From: Rex Rowan <rexrowan@gmail.com>
To: Alachua County birding report
Huh. I guess summer’s already over. I escorted visiting Clay County birders Martha Fethe and Jan Morgan out to see a Prothonotary Warbler today. We started at the Lake Alto Preserve, where I found one singing just two weeks ago, but no dice. So we tried Camps Canal, where they were singing earlier this spring. Nope. Then we tried River Styx, where they’ve been reliable in the past. Nada. Are they just laying low, or have they wound up their breeding season and started south? (Or am I just an incompetent birding guide?)
The Eleventh Annual June Challenge fielded 50 participants, though two didn’t submit totals to be publicly listed. Here’s the list of participants and their tallies. For the fourth time the contest ended in a tie for first place. Congratulations to Maralee and Danny, who will share the big garish trophy, and also to second-place winner Lloyd Davis and third-place winner Chris Cattau. However let me congratulate EVERYONE who braved the June heat and joined us in seeing and appreciating our beautiful summer birds. To paraphrase Grantland Rice, “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s not even how you play the game, it’s THAT you play the game in the first place.”
Maralee Joos 116 (113/3)
Danny Shehee 116 (113/3)
Lloyd Davis 113 (110/3)
Chris Cattau 111 (107/4)
Barbara Shea 109 (106/3)
Howard Adams 107 (105/2)
Bob Simons 107 (105/2)
Bob Carroll 104 (101/3)
Rex Rowan 102 (101/1)
Dalcio Dacol 101 (101/0)
Brad Hall 101 (101/0)
Ron Robinson 101 (98/3)
Barbara Mollison 100 (98/2)
Felicia Lee 100 (97/3)
Benjamin Ewing 100 (96/4)
Samuel Ewing 100 (96/4)
Anne Kendall 97 (97/0)
Erika Simons 97 (95/2)
Sharon Kuchinski 94 (92/2)
John Martin 93 (91/2)
Geoff Parks 93 (90/3)
Deena Mickelson 91 (91/0)
Anne Barkdoll 90 (87/3)
Phil Laipis 86 (86/0)
Tina Greenberg 85 (84/1)
Bob Knight 83 (83/0)
Debbie Segal 82 (82/0)
Ellen Frattino 82 (80/2)
Becky Enneis 81 (80/1)
Amber Roux 81 (80/1)
Christine Zamora 81 (80/1)
Nora Parks-Church 81 (78/3)
Elizabeth Martin 79 (77/2)
Katherine Edison 77 (74/3)
Hannah Ewing 76 (73/3)
Adam Zions 76 (72/4)
Barbara Woodmansee 75 (75/0)
Carol Huang 70 (69/1)
Conrad Burkholder 69 (69/0)
Emily Schwartz 69 (69/0)
Roy Herrera 68 (68/0)
Bill Enneis 56 (56/0)
Sue Ann Enneis 56 (56/0)
Sidney Wade 51 (59/0)
Debbie Spiceland 43 (43/0)
Arthur Baker 34 (34/0)
Alex Baker 34 (34/0)
Andy Baker 34 (34/0)
Samuel Ewing gathered several of his favorite June Challenge bird photos into a single graphic: https://www.flickr.com/photos/121511542@N02/14546797873/in/photostream/
And Danny Shehee posted photos of most of the birds he found during the June Challenge (the web site takes a few seconds to load): https://www.facebook.com/danny.shehee/media_set?set=a.781530085232879.1073742022.100001276839703&type=1&l=11d4f076e2
Finally, here’s the cumulative list of birds reported here during the month:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Swan Goose (domestic)
Graylag Goose (domestic)
Black Swan (domestic)
Muscovy Duck
Wood Duck
Mallard
Mottled Duck
Lesser Scaup
Ruddy Duck
Northern Bobwhite
Indian Peafowl (domestic)
Wild Turkey
Pied-billed Grebe
Wood Stork
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Brown Pelican
American Bittern
Least Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Swallow-tailed Kite
Mississippi Kite
Bald Eagle
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Short-tailed Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
King Rail
Virginia Rail
Sora
Purple Gallinule
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Limpkin
Sandhill Crane
Black-necked Stilt
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Common Ground-Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Barn Owl
Eastern Screech-Owl
Great Horned Owl
Burrowing Owl
Barred Owl
Common Nighthawk
Chuck-will’s-widow
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
American Kestrel
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Acadian Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Louisiana Waterthrush
Prothonotary Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
Northern Parula
Pine Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Eastern Towhee
Bachman’s Sparrow
Summer Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Blue Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
House Finch
House Sparrow
Outside Alachua County, we received 86 entries from 28 other Florida counties, 35 entries from ten counties in Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Michigan, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina, and two entries from Florida birders traveling outside the country, one from Abaco in the Bahamas and one from Hyderabad, India.