From: Rex Rowan <rexrowan@gmail.com>
To: Alachua County birding report
Hey, I’m still blogging at the Gainesville Sun, if you wondered: http://fieldguide.blogs.gainesville.com/276/the-fuse/
Birders may be especially interested in this week’s Alachua Audubon program meeting. Miami birding guide Carlos Sanchez will give a presentation on the exotic birds of South Florida – Red-whiskered Bulbul, Spot-breasted Oriole, Common Myna, Hill Myna, and many, many parrots and parakeets, what they are and where to see them. Here’s a photo and brief biographical sketch of Carlos from the “10,000 Birds” blog, where Carlos is one of the regular contributors. You can chat with him during the social (half-) hour that begins at 6:30. His talk will begin at 7:00. Again, that’s the Millhopper Branch Library, 3145 NW 43rd Street, on the evening of Thursday, May 21st. We’re only inviting the cool kids this time – so if you don’t show up, it will be a public confession that you’re not with it. Don’t do that to yourself, man.
Migration has slowed down, but it won’t be completely over till early June. Trina Anderson saw a lingering Blue-winged Teal at Chapmans Pond on the 19th. Becky Enneis had a late Northern Waterthrush in her Alachua back yard on the 18th. A big crowd turned out for the Alachua Audubon field trip to Sweetwater Wetland Park on the 17th, and several of them reported migrants: Spotted Sandpiper, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, and Bobolinks, as well two dawdling winter birds, a Belted Kingfisher and several dozen American Coots. Also seen there was a Roseate Spoonbill, possibly the same one reported off the La Chua observation platform by Coleman Sheehy on the 15th.
On the 10th Chris Janus got a nice photo of a pair of Limpkins with three half-grown chicks at Sweetwater Wetland Park (that’s a Lesser Yellowlegs down front): https://www.flickr.com/photos/chris_f8/17480842826/
On the 16th I did a bird-survey-by-boat at three islands off Cedar Key. Many of the birds that had been nesting at Seahorse Key seem to be nesting at Snake Key now. We saw three breeding-plumage Roseate Spoonbills and a Reddish Egret there. Magnificent Frigatebirds had also moved their roost over to Snake, but we saw only about 20. Shorebirds were still moving through in big numbers, with Semipalmated Sandpiper by far the most common species out there. The herpetologist who’s studying the cottonmouths on Seahorse Key, which normally live on fish dropped from the birds’ nests, is thinking about catching mullet with a cast net and feeding the snakes himself through the rest of the year.
Adam and Gina Kent have been doing a lot of work on the Breeding Bird Atlas in Levy County. On the 16th they were atlasing south of Cedar Key, near the Waccasassa Bay Preserve, and found an Ovenbird, a Palm Warbler, an American Redstart … and a Connecticut Warbler, only the second reported in the northern peninsula this spring.
Speaking of the Breeding Bird Atlas, Helen Ogren of Ocala writes to request help with the BBA down there: “We in Marion County really could use some help with mini-routes for the Breeding Bird Atlas project. Sandra Marraffino and Debbie Segal suggested I ask if you could ask your readers if they would like to volunteer to help us. The mini-route consists of a 15-stop driving census of birds observed, especially those engaged in breeding behaviors. I have packets of areas needing counts, with maps, checklists, etc.; that I can get to volunteers. The more eyes and ears, the better; but someone in the group needs to be proficient at birding by ear. The reason is, as in a breeding bird survey, the team needs to start a little before sunrise, when most birds will be singing. It gets sunny and hot so soon, they will become less active.” If you’re able and willing, contact Helen at birdladyofocala@cfl.rr.com
Some good news: a Spanish company has designed wind turbines with no blades! http://www.wired.com/2015/05/future-wind-turbines-no-blades/ Clever Spaniards!
Yep, like I said, still blogging away: http://fieldguide.blogs.gainesville.com/276/the-fuse/