Mike Manetz called a few minutes ago from the La Chua platform, where he was looking at four Greater White-fronted Geese. He described their position as “off to the east side, pretty far out,” so bring your scope. This is the 18th occurrence of this species in Alachua County.
As mentioned in a previous email, Mike tied the existing Alachua County Year List record when he saw the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher north of Newberry on the 2nd. It was his 255th species in 2016. He broke the record two days later, when he was tipped off about a Snow Goose that Howard Adams found along the La Chua Trail. On the 5th he was scouting his Christmas Bird Count territory, a restricted area near Hickory Ranch, when he found an Ash-throated Flycatcher (#257) in the same spot where he’d seen it during two previous Christmas Counts. And now the Greater White-fronted Geese (#258). Whatever his year-end total turns out to be, it’s going to be very tough for anyone to beat.
Not long after Mike’s call, the phone rang again. It was Frank Goodwin, out on the Cones Dike Trail with his wife Irina. They had just found an Ash-throated Flycatcher – this one, unlike Mike’s, in a publicly-accessible area. From the Paynes Prairie visitor center (this is the main entrance, off 441 just north of Micanopy), walk down to the Cones Dike Trail and go through the gate. After a short distance the trail makes a turn to the right. Another quarter-mile or half-mile and the trail makes a turn to the left. The bird was 300-400 yards beyond this left turn, hanging around a stand of winged sumac.
Reminder: The Christmas Bird Count is Sunday the 18th. If you live within the Count circle, watch your feeders for something out of the ordinary, like a hummingbird, a flock of orioles, a Dark-eyed Junco, a Pine Siskin, a Purple Finch, a Black-headed Grosbeak, a Townsend’s Warbler, something like that.