The last field trip of the season for Martin County Audubon, how could we miss it? It would be kind of tough when they asked us to present a program introducing it. So I put together a presentation of Warblers on the Move for the Audubon Society of Stuart, Fla. I never could have done it without the use of Lanny McDowell’s fabulous photographs! I added a few of my own and a few of Nancy Price’s — a Stuart naturalist.

I thought I was all set and arrived at the Audubon House well ahead of the allotted time. Good thing I did, as I could not get my computer to talk to their projector! I finally sent Flip Harrington back to get his computer, which, of course, worked like a charm. A bit rattled, I proceeded to ask the audience, “How would you make a warbler?” Receiving no answers I asked, are they big? No. And on we went. At the end we decided warblers were small, colorful (although they go into confusing dull fall plumages), agile, possess a small sharp bill, have interesting songs, are mainly insectivores and are arboreal. I added that they do not have webbed feet and possesses three toes, two pointing forward, one back. This combination plus a tendon on the back of their ankle affords warblers the ability to grasp a branch tightly. I also announced that warblers are probably the most recently evolved of the bird families.

The next morning a good-sized crew of birders, organized by Mary and Kathy, our field trip team, met in Stuart ready to drive across the state to a park near St. Petersburg, Fla., called Ft. DeSoto County Park. We stopped at Mosaic Peace River Park for some midday birding and picnic lunch. What a gorgeous area this was, complete with a boardwalk through cypress and hardwood hammock to the river itself. It was a bit like tropical birding as the trees were high. To see warblers up in the tops of these tall trees was a neck stretch!

We spent the night in St. Pete and were up early to get to Ft. DeSoto at dawn. This park is famous as a warbler “trap” for birds migrating up from Central and South America across the Gulf of Mexico. A trap means the first landfall after an over-the-water flight in this case. Unfortunately the wind had shifted and so there were not great numbers of birds in the area. The best spot is the mulberry trees, where the newly arrived birds feast on the berries or the insects they attract. We spotted 12 species of warbler, including prothonotary and worm-eating. However, the thrill for most of us was to hear a whistle we were not familiar with and to find the bird that was calling. It was a brown-crested flycatcher. This is a bird that is from Mexico and Central America and is found in Texas, Louisiana, Arizona and New Mexico primarily. It ventures into California on occasion and although it had been seen in Florida before, never at Ft. DeSoto or Pinellas County! This flycatcher could be mistaken for a great-crested flycatcher until you hear its call and realize the cap is brown, not grey and the brown-crested flycatcher’s belly is much lighter yellow than the great-crested!

Sarah Mayhew, who was down photographing for the month on the West Coast of Florida, joined us and was able to take a photo of the brown-crested flycatcher. Our Audubon group spotted 104 species during our trip, including long-billed cuckoo, red knots, roseate spoonbills and a great horned owl with young. The warblers are headed your way — keep your eyes open.

Bird Sightings

Suzan Bellicampi wants to remind everyone that the Felix Neck annual Birdathon is May 14 and 15, and to find out more go onto her page at firstgiving.com/suzanbellincampi and sign up for the Felix Neck team.

Susie Bowman called to say on April 11 at Poucha Pond she spotted two great egrets, one snowy egret and two American oystercatchers. At Wasque she saw an American kestrel and an osprey which she thought took a mammal from the field and carried it up to the nearby nest. This is highly unusual, as ospreys are fish eaters. Yes, they have been known to take small alligators or young muskrats, but these are all water creatures. If ospreys dive down onto a field, it is usually because they are grabbing something to decorate their nest. Gus Ben David has had reports from people who feel they have seen osprey with items other than fish, but with no photograph for verification, he is going to remain saying ospreys eat fish. Rob Bierregaard mentioned that one report from Minnesota stated that osprey took voles when the birds arrived prior to the ponds thawing and agrees with Gus about alligators as food for ospreys. Rob also said Penelope, the Vineyard’s tagged osprey, has decided to hang out on the beaches of Venezuela for a while.

On April 7 Betsy Gately was excited to see seven bobwhites at Makonikey.

Nancy Weaver called to share the news that there is a barn owl back at the Polly Hill Arboretum. Tom Clark spotted one coming out of the barn on April 15.

Gus Ben David and Dick Jennings found a female shoveler in Wade’s Cove on April 19 and Eleanor Waldron spotted a yellow-crowned night heron in the marsh at the head of Wade’s Cove on April 17. Yellow-crowned night herons are a southern species and are rare on the Vineyard, although it was thought to breed on Chappaquiddick in 1999. There has been no evidence of breeding since.

Tim and Sheila Baird had their first of season eastern towhee show up in their Edgartown yard on April 20 and a pine warbler on the 19th. Happy Spongberg watched an American oystercatcher on the flats in the Lagoon off the Tisbury Marketplace on April 20. She hopes that view is not destroyed.

Lanny McDowell spotted his second golden plover in with dunlins at the Farm Institute on April 19. He was with Pete Gilmore and at Norton Point they spotted two piping plovers and more dunlins and sanderlings.

Suzan Bellicampi e-mailed the list of birds seen from April 15 at Felix Neck. It included the news that the barn owls have six owlets and two eggs and that the Felix Neck osprey has been on eggs since April 8. The trees swallows and pine warblers are back and they have a tufted titmouse.

Susan B. Whiting is the co-author of Vineyard Birds II; visit her Web site at vineyardbirds2.com

Please report your bird sightings to the Martha’s Vineyard Bird Hotline at 508-627-4922 or e-mail to birds@mvgazette.com.