Forty-five birders joined Cape Florida Banding Station Director Michelle Davis for a morning of fall migration birding on Saturday at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park on Key Biscayne. Due to the large number of attendees, we broke into two groups, with Michelle leading one group and Luis Gonzalez leading the other. Both groups were given the opportunity to witness the release of birds that were banded at the Cape Florida Banding Station that morning, including Swainson’s Thrush and a Swainson’s Warbler.
As is often the case when the group is split in two, a few birds were seen by one group but not the other. Birds seen only by Michelle’s group included White-crowned Pigeon, Great Crested Flycatcher, Philadelphia and White-eyed Vireo and the just-banded Swainson’s Warbler. Birds tallied only by Luis’s group included Chuck-will’s widow, Sharp-shinned and Broad-winged Hawk, Eastern Kingbird, Cliff Swallow, Worm-eating Warbler, Northern Waterthrush and Yellow-throated Warbler. Birds encountered by both groups included Common Ground-Dove, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Magnificent Frigatebird, a white morph Great Blue Heron (see my photo), Cooper’s and Short-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Bobolink, nine warbler species and Painted Bunting.
An eBird checklist that includes sightings by both groups is here.