From: Rex Rowan <rexrowan@gmail.com>
To: Alachua County birding report
Ron Robinson had a Canada Warbler visit his yard west of Gainesville on the 8th. It gorged itself on the aphids covering Ron’s two sugarberry trees, and then came down to his birdbath. It was a life bird for Ron. Unfortunately it was a one-day wonder and hasn’t been seen since. Ron did manage to get several photos: https://plus.google.com/photos/109059725171331326796/albums/6192299431961706033
Jacqui Sulek found the county’s first-of-the-season Golden-winged Warbler at Bolen Bluff on the 7th, “on the southern part of the Bolen Bluff loop trail maybe 100 yards from the clearing where the trail goes down into the basin.” Mike Manetz and I took a walk around the trail on the following day. At the place where the Wilson’s Warbler had been seen – the north fork where a gully runs down the slope from the trail to the trees at the edge of the Prairie – we followed the gully down the slope in hopes of finding the Wilson’s and ended up finding a male Golden-winged instead. We ended up with only nine warbler species that day, the best of which were, in addition to the Golden-winged, three Worm-eating and four Hooded. (The Wilson’s hasn’t been reported since the 5th.)
Sam Ewing found a Cerulean Warbler in his NW Gainesville yard on the 5th. That’s the third of the fall.
The Alder Flycatcher at Sparrow Alley was still there on the morning of the 11th. I missed it on the walk out, but heard its soft “pip” on the way back to the trailhead, about a hundred feet west of the powerline cut. It flew into the trees along the old fenceline and fluttered about in there for a minute or two, flycatching and calling, and then flew across the trail again and disappeared down the powerline cut.
The fall’s first American Bittern was seen and photographed by Irina and Frank Goodwin along La Chua on the 11th: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/20714939614/in/dateposted-public/
Wild Birds Unlimited is having a Seed and Suet Sale from the 12th through the 20th: http://gainesville.wbu.com/
Bob Duncan of Pensacola wrote on the 10th, “A cold front is forecast to come through northwest Florida on Saturday night, with clearing skies and NW to N winds 13 to 18 knots Saturday night and Sunday. This time of year it usually means one thing – birds! Weekend birding should be good at the migrant traps and maybe even Monday morning.” This evening Bob updated his prediction: “The original forecast from NWS Wednesday has held and actually improved some for birding as the front is a little stronger than predicted. Winds at about migrating altitude (2500 – 3000 ft) are predicted to shift from W to NW Saturday night veering to N later in the night with surface winds 15 – 20 knots N. Clearing skies behind the front should have migrants on the move. It would be better to have winds N shifting to NE overnight since most of our migrants are coming down the Appalachian corridor, but we take what we get and might get some surprises with NW winds initially. So Sunday is my preferred day to bird. However, Monday might be a sleeper since winds veer from N to NE Sunday night, though weaker in velocity. But as Jim Stevenson pointed out, the best day to bird is right after the front. It appears that the front will pass as far east as Cedar Keys Saturday night, so birding east of the NW FL – AL coasts may be good. Birds pass over our coast from the early morning hours until dawn (birds have no trouble landing at night) and those that pause at our migrant traps for refueling will be waiting for us to ID them. So bird the traps in the morning.”
We’ll have our first Alachua Audubon field trip on Saturday morning (Poe Springs) and our second on Sunday morning (Bolen Bluff). You can see trip details on our field trip schedule here (click the “+” sign at the right and then click “Read more”): https://alachuaaudubon.org/classes-field-trips/