Bird news from the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail on Facebook:
Rare birds wander off course from strong El Nino
Migratory birds are often affected during an El Nino year and this seems to be the case in fall 2015. Several very unusual records have already occurred in Florida. Variegated Flycatcher, Northern Wheatear and Mountain Bluebird have been spotted in the state, far from where they should be at this time of year. It also appears that large numbers of Franklin's Gulls have wandered off course, pushed eastwards off their typical migration route by an El Nino induced winter storm. This species is not considered very rare in Florida, we usually see several of them a year BUT in 2015 higher than usual numbers have been spotted all along the Eastern Atlantic coast, and eventually these birds will reach our shores. Birders along the Panhandle coast have already spotted a few.
Read about the Franklin's Gull Fallout on eBird
http://ebird.org/content/ebird...
