It happens regularly that one or two Mississippi Kites are reported before mid-April, but the majority tend to wait till the second half of the month to move in. Most show up after April 20th, making them one of our latest arrivals. Carol Wooley reported one at the western edge of Gainesville during the first weekend of March and Cindy Boyd saw one in east Gainesville on March 31st, but there were no more sightings until one appeared on its customary perch in a pine tree in Trina Anderson’s SW Gainesville yard on April 11th. Four more were seen over the next eight days, and then six showed up on the 20th. So they’re here on schedule, and anyone who regularly watches the sky over the next week is likely to spot one.
Migrant shorebirds are arriving. Jennifer Donsky found three Semipalmated Plovers at La Chua Trail on the 19th. Matt Bruce and I saw a Semipalmated Sandpiper at Newnans Lake on the 21st, and on the same date Mike Manetz found a White-rumped Sandpiper – an early record for the county by four days – at La Chua. And you might have heard something about a Ruff. As I told you, Matt got better photos of the Ruff than I did: https://www.flickr.com/photos/7553931@N02/33370716843/in/datetaken/
While Mike Manetz was walking out La Chua on the 21st he also saw eight male Bobolinks.
One of Bubba Scales’s Wild Birds Unlimited customers informed him that a trio of Cape May Warblers had been coming to her grape jelly feeder since the 17th. Bubba visited on the 21st and confirmed the ID.
Still no Blackpoll Warblers. If you’re working on a county year list, you want to make a special effort to see Cape May, Blackpoll, and Bobolink during spring migration, because they’re not easy to find in fall.
Scott Robinson spotted a Scarlet Tanager at Split Rock Park on the 9th and found it still there on the 15th.
Matt Bruce heard an Acadian Flycatcher singing from a swampy area near Lake Lochloosa on the 8th.
Karl Miller reported a Red-breasted Nuthatch at Swallowtail Farm on the 8th. It looked for a while like we were going to have another invasion winter, with two reported in October and two more in November, but then they dried up. Two wintered at Cedar Key, and they’re still being seen, so we’ll look for them on Saturday’s field trip.
Every morning on his way to work, Tom Webber checks out the American Kestrel nest across 8th Avenue from the Gainesville Police Department. Lately he’s been seeing only “the tip of the female’s tail in the entrance to the nest cavity,” which suggests that she’s still incubating.
On the afternoon of the 20th Laura Predny wrote, “The Swallow-tailed kites over Tuscawilla Preserve are multiplying. Today I am counting 14. I might be off by 1 or 2, but at least a dozen. They’re putting on a beautiful show. It can probably be viewed best at Thrasher Park. They’ve been out there most afternoons lately.” Thrasher Park (AKA the entrance to Tuscawilla Preserve) is across from the Native American Heritage Preserve in Micanopy. Here’s a map: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1NfvCyXiSUddvfMWVcUjohqdrJxY&usp=sharing