I found a Western Kingbird along the Hague Dairy’s main driveway at 9:30 on the morning of the 14th, perched on the fence opposite the silo. By 11:45, when Mike Manetz saw it, it had moved onto the fence line on the east side of the dairy, along NW 59th Drive south of the gate. He tells me that he photographed one in almost exactly the same spot one year ago today.
I went to the dairy because Garry Prowe had seen an interesting flycatcher there on the morning of the 13th. It wasn’t an Eastern Phoebe; he’d already seen several of those when he came across this bird. He described it as having a black head with a sharply defined white cheek or jaw area, a white throat, white underparts with no gray wash, and a gray back. The only thing in my mental file fitting that description is an immature Fork-tailed Flycatcher, which has been recorded in Florida many times but never in Alachua County. Here’s a picture I found online: http://www.arthurgrosset.com/sabirds/photos/tyrsav2918.jpg Anyway, both Garry and I were at the dairy this morning, searching around the place where he’d studied it for five minutes (map) yesterday, but neither of us had much time and we left without seeing it.
Danny Rohan saw the first Canvasbacks of the winter at Sweetwater Wetlands Park on the 13th. They were in female-type plumage, but I think the majority of male ducks haven’t yet molted into their breeding plumage. Mike Manetz went over to have a look, and saw them, “but unfortunately as we were watching them they decided to fly off to the west. We checked Bivens Arm to see if they were there but no (three Ruddys and a couple of Ring-necks were there). Also at Sweetwater were increasing numbers of ducks, including 60 Blue-winged and 3 Green-winged Teal, plus 20 Northern Shovelers.” However there was one Canvasback off the La Chua observation platform on the morning of the 14th, so they came back (or this one is a third).
Saturday’s Alachua Audubon field trip saw one female Vermilion Flycatcher under the power line cut, but when Jonathan Mays and Matt O’Sullivan went to see it on the 13th, they found TWO female Vermilions there. To see them yourself, walk out Sparrow Alley to the power lines, turn left, and walk all the way down to the wetland.
As most of you know, the low water at Alachua Lake has attracted several species of shorebirds. On the 11th Linda Holt was on the La Chua observation platform with Becky Enneis and Bob Carroll and she snapped a photo of two Black-bellied Plovers (with a Killdeer peering out from between them). It was the 13th occurrence of Black-bellied Plover in the county, but the very first photo documentation: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/30867129512/in/datetaken-public/
Speaking of shorebirds, I remember seeing a flock of 55 Wilson’s Snipe that flushed repeatedly at Chapmans Pond in the early 1990s. I hadn’t seen a single flock of snipe since then, and I’d begun to doubt my memory: could the birds at Chapmans Pond have been dowitchers rather than snipe? Do snipe ever flock at all? So I was pretty excited to see a flock of 25 snipe flying around near the La Chua observation platform during the Audubon field trip on November 11th. Eric Amundson got a photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/25347755809/in/datetaken-public/
Sandhill Cranes seem to be arriving a little early this year. Usually they come in at the end of November or even early December, but I saw a flock of 8 flying southeast over TV 20 on the afternoon of the 11th, Donny Griffin saw a flock of 30 flying south over his place in the Osceola National Forest on the 12th, the same day the Audubon field trip counted 30 at Alachua Lake. On the morning of the 14th Mike Manetz tallied 100 from the La Chua observation platform.
Also on the early side are Cedar Waxwings. Deena Mickelson heard two of them on October 27th. Adam and Gina Kent saw two and five respectively on November 7th and 8th, and Andy Kratter saw flocks of 15 and 20 on November 12th and 13th. This is about a month earlier than normal, but they did this last year too, so maybe there’s a new normal.