I attended the Chinsegut Festival, located near Brooksville, on Friday evening and Saturday.  Friday evening, I attended a talk by Ken Tracey about the Green Key Funnel, which was quite interesting.  Green Key is a small island now connected to the mainland by a road.  It is located by New Port Richey.  Ken has been monitoring migrating warblers there for the last seven years.  Apparently, when there is an east wind, some of the weaker migrants from Cuba and the West Indies flying over Florida are blown over the Gulf water.  The stronger the wind, the more migrants are forced westward.  Some of them land on Green Key.  During the first hour after sunrise, these birds follow the mangroves eastward over the causeway and then turn north to continue their journey.  Ken positions himself on the causeway and counts these migrants.  The causeway acts like the narrow end of a funnel. In the spring, he sees a lot of Palm and Prairie Warblers.  The migrants he sees are different than the migrants that ‘fall-out’ at Fort De Soto after a strong northwestern front comes through.  The Fort De Soto migrants are trans-gulf migrants coming up from the Yucatan.  Only four times during the last seven years has he seen an influx of trans-gulf migrants at Green Key. 

Saturday morning I drove down to Green Key, about a one-hour drive from Brooksville and joined Ken and five other birders on the causeway about 7 am.  During the next hour, approximately 30 Palm and Prairie Warblers flew by us and later turned north, quite an interesting phenomena.  We then walked out to the beach on the end of the island.  During the walk, some of the birds seen included three Indigo Buntings, one Clapper Rail, three Horned Grebes, a Common Loon, two Red-breasted female Mergansers, a Whimbrel, Barn and Cave Swallows flying over, and a Marsh Wren building a nest. 

We then drove over to the James E. Grey Preserve, a new park recently opened in New Port Richey.  There is a nice boardwalk that goes through the Preserve. We saw several Woodpeckers, including one Pileated, a pair of Mottled Ducks, and two flocks of Cattle Egrets flying over in the V-formation. We also saw a manatee in a canal that goes out to the Gulf.

After stopping for lunch, I drove back to the Chinsegut Nature Center to go on a walk through the Janet Butterfield Brooks Preserve.  Of course, looking for birds between 1:30 and 3:30 in the afternoon is not the best time of day for such activity.  However, we did see several Red-headed Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers, a Great-crested Flycatcher, several Tufted Titmouse, and Carolina Chickadees.  After returning back to the Nature Center, I sat in back of the main building where several bird feeders are located.  I observed several Tufted Titmouse, Carolina Chickadees, and Cardinals frequenting these feeders.

This morning I took two friends over to the Babcock-Webb, their first visit.  As we started in on Tucker’s Grade, we saw three feral pigs feeding in the field.  Soon after, we saw several deer.  Not a bad start.  Although we didn’t see many different species of birds, we saw some good ones, including the Brown-headed Nuthatch, a possible Bachman’s Sparrow, Eastern Bluebirds, and two Black-crowned Night Herons.  Other birds seen included Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Ground-Doves, a Red-shouldered Hawk, Killdeer, Loggerhead Shrike, and Red-bellied Woodpeckers.  The Horrible Thistles were in full bloom, providing some nice photo opportunities, especially in the early morning light.  Note:  We passed about a dozen bee hive boxes along the edge of the road on Seaboard Grade with lots of bees around.  Keep your windows closed and hurry past.

I visited Ollie’s Pond this morning with the hope of seeing some migrants, but nary a one.  The pond level was quite low.  In fact, there is a narrow strip of exposed land that enables you to walk across the pond.  With the low water levels, there were some feeding shorebirds, including Least Sandpipers, Solitary Sandpipers, Black-necked Stilts, and Lesser Yellowlegs.  Bobwhite were both heard and seen.  As I walked around the pond, I came across a Killdeer displaying his broken wing act.  Most of the other birds seen were the local residents, such as Cardinals, Blue Jays, Mockingbirds, Mourning Doves, both Grackles, Mottled Ducks (with five chicks), and Moorhens.

After reading a posting in BRDBRAIN yesterday about the migrants being seen at Fort De Soto, I decided to take a trip up.  I arrived there about 8:15 and immediately headed to the East Woods.  At the parking lot, I noticed several birders looking in the trees around the picnic tables.  I joined them and immediately saw a Magnolia Warbler and then a Bay-breasted Warbler.  Not bad for the first few minutes.  I then walked the trail closest to the Beach.  I saw a few Palm Warblers, Blackpoll Warblers, a Black-and-White Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, and a Swainson’s Thrush.

I then headed to the mulberry bushes near the ranger’s house and joined several other birders sitting on the benches.  I sat there for about an hour and had good views of the following birds: Cape May Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Indigo Bunting, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Eastern Wood-pewee, and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.  I then headed back to the East Woods and walked the Privet Trail and the beach trail again.  Additional birds seen included a Yellow Warbler, Ovenbirds, Northern Parula, Common Yellowthroat, and an American Redstart.  Although the birds weren’t plentiful, there was a great diversity of species.  A great day birding!