Fallout at Fort DeSoto!
I found EIGHT lifers at Fort DeSoto over the weekend! A “lifer” is a first-time sighting of a bird. My eight:
Scarlet Tanager
Common Nighthawk
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Blackburnian Warbler
Veery
Solitary Sandpiper
Swainson’s Thrush
Dickcissel
All of these birds are migrants, heading north during the spring migration after spending the winter in South America. A strong westerly wind caused the fallout, resulting in these birds taking an unscheduled break along Florida’s Gulf coast.
Here are the lifers (I didn’t get photos of the Dickcissel or the Veery)
Other birds included an Eastern Kingbird, Rose-breasted Grosbeak (male and female), Indigo Bunting (male and female), Yellow-rumped Warbler, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, and Baltimore Orioles.
