May Bird Migration at the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge

Nemesis Bird (definition):  A bird species that a birder persistently tries to find, but always misses.

BirdCast radar showed 200,000 migrants passing over St. Marks NWR last night. That is not a bad number for May and I decided to head down to the refuge to look for Bay-breasted Warblers. Most Bay-breasts migrate to our west, but one had been reported earlier this week. I needed one for the year, so, I went down to try.

I was birding the Tower Pond Trail and finding only Blackpoll Warblers. A good bird, but after your fifteenth Blackpoll you want some diversity. I ran into another local birder, Eliza, but she reported only the same Blackpolls that I had been seeing.

Spring birding usually improves during the day as trans-Gulf birds arrive after an overnight flight. Some may not arrive until early afternoon. I made another loop on the trail just before noon hoping for late-arriving birds, but was finding only more Blackpolls. Then, I saw two birds moving low, just off the trail. I got my binoculars on the first bird. It was a male Black-throated Blue Warbler, a strikingly plumaged bird. I could see that the second bird, a little further back, was different. I swung my binoculars and got a good look. It was walking on the ground. The bird had an olive-brown back and was yellow underneath. Its throat, head and neck were pale gray and it had a prominent complete eye ring.

It was a Connecticut Warbler.

I have been searching for a Connecticut Warbler for well over fifty years. It has been my nemesis bird. I have looked for it on its breeding grounds in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and in Northern Minnesota. I have hit migratory hotspots on the Florida peninsula where it was supposed to be found, but until today, Connecticut Warbler had always eluded me.

My friend, John Hintermister, called me one Spring day, years ago, and said, “Boy, I been studying on this and looked at all the records of Connecticut Warbler sightings. I have figured it out. Get in your car and get over here.” I spent a day birding with a ragtag group of Gainesville birders on a site down near Tampa that John said would produce Connecticut Warbler. A good day of birding, but no Connecticut Warbler.

The following year, John called me and said, “Boy, I figured out my mistake. Get in your car and get over here.” That time, we birded an area south of Daytona Beach, but again, no Connecticut Warbler.

Connecticut Warblers are ground dwelling birds. Although not rare, they prefer thick undergrowth and are elusive and difficult to spot. They breed in southern Canada and along the south side of Lake Superior in the United States. They winter along Bolivia’s northern border. In Spring migration, they island hop up through the Caribbean and the Florida peninsula and are rare migrants in the panhandle. While this is not the first St. Marks record, it has not been seen on the refuge in over fifty years.

Come down to the refuge. You never know what you are going to find.