From: Rex Rowan <rexrowan@gmail.com>
To: Alachua County birding report
On November 20th I had an email from Karen Burkhardt, telling me that she’d gotten her life Purple Swamphen at Sweetwater Wetlands Park that day. As an afterthought she added, “there are actually two Swamphens at Sweetwater.” I was surprised to hear that, and, okay, maybe a little skeptical, so I queried her further. Had they been seen together? “Yes, by multiple observers,” she replied. “The were having a ‘domestic dispute’ so there was no question about it.” I inquired whether anyone had obtained a photo, and reminded her that Purple Gallinules can look something like Purple Swamphens. She bristled at that: “The ‘domestic dispute’ was observed by others. The other bird was not, not a Purple Gallinule. That’s all I have to say about it.”
She was right. Today I heard from Frank Goodwin and David and Kim Stringer that they’d seen two swamphens at Sweetwater, and Frank sent a photo to prove it: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/23057907593/in/dateposted-public/
Two. You know what that means. The name of the park will soon be Swamphen Wetlands Park.
On the 10th an Alachua County birder looked out the window and saw this at his feeder: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/23576435102/in/dateposted-public/ It was still there today. In case you don’t know what that is, it’s a female Purple Finch, a bird of the northern coniferous forests that only comes this far south occasionally. But the presence of one here suggests that we should all start watching our feeders a little more closely.
Purple Swamphen, Purple Finch. You can see I’m working a theme today. How about this, then: a Purple Swamphen standing next to a Purple Gallinule, courtesy of Chris Janus: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chris_f8/22943435884/in/dateposted/
Here’s a bird photo quiz to get you in the right frame of mind for the Christmas Bird Count. You can’t play if you subscribe to this particular photographer’s Flickr page and have seen it before. I’ll tell you only that it was taken in Gainesville on December 6th and that, for once today, the word “purple” is not part of its name. What bird is it, and why do you think so? https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/23274393999/in/dateposted-public/
Every year my sisters ask what I want for Christmas, and every year I don’t know what to tell them. You’ve got the same problem, right? You already have the Aston Martin golf cart, the 14-foot hi-def TV, and the $3,000 hamster-lined socks; and last year your best friend arranged for Taylor Swift and Yo Yo Ma to perform the Beatles’ songbook in your living room while Mary Elizabeth Winstead sat on your knee and reprised her Ramona Flowers character from “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.” After setting the bar that high, what on earth can they get you this year? They can get you A Birdwatcher’s Guide to Alachua County, Florida, the greatest bird book ever written! Roger Tory Peterson was just a lonely sailor until he stumbled across a copy of A Birdwatcher’s Guide to Alachua County, Florida, and ten years later he published A Field Guide to the Birds. David Sibley was eking out a living repairing rubber bands in Mississippi when someone sent him a copy of A Birdwatcher’s Guide to Alachua County, Florida, and five years after that he published The Sibley Guide to Birds. No doubt you’ve heard what happened to sanitation worker Bill Gates, dental hygienist Lebron James, and human resources specialists Taylor Swift and Yo Yo Ma when they happened across copies of this astonishingly helpful and inspirational book! 128 pages, 42 maps, descriptions of 52 birding spots, accounts of each of the county’s 340 extant bird species as of May 2006. It will transform your life! Or at least help you to see more birds, and entertain you along the way. You can find it at Wild Birds Unlimited, which is right next door to The Flying Biscuit in the shopping center at NW 43rd Street and NW 16th Boulevard. Your problem is solved; you can get on with your life. Whew! You’re welcome!