Perhaps because we don’t normally see much gull variety along our shores, Florida has few gull experts. In fact, Michael Brothers of the Marine Science Center in Daytona Beach may be the only one in the state. Gulls can be absurdly difficult to identify. A single species of large gull – Herring Gull, for instance – can show a bewildering variety of plumages between the time it fledges and the time it achieves adulthood five years later, and in each of those plumages it can potentially be confused with several different species. It’s almost enough to make you ignore them altogether, just on principle. Yet because gulls tend to wander, finding a flock of gulls is often the first step in finding an exciting rarity, even a lifer. Mike Manetz was combing through a flock of Bonaparte’s Gulls resting on the mud near Powers Park one day in January 2000 when he found the county’s one-and-only Black-headed Gull. Michael Brothers often finds rarities like Glaucous Gull, Iceland Gull, Franklin’s Gull, and California Gull among the thousands and thousands of Herring Gulls, Ring-billed Gulls, and Laughing Gulls that congregate at Daytona Beach Shores every winter afternoon. But how do you figure out which are which? A good first step would be to attend Michael’s presentation on Gull and Jaeger Identification at the Alachua Audubon Society program meeting at 6:30 p.m. this coming Tuesday, February 7th, at the Millhopper Library. And a good second step will be to attend the field trip that Michael will lead at Daytona Beach Shores on the afternoon of Saturday, February 11th, when you’ll have a chance to put into practice all the ID tips you’ll learn on Tuesday. Field trip participants will meet at the Target store at noon on Saturday. More information below:
Gull and Jaeger Identification program: https://alachuaaudubon.org/event/program-gull-and-jaeger-identification/?instance_id=593
Field trip to see gulls and terns and practice brand-new ID skills: https://alachuaaudubon.org/event/daytona-beach-shores-gulls-and-terns/?instance_id=551
Lloyd Davis discovered a Purple Swamphen (or Gray-headed Swamphen, as eBird calls it) under the powerlines at La Chua on the 28th. If this is one of the two that were seen periodically at Sweetwater Wetlands Park between November 17, 2015 and April 9, 2016, and if they were a mated pair, and if both of the birds have relocated to the Prairie, then we’ll probably be seeing lots and lots of swamphens before much longer. A lot of ifs, I know. Anyway, it’s been seen several times since then, as recently as the 31st.
While you’re looking for the swamphen, keep an eye out for the Peregrine Falcon and the two Vermilion Flycatchers hanging around the same area, the Peregrine usually perched on a powerline stanchion and the Vermilions fluttering around within a few feet of the water’s surface. Both were reported by Charlene Leonard on the 3rd.
Vaux’s Swifts are spending their second consecutive winter at Dauer Hall on the UF campus. As many as five birds have been seen in the evenings, entering the chimneys as early as 5:57 and as late as 6:18 during the past week (most recently by Scott Robinson on the 3rd). Two seen by Mike and Diana Manetz were associating with a flock of Tree Swallows at Sweetwater Wetlands Park on the afternoon of the 30th, but Dauer Hall is considerably more reliable. If you need to know where it is, here’s a map.
The Dickcissel seems to be wandering widely around the boardwalk and the edge of Alachua Sink. Recent descriptions of its location include, “along waterway just beyond the boardwalk/trailer,” “feeding on ground across ditch,” and “in the shrubby tangle adjacent to the last covered area of the boardwalk before the trailer.” At least one observer thinks there are two. Bryan Tarbox saw it last, on the 29th.
The Dark-eyed Junco in Mike Manetz’s yard was still there on the 4th.
On January 14th Kenneth Dunaway took this photo of a Whooping Crane across CR-346 from Reddick Brothers Hardware in Micanopy: https://www.flickr.com/photos/30736692@N00/32666383656/in/dateposted-public/ This isn’t the same Whooping Crane that we’ve been seeing at Paynes Prairie since April. The Paynes Prairie bird is a ten-year-old female with a single blue band on its leg. The Micanopy bird is a one-year-old female with blue and yellow bands. Both birds are wild-hatched – offspring of cranes that were released into the wild, formed a pair bond, built a nest, laid eggs, and raised their young to adulthood. Tim Dellinger of FWC tells me that there are only three or four surviving wild-hatched birds in Florida. As of the 14th two of those were in Alachua County. Both came from nests in Lake County. We’ve only had one nest here in Alachua County, in spring 2010. Both of the young hatched, but neither survived.
Speaking of cranes, a lot of Sandhills left Gainesville on the 1st. I was leading the Wednesday Wetlands Walk at Sweetwater Wetlands Park, and a huge number flew overhead, circling and calling. I couldn’t count cranes and lead the field trip at the same time, because the departure extended over an hour and a half. I entered 2,000 in my eBird checklist, but there might have been 5,000 for all I know.
Speaking of spring, I’ve seen a lot of butterflies out and about during the last week: Red Admiral, Monarch, Queen, Ceraunus Blue, Sleepy Orange, Pearl Crescent, Cloudless Sulfur, and Orange-barred Sulfur. I don’t consider it to be spring, however, until I’ve seen my first swallowtail. Which I did, a Black Swallowtail, at the Newberry Cemetery on the 2nd. I also noticed today that Eastern Tent Caterpillars have started a tent in one of my backyard wild plums.
Don’t we wish: https://www.facebook.com/marilynmeadowsphotgraphy/videos/1736811679963230/