From: Rex Rowan <rexrowan@gmail.com>
To: Alachua County birding report
Hummingbird bander Fred Bassett is coming through town on January 23rd. If you’ve got a hummingbird that’s regularly visiting a FEEDER, and you’d like to have Fred band it – he can also identify it, if it’s a puzzling female or immature bird – send me your name and contact information and I’ll pass them along to Fred. Remember, it has to be visiting a feeder, not flowering plants.
It’s what they call “a slow news day” in the birding-report biz. In fact it’s been a pretty slow winter in general, with low numbers of ducks, cranes, and sparrows, the very species that brighten up the season for us. I led field trips to Sweetwater Wetlands Park on Wednesday and Saturday. The stars of the show out there, the Purple Swamphens, haven’t been seen since December 23rd. Shortly after that date, an airboat spent some time in Cell 1 treating the area for exotic plants, and by the looks of things it scared the swamphens off the property. They’ll probably turn up on Paynes Prairie – by the dozens – before too many years have passed, but meanwhile there’s no place in Alachua County to which I can direct you if you want to see a Purple Swamphen. The best birds from Saturday’s SWP walk with the Clearwater Audubon Society were only slightly out of the ordinary: a Purple Gallinule in Cell 3, a King Rail seen in Cell 1, two Least Bitterns (heard only) in Cell 1, the same Great White Heron that’s been hanging around the north outflow since October 12th, a Ruddy Duck in Cell 1, and a couple of Ospreys. Two of our most interesting sightings involved very common species: a drake Blue-winged Teal with odd markings on its head (photo) and an unusually colorful male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (photo), both photographed by Clearwater Audubon’s Dale Goebel.
When I checked last week, La Chua Trail was still closed beyond the boardwalk due to flooding. Hopefully the water level will fall and the trail will dry out, but on the other hand this may be an unintended but disastrous consequence of the sheetflow restoration and the Prairie’s best trail may be closed for good.
There haven’t been any new discoveries lately, mainly things that have already been seen:
Vaux’s Swifts were back in their chimneys at Dauer Hall on the evening of the 9th, though the exact number was uncertain. Cuneyt Yilmaz reported 15 and Karl Miller 16. Karl noted that the swifts, “appeared at 5:16 and went in the chimney by 5:40.” They’ve been here for nearly two months now.
Karl Miller and Adam Kent both reported Nashville Warblers around the powerlines west of Chapmans Pond on the 10th. Trina Anderson saw two there on the 7th, “brighter one photographed north of small overgrown ponds near power line, duller one seen near pond where willow is.” On the 1st Adam Zions, birding at the west end of Chapmans, saw both Nashvilles, a Wilson’s Warbler (near the pond in the woods just east of the power lines), an Indigo Bunting, and a Painted Bunting. I especially liked his eBird description of the Painted: “Plumage colored as if a Skittles package was opened and poured on a passerine. Absolute handsome bird. Purple/blue head with red eyering; neon green mantle; bright pink-red throat and undersides heading up onto rump. Observed just west of powerline along underbrush by raised berm area.”
A handsome drake Redhead – Pat Burns refers to him as a “stud muffin” – has been at the Hague Dairy since at least November 29th; it was most recently reported by Trina Anderson on January 10th. Lloyd Davis posted a nice photo in his eBird checklist from the 4th: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S26671536
The Lesser Black-backed Gull has only been reported a few times. It was found on the Christmas Count on the 20th and seen by several of us from the Windsor boat ramp on the following morning. Since then I’ve heard of only two sightings, both from Palm Point: Dotty Robbins eBirded it on the 29th and Bob Carroll saw it on the 2nd. Mike Manetz and I spent half an hour scanning from Palm Point on a windy January 5th, but we saw only Ring-billed Gulls in addition to the flock of 40 Bonaparte’s Gulls fluttering right off the Point.
Peter Polshek emailed on the afternoon of the 10th to report a Common Loon in the pond beside North Florida Regional Medical Center.
The fall migration of Sandhill Cranes is still underway, apparently. Donny Griffin reported two southbound flocks, one of 50 and one of 75, going over the Osceola National Forest in the early afternoon of the 10th.
An interesting taxonomic note: to commemorate the release of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” the AOU has changed the name of the Carolina Wren to the Kylo Wren. (I’m still waiting for someone to laugh at that. See also https://twitter.com/kylor3n?lang=en )
This Tuesday, January 12th, at 6:30 p.m., Alachua County birding’s power couple Gina and Adam Kent will present a program on “The Imperiled Birds of Central Florida.” Gina is a field biologist with Avian Research and Conservation who’s done hands-on work with a number of imperiled species (Swallow-tailed Kite, Short-tailed Hawk, White-crowned Pigeon, Reddish Egret, etc.), while Adam is an ex-president of the Florida Ornithological Society. The presentation will take place at the Prairie Creek Lodge at 7204 SE County Road 234, a very nice place you should visit (so why not this Tuesday at 6:30?): http://alachuaconservationtrust.org/index.php?/alachua_v2/Prairie_Creek_Lodge “Come join us to learn about some of these fascinating rare and imperiled species that can be found within a few hours’ drive of Gainesville. Why are there so many rare birds in Florida?What is the difference between a rare and an imperiled species? In addition to a half dozen federally Threatened and Endangered species, we’ll also talk about birds listed as imperiled by other agencies and organizations. We’ll discuss factors that contribute to the scarcity of these birds, what’s being done to protect them now, and top it off with some conservations success stories. Come learn what you can do to help!”
Hey, did you know that the Alachua Audubon Society field trip schedule was online? There’s, like, so much! https://alachuaaudubon.org/classes-field-trips/
Remember to send me your contact information if you’ve got a hummingbird you’d like Fred Bassett to band.