean.  We were able
to get some birding in on the islands, and managed to dig up a few new birds for
our lists.  I tried to spend some time on our sea days watching the ocean for
birds.  While no pelagic species were seen (not even a Wilson's SP, sheesh...),
we did spot some migrants heading south.  One of these, a female redstart, even
joined us for breakfast in the ship's atrium!  In addition to the freeloading
redstart we spotted a flock of 6 Cattle and 1 Great Egret flying south (20 miles
north of Cuba), a flock of 20-25 nighthawks (about 15 miles north of Cuba), a
Wood Thrush, a Barn Swallow, and a flycatcher of a type that we could not
identify.  It appeared to have hit something (maybe the ship) and was rather
scraggly.  Closest we could come was a Piratic FC, but I seriously doubt that's
what it was.  It was also nice to see some of the species we saw heading south
before we left already enjoying their winter in Mexico.  On Cozumel we ran into
a few small flocks of warblers including Prothonotary and Black & White.  Will
Cook mentioned a few weeks ago that a Protho he saw in the top of a tree looked
strange outside of it's breeding habitat.  Let me say it looks really weird
hanging out with iguanas and palm trees!  Alos kind of strange seeing a wood
thrush surrounded by the deep blue sea...

Hoping the cold front brings some goodies,
Steve Shultz
Cary, NC
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