“Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get."
-Forrest Gump
-Forrest Gump
Field trips are like a box of chocolates, we never know what we are going to get. The Carney Island field trip started out with blustery weather and hopes for better weather looked bleak. Looking out over Little Lake Weir did not show us any birds on or over the water. The shoreline was not much better.
We did have a number of birds in the trees surrounding the parking lot. Gnatcatchers, Chickadees, Phoebes, and a few warblers were seen. Mostly Yellow-rumped warblers in the trees and Palm warblers on the ground.
The skies turned darker as we drove over to the boat ramp area. It turned out that Hurricanes Ian and Nicole had done extensive damage to the pier and boat ramp. We were not able to walk out on the pier and the skies over the lake showed a line of dark clouds coming our way. The winds hit about that time, too, and Fred and Tim had enough. They did see a flock of Turkeys on the way out of the park, though.
We remaining six headed over to the trail to be out of the wind. The rains never did come. A few more Yellow-rumped warblers, Kinglet sand Chickadees came out to see what we were up to, and the group did get to see a nice Prairie Warbler in the trees near the picnic area. The trail was not any better for birds and after a half mile Rey said enough and headed back. He did get a few more bird on the way back. The rest of us hiked on. The good news is persistence pays off. The weather cleared, the winds died, and we started to see birds. A Bald Eagle flew over us and a Kestrel flew to a nearby treetop.
We hiked to the end of the point and headed back and after 3.5 miles the group was claiming it felt like a military forced march but what a beautiful march it was. The day turned out lovely and we did tally 27 species. Don’t ever be afraid of what is in the box of chocolates, you never know what you’ll get.
We did have a number of birds in the trees surrounding the parking lot. Gnatcatchers, Chickadees, Phoebes, and a few warblers were seen. Mostly Yellow-rumped warblers in the trees and Palm warblers on the ground.
The skies turned darker as we drove over to the boat ramp area. It turned out that Hurricanes Ian and Nicole had done extensive damage to the pier and boat ramp. We were not able to walk out on the pier and the skies over the lake showed a line of dark clouds coming our way. The winds hit about that time, too, and Fred and Tim had enough. They did see a flock of Turkeys on the way out of the park, though.
We remaining six headed over to the trail to be out of the wind. The rains never did come. A few more Yellow-rumped warblers, Kinglet sand Chickadees came out to see what we were up to, and the group did get to see a nice Prairie Warbler in the trees near the picnic area. The trail was not any better for birds and after a half mile Rey said enough and headed back. He did get a few more bird on the way back. The rest of us hiked on. The good news is persistence pays off. The weather cleared, the winds died, and we started to see birds. A Bald Eagle flew over us and a Kestrel flew to a nearby treetop.
We hiked to the end of the point and headed back and after 3.5 miles the group was claiming it felt like a military forced march but what a beautiful march it was. The day turned out lovely and we did tally 27 species. Don’t ever be afraid of what is in the box of chocolates, you never know what you’ll get.
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