6 THE? A UD U BON {BU Ly eeigiee 
First Avian Impressions in Florida 
By C. W. G. EIFRiIG 
AFTER FORTY-SEVEN years of assiduous bird observation and study, often 
over-passionately carried on, October 13 to 17, 1942, found us on our way 
to a new home in Florida. Three items that impressed themselves on the 
memory on this somewhat lengthy drive were the great number of opossums 
and skunks seen killed on the highway; also a pileated woodpecker, certainly 
a rare victim of cars; and the passing of a dead tree used as a roosting 
place by turkey vultures. There were 13 on the tree when we passed (near 
Brownstown, Indiana), but an informant told us that he had counted as 
high as 30. 
Windermere, our home, is located 13 miles west of Orlando in central 
Florida. This is the great citrus belt of the state, and at the same time 
the lake region of Florida. It comes in the nature of a surprise to a 
northerner to see so many lakes in such a low, flat state. Orlando claims, 
iy I mistake not, 32 lakes within or touching its city limits. Our village lies 
between three lakes, rather sizable at that; we live close to the finest of the 
three, Lake Butler. In this, near our shore, is an island of about 60 acres, 
wooded and wet, on which is found a famous heronry of white ibises. These 
are just now returning from their winter home farther south. 
Even though an ornithologist from the north has read much of the bird 
literature for many years, yet he will not know precisely what to look for 
in a new home so much nearer the equator than where he spent most of his 
life. So the writer was not startled when one of the first birds he saw on 
his lawn was a red-shafted flicker. It acted very much at home, was not 
shy, and stayed around for several days. Only when I consulted Howell’s 
Florida Bird Life did I see that it had never been recorded from Florida. 
I am familiar with it from extended visits west. Similarly, on February 8, 
while paddling a boat on Lake Butler a flock of violet-green swallows flew 
by closely, with a sprinkling of cliff swallows. The snowy white side of 
the rump, almost seeming to meet on top, together with the peculiar green 
of the back, were unfailing signs. The buffy rump of the cliff swallows was 
quite different. Also this species is not given by Howell. The tree swallow, 
too, was there, assembling in greater numbers from day to day, preparatory 
to their flight north. They, together with a few bank and rough-winged 
swallows, were flying over the lakes all winter—if temperatures from 70° to 
84° can be called winter. Finally, on January 18 a small vireo alighted in 
one of the myrtle bushes outside of our dining room windows. It allowed 
close inspection, because it stayed quite a while at a distance of five to ten 
feet. It turned out to be a Bell’s vireo, which Howell gives in the hypo- 
thetical list. The bird came back later, also a blue-headed or solitary vireo, 
twice to the same bush, with the same leisurely behavior. 
The behavior of the local bird residents seemed somewhat peculiar in 
this land of continuous sunshine. When we arrived the most outstanding 
birds on our grounds were blue jays and red-bellied woodpeckers. They 
were also the noisiest. Perhaps I should mention here also the Florida 
