Jonathan Mays called at 1:00 to report a Caspian Tern at Newnans Lake. I had just driven away to run an errand (hint: it’s National Donut Day) when he called, and my wife only remembered now that he’d called. So get out there if you can.
Thanks to Stephen Montgomery, Michael Drummond, and Sandra Vardaman of the county’s Environmental Protection Department, we’re tentatively planning to see the Burrowing Owls at Watermelon Pond on June 18th this year, with a backup date of June 25th. Mark your calendar. I should add, for the benefit of photographers, that we view the owls from the fence line overlooking the field they nest in, so we’re not generally very close to them and top-quality photos probably won’t be possible unless one of the birds is sitting up on a nearby fencepost.
Yesterday evening Mike Manetz, Matt O’Sullivan, Peter Polshek, Cindy Boyd, and I walked out La Chua in hopes of seeing the Yellow-crowned Night-Heron and Roseate Spoonbill that Jonathan Mays had spotted on the evening of the 1st. We missed the night-heron, but we saw two spoonbills, the semi-resident Whooping Crane, and an Eastern Kingbird that’s been hanging around La Chua. We also saw a flight of 14 shorebirds, 13 of which were identical pale-gray “peeps,” probably Semipalmated Sandpipers. But the 14th, which flew apart from the main flock, was maybe half again larger, with a stocky build, a medium-long drooping bill, distinct white wing stripes, and legs that did not extend out beyond the tip of the tail. Matt caught a glimpse of a black belly patch. We all concluded that it was a Dunlin. I had just assured someone one or two days previously that Dunlins are never seen summering in Florida, and this one is nearly two months later than the latest spring-migrant Dunlin ever recorded in Alachua County. This is only the 23rd instance of Dunlin occurring in the county, and those seen after January 1st almost invariably leave in February or March; there’s only one April record. So this was a pretty big deal. Just before we got run off by a rainstorm, a flock of peeps – possibly the same ones – landed on the muddy margins of Alachua Lake, but we couldn’t find the larger bird among them. On the walk back to the cars, we spotted between two and four Great Horned Owls near the boardwalk. It might be worth going back out there at 6:30 this evening.