From: Rex Rowan <rexrowan@gmail.com>
To: Alachua County birding report
If you’re going on the Cones Dike trip this Sunday, remember that you have to register by calling Wild Birds Unlimited at 352-381-1997: https://alachuaaudubon.org/event/camps-canal-cones-dike-trail/?instance_id=433
Adam Kent was startled to see a Magnificent Frigatebird fly over his office on the morning of the 28th. This is the latest – by over a month! – of the 15 occurrences in the county’s history. There have been numerous sightings all along the Gulf Coast during the past few days.
Tom Neal happened across a Lawrence’s Warbler (Blue-winged x Golden-winged hybrid) in his NW Gainesville neighborhood on the 24th. It’s only the sixth in the county’s history, and by far the latest, all the others having occurred between August 31st and September 29th.
But not all our birds are setting late records. A rather early Winter Wren was discovered at O’Leno State Park on the 21st by John Hintermister and Phil Laipis. Cross the hanging bridge over the Santa Fe River, turn right, and follow the trail to some fallen timber near a wet cypressy area. Try to minimize your disturbance of both the bird and the area. Here’s Phil’s photo of the bird: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/22547816062/in/dateposted-public/
I think of November as the month when the sparrows arrive in Gainesville, and I think that’s generally true, but this year most of our normal wintering species have already been reported. Here’s the list, in chronological order: Savannah Sparrow at Sweetwater Wetlands Park on the 2nd (Geoff Parks), Swamp at La Chua on the 10th (Lloyd Davis), Lincoln’s at Cones Dike on the 11th (Frank Goodwin), Chipping at Ron Robinson’s on the 15th (Ron, of course), White-crowned at Cones Dike on the 17th (Matt Bruce), Vesper at the Hague Dairy on the 21st (Dean and Sam Ewing; Sam posted a photo in his eBird checklist), Song at Sweetwater Wetlands Park on the 23rd (Danny Rohan), Grasshopper Sparrow at Watermelon Pond Wildlife and Environmental Area on the 23rd (me). Still to come: Field, White-throated, Henslow’s, Le Conte’s, Fox, and maybe Dark-eyed Junco.
Likewise the ducks are arriving early. I don’t know if it has something to do with the weather or if it’s just easier to find them now that Sweetwater Wetlands Park is open – certainly SWP is where they’ve all been seen. Jonathan Mays saw 3 Ruddy Ducks, a Green-winged Teal, and a Ring-necked Duck there on the 20th, and Pete Hosner saw an early Northern Pintail there on the 24th.
Speaking of Sweetwater Wetlands Park, next week the Alachua Audubon Society and City of Gainesville will begin weekly walks around the park. Show up any Wednesday morning at 8:30 a.m. and you’ll find a field trip waiting for you.
It looks like there’s a new attack on Florida’s State Parks. Senator Charlie Dean has filed Senate Bill 2016570, proposing “a state park entrance fee holiday” during the entirety of 2016, which means free admission. Retired State Parks chief Jim Stevenson explains, “Senate bill 570 will prohibit the Florida Park Service from charging an entrance fee at state parks so as to increase visitation. It ignores the fact that some parks are at their ecological carrying capacity in addition to parking lots and septic tanks at capacity. The DEP secretary wants logging, cattle grazing and hunting to enable state parks to be self-sufficient. Yet Senator Dean wants to eliminate 36% of the state parks revenue through this legislation. Perhaps the strategy is to reduce revenue, and overuse the parks to justify timbering, grazing and hunting to replace the lost revenue. This will also justify privatizing the run-down parks.” You can read the bill here and contact Charlie Dean at the previous link.