That's one of the many leaf-roller caterpillars. Messy, aren't they? And yes, the dark pellets are frass (insect poop). The adults will be a rather plain moth...and that's when the egg laying comes in. Those teeny babies nicely pictured in that one image hatched from eggs laid on that leaf. If you learn to look for the small eggs and remove them, you'll not have the caterpillars. Bt can be used to control this caterpillar pest, though it is not particularly effective when they are at the large stage. It's most helpful on the little guys. Bt is relatively safe to use (some people have allergic reaction), and is easily washed off. These (and other) caterpillars have a very wide array of natural predators and parasites to help you keep them under control. Rather than cutting away branches and tons of leaves, just remove the caterpillars. They don't sting or bite. And do an egg search. Attached is a fact sheet about the specific leaf-roller I believe yours to be. Florida is one of the many states in which it is found. The squiggly lines pictured in a couple of your images are from leaf miners, very commonly found in tomatoes. Simply remove affected leaves....or just ignore them. They rarely do enough damage to cause problems for the crop. Here is a link that might be useful: Click here

Thanks for the help. Can't tell for sure if that's what it is, but it could be from the pictures I saw. I took some pictures again today and maybe I can see the top of the head this time to see if there's any orange. He's fun to watch anyway. The only thing this one has that I haven't found in any pictures is like a necklace of black around his neck.

Thanks Konrad. Its a pretty dark picture. After searching for images on the internet, I think I'm inclined to think its a young starling. I read that both cowbirds and starlings walk instead of hop, so I'm thinking starling. There have been several adult starlings around, but never with this little one. Maybe I'll try to lighten the pic. I should have done that to start with.

Beautiful bird, unfortunate fate. I've never seen an ovenbird out of a forest. I live in the middle of a suburban area pretty far from any big forests. Unfortunate my only sighting was a dead one out here, though. Don't want him to just rot away but if anything why not let the bugs do their job. I might just move the body to a heavily planted area to let the little ecosystem get to work.