From: Rex Rowan <rexrowan@gmail.com>
To: Alachua County birding report
Jennifer Donsky saw the season’s first American Redstart at San Felasco City Park on July 20th and the season’s first Prairie Warbler at La Chua on the 21st.
Ron Robinson and I walked out La Chua on the 24th in search of migrants and did better than we expected. We saw one Yellow Warbler and two Prairie Warblers along Sparrow Alley, then walked out to the observation platform, where we saw two or three more Yellow Warblers, one Lesser Yellowlegs, and one distant shorebird that I’m pretty sure was a Stilt Sandpiper: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/19380630533/in/dateposted-public/ We also saw two Roseate Spoonbills from the platform. We looked for the Whooping Crane seen by Jennifer on the 21st, but saw no sign of it. And although we saw two Wood Ducks and plenty of Mottled Ducks and Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, the Blue-winged Teal that was present through at least the 13th was nowhere to be seen. The water is now too high for mud flats, and the shoreline vegetation is encroaching on the open water to such an extent that it looks about a third smaller than it did at the beginning of the June Challenge.
I see that the Ospreys have left the nest near the GPD office. The young Osprey on the powerline support overlooking the sidewalk that leads to La Chua is fully feathered and ready to fly – but still being fed by its parents as of the 24th. Kids these days.
I’ve just become aware of a Flickr group called “Alachua County Birding” that Sam Ewing set up last September. If you’re a photographer and you’d like to join and contribute bird pictures, here’s the link: https://www.flickr.com/groups/2753272@N22/pool/
Google Earth and Google Maps are finally showing Sweetwater Wetlands Park. It’s not a recent depiction – the driveway is still unpaved – but it’s much better than it was.
Katherine Edison, on the verge of a move to Athens, Georgia, wrote a beautiful farewell to her yard and all its flora and fauna: http://earthteachme.blogspot.com/2015/07/closer-to-home.html
Be sure to share that information about Paynes Prairie (here) with all your Facebook friends. And sign the petition set up by Shirley Lasseter: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/paynes-prairie-in-danger.fb51?source=s.fb&r_by=46840