Shorebirder

After an uneventful flight from CT to Fort Myers, FL this morning I dropped off my things at friend Dori Sosensky's place and headed straight for Bunche Beach, the recent hangout of an AMERICAN FLAMINGO. The flamingo has been frequenting the beach here for about a week, though its visits have been intermittent. As nobody had pinned down any alternative locations, I figured my best bet was to hang around Bunche for a while if the bird wasn't there when I arrived. Well, it wasn't there at 1pm when I arrived. Knowing the bird had, on prior days, been seen flying in from the north-ish, I was tempted to leave and search for it elsewhere. I don't like to hang around in one spot and wait for a bird if I don't have to. Luckily I didn't have to test my patience for very long, as I saw the flamingo fly in from the north at 1:40pm. It settled into one spot offshore where it roosted in shallow water by itself for the ensuing few hours. It was still in the same place when I ...

I rarely address the AOU's checklist proposals here, but I thought that Part 1 of this year's batch was significant enough to mention. Why? Well, we might be "losing" a redpoll species. The long-awaited proposal to lump Common and Hoary Redpolls has officially been submitted. I mention this here because I have had a ton of fun over the years identifying redpolls to species and subspecies levels, as you may have noticed on this blog. I'm not sure if this means I will be looking any less closely at redpolls if this proposal gets the nod, but it will probably take a bit of the excitement out of finding a nice frosty white bird among dozens of darker ones. Also of note, a proposed Western Scrub-Jay split. No surprise there either. Click HERE for a link to the ABA's summary.  - NB PS - I have been quiet here of late, mainly because there hasn't been much to share...but I will be traveling to southwest Florida next week and hope to come back with someth...