Labor Day weekend plans usually involve family gatherings and barbecues. But for more than 100 people from all over the state, Labor Day included swooping into FGCU’s food forest in hopes of catching sight of a rare bird.

That Sunday, a friend told FGCU assistant professor of biology Oscar Johnson that he had seen a rare hummingbird in the food forest on campus. Johnson headed over there but quickly was surprised to find an even rarer bird, a native of South America.

"So I came to look for that, made it about 5 feet into the food forest, and this was the second bird I looked at. …a small-billed elaenia. It's a very drab, small, greenish gray flycatcher. It eats berries and insects," Johnson said.

"I knew what it was because I've done a lot of work in South America. I'm familiar with how

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