Category: Birding Reports

Later today I’ll hold a press conference to announce that I’m withdrawing from the European Union. I’m calling it the Rexit.

Say, two things to remember: (1.) I need your June Challenge totals in my email inbox by midnight on June 30th, that is to say sixty seconds after 11:59 p.m. on June 30th. Only those who get them to me on time will be eligible for awards. (2.) The June Challenge party and awards ceremony will be held beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday, July 1st, at Becky Enneis’s house in Alachua. Here’s a map showing Becky’s place: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1p7B11MuC4CM9N3eTT7sx1HFWyIs&usp=sharing

On Friday morning Danny Shehee found at least one, maybe two, Gray Catbirds singing at Tumblin Creek Park at 6th and Depot, where one (or, again, maybe two) spent last June. He got a photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/27275386433/in/dateposted-public/ The bird was seen later in the afternoon by Jonathan Mays, and toward evening by Lloyd Davis and myself.

As Lloyd and I stood by the creek at the northwest corner of the park, waiting for the catbird to show, Lloyd told me that he’d be meeting Tom Tompkins at the airport on Saturday morning in hopes of seeing a fairly reliable Cooper’s Hawk. He invited me to join them, so I did, and sure enough at about 7:00-7:15 a Cooper’s came flying over the pines south of the FAA tower and went for some Mourning Doves on the edge of the runway. Though a fence got in its way – the doves got through, while the hawk had to go over – it recovered quickly, chased down a dove in flight, and went pinwheeling down to the ground with its prey. It was a spectacular sight, but alas, neither of my companions – both of whom live and breathe photography – was wearing a camera at the time! One curious thing. When the Cooper’s first came into view it was flapping much more deeply and slowly than a Cooper’s usually does. I wondered if it was mimicking a crow to avoid alarming the doves.

Afterward Lloyd and I went to Gum Root Swamp in hope of seeing an early-migrant Louisiana Waterthrush. No such luck, though. On the 12th Barbara Shea and I had made the same walk in search of a Prothonotary Warbler and I’d been surprised at the absence of mosquitoes. They’re absent no more. Lloyd and I were slapping at them constantly.

Jonathan Mays writes, “Have you gone after Eastern Wood-Pewee yet? I did my 10-mile running loop at San Felasco (north of Millhopper Road) again on Sunday and had better luck this go, though still not easy. I heard the one that others have been seeing/reporting right where the western portion of the red trail meets the yellow trail. It was calling from pretty far off though with no chance of a visual (a Hooded Warbler was also calling in this area but way off to the east, likely where it drops down to more hammock area). I made the loop around and caught up to another pair of pewees, seen together off the yellow trail very near the #05 trail marker (those 4×4 posts with black #’s on a white background). Dunno why I had such trouble with pewee this year but at least I got 20 miles of exercise from the chase (10 this past Sunday and 10 the week before).”

Jonathan also told me that he’d found Helmeted Guineafowl, which is not ABA-countable but which will serve as a tiebreaker, along CR-241 north of Alachua but south of the Mill Creek Preserve and CR-236.

I was surprised and somewhat horrified to see Black-crowned Night-Herons snatch up Common Gallinule chicks on two occasions at La Chua early this month, but a little research shows that they eat a lot of young birds, including other herons. Some examples (the tender-hearted might want to skip these):
– An immature Black-crowned flew in and took this fledgling Green Heron right off its perch: http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/black-crowned-night-heron-juvenile-attacks-green-heron-fledgling-i-watched-amazement-as-fly-grab-off-its-perch-64823097.jpg
– Adult eating a Cattle Egret chick: http://ibc.lynxeds.com/files/pictures/Black-crowned_Night-heron.JPG
– Another Cattle Egret chick, a pretty big one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkE6e7IjkyM

Paynes Prairie volunteer Tom Wronski writes, “The La Chua trail will be closed for three days, from Monday June 27 to Wednesday June 29, for a habitat restoration project which involves herbicide application. The Cones Dike trail and Bolen Bluff trail will be closed for a single day during the week of June 27 to July 1. Call the Ranger Station for more details before planning a visit to those trails, 352-466-3397.”

A second reminder: If you’ve taken some nice photos of birds and/or birders during The June Challenge, please email them to Becky Enneis at raenneis@yahoo.com for the slide show she’s assembling for the June Challenge party (which, by the way, will be held at 6 p.m. on Friday, July 1st).

In the last birding report I requested information on some hard-to-find birds:

Short-tailed Hawk: Pete Hosner reported a dark morph immature at the northeast corner of Bivens Arm lake on the 15th; and on the 19th a boatload o’ birders exploring Newnans Lake, namely Debbie Segal, Bob Knight, and John Hintermister, saw a dark morph being chased by Red-winged Blackbirds over the mouth of Prairie Creek (they didn’t see the Herring Gull that John Middleton photographed there on the 9th).

Cooper’s Hawk: Jonathan Mays recommended the Depot Park area, though he acknowledged that it was hit or miss. One was seen by several birders at Watermelon Pond on the 18th.

Pied-billed Grebe: Earlier in the month I checked the retention pond at the intersection of NE 35th Avenue and NE 4th Street (despite the address, it’s on 35th two blocks WEST of Main Street, at the SW corner of the intersection), but I found nothing. However on the 16th Ron Robinson called to tell me he was looking at a grebe in that very pond, so I went out and saw it. Then Will Sexton tried for it on the 17th and missed it, and I couldn’t find it on the 19th. Was it just passing through, does it hide in the willows lining the pond, or was it killed by one of the feral cats that a morally confused citizen is feeding there? Anyway, a few other places were suggested as well. Two were at Lake Lochloosa: Peter Polshek recommended the Burnt Island fishing pier area at the Lochloosa Conservation Area, while Jonathan Mays recommended the public boat ramp in the little community of Lochloosa on the east shore of the lake. John Dickinson said that he and Mike Manetz had seen several from the La Chua observation platform on the 14th. And on the 17th Danny Shehee sent me a photo of one that he’d taken in the canal at the southeast corner of Sweetwater Wetlands Park.

No reports of Gray Catbird, Wood Thrush, Hairy Woodpecker, Broad-winged Hawk, or Belted Kingfisher, but there are still eleven days left in The June Challenge. You can never tell what you’ll find if you go out. This morning Diane Reed went looking for June Challenge birds at Six-Mile Landing north of St. Augustine and found a Hudsonian Godwit! As the song says, it could happen to you. But only if you go out.

Our June 18th Burrowing Owl field trip was a great success. Thirty-seven birders turned out to see the owls. Michael Drummond and land manager Stephen Montgomery of the county’s Environmental Protection Department escorted us to the edge of the field in which most of the owls have their burrows. I was manning the gate by SW 250th Street, so I didn’t get to count the birds, but I heard that 10-11 were seen. There are two other nests not visible from where we were standing. Afterward several of us found some Orchard Orioles – an adult male, a first-year male, a female, and at least two recent fledglings – along 250th a little to the north. Then we walked into the Watermelon Pond Wildlife and Environmental Area and got a nice look at a singing Bachman’s Sparrow, not to mention Eastern Meadowlarks, an Eastern Kingbird, some American Kestrels, and (for a lucky few) a Northern Bobwhite. A small remainder of the group ended the morning at the Newberry Cemetery, where we found two Northern Flickers, one of them gorging on wild cherries. Marvin Smith of Valdosta, who with his friend Robert Emond made a two-hour drive to join us, sent me the photos of two owls and the male Orchard Oriole below. Thanks to Marvin for the photos, and thanks to Michael and Stephen for coordinating this annual visit to a restricted parcel of county-owned land. (It’s restricted, by the way, not only for the owls’ protection, but because cattle are allowed to graze the property to keep the grass short for the owls, and arrangements have to be made for the cattle to be moved into other fields for the duration of the field trip.)

I missed the best sighting of the day. I arrived in Newberry half an hour early and started down SW 250th Street. I was carefully watching the telephone lines and surrounding landscape for birds as I drove along. Ron Robinson was in his car a couple of hundred yards behind me, and as we passed Horseshoe Pond he saw a big Striped Skunk emerge from the vegetation on the east side of the road and cross over to the west side, behind my car but in front of his. I wasn’t looking in my rear-view mirror, so I missed it. I’ve only seen skunks twice in my life, and both looks were less than ideal, so I was very sorry to hear from Ron that I’d missed this one. We went back in hope of relocating it, but saw only its tracks.

Know what a congregation of Stingrays is called? Click the link to find out. (Thanks to Donny Griffin for sending this to me.) https://www.facebook.com/tampabaynews/videos/10154197536390409/

Speaking of stingrays, we saw a lot of them when we did the bird surveys at Seahorse Key, Snake Key, and North Key on the 10th. The Brown Pelicans, Double-crested Cormorants, and wading birds have not returned to Seahorse Key. Though decoys were set out in hopes of luring them back, they didn’t work, and all the nesting is on Snake Key, just as it was last year. Roseate Spoonbills and Reddish Egrets are nesting there, and probably 200 or so Magnificent Frigatebirds were roosting, but the day’s only really unusual find was a Prairie Warbler singing in the mangroves at North Key, far north of the usual nesting area for that subspecies.

If you’ve taken some nice photos during The June Challenge, please email them to Becky Enneis at raenneis@yahoo.com for the slide show she’s assembling for the June Challenge party (which, by the way, will be held at 6 p.m. on Friday, July 1st).

Geoff Parks posted to Facebook (and Mike Manetz notified me) that a Spotted Sandpiper was in the sediment pond at Sweetwater Wetlands Park today. The sediment pond is the same place where Spotteds have been all winter. Leaving the little shelter/restroom area at the parking lot, go down the trail to the gate, and after going through the gate go left down the paved road. When it comes to a T, go left to the Sweetwater Branch outflow. This is the latest spring migrant ever recorded in Alachua County.

Ron Robinson found an active Orchard Oriole nest in the Newberry Cemetery the other day. Go in the main entrance, and … arrgh, Ron gave me exact directions and I wrote them down but now I can’t find them. Go up to the flagpole, maybe? Turn left, look for a headstone that says, “Carter,” and it’s hanging over that headstone. Unless I have it completely wrong. I’m positive about the Newberry Cemetery part, at least.

Chip Deutsch had a successful morning on the 12th: “This morning I headed to Cellon Creek Boulevard and the Hague Dairy, finding several species that I needed for my June Challenge list. Found quite a few Purple Martins at Cellon Creek, which was a treat. Two Eurasian Collared-Doves, too, as well as all of the other species that I had targeted for that site (except that the Northern Bobwhite, ever so close to the road, did not show itself). The most amazing sight was a congregation of more than 30 kites over an overgrown field on the NE side of the dairy: at least 10 Swallow-taileds and at least 23 Mississippi Kites!!! All swooping back and forth, it was really wild, quite a sight! There must have been many bugs in the air. Yet one of the benefits of the June Challenge, getting us sweating in nature, beyond just ticking off species.”

On the 12th, Barbara Shea and I met at Gum Root Swamp and walked the trail that parallels Hatchet Creek. We found Acadian Flycatcher, which I needed, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, which she needed, and right at the lakefront, Prothonotary Warbler, which both of us needed.

Does anyone have a reliable location for Pied-billed Grebe, Cooper’s, Broad-winged, Short-tailed Hawk, Hairy Woodpecker, or Gray Catbird? If so, let me know, and I’ll pass the word. Remember, although this is a competition, it’s a *friendly* competition. If you keep birds to yourself, you’re breaking one of the rules of the Challenge.

 

You will *not* be able to get a picture of this quality on Saturday, June 18th, when we gather to see Watermelon Pond’s Burrowing Owls. The only way you can get a picture like this is by doing two things: (1.) securing a job as a county biologist, which allows you access to the property on which the Burrowing Owls live, and (2.) having the photographic gifts of Michael Drummond, which few possess.

However you will be able to SEE these Burrowing Owls from a distance and add them to your June Challenge list, or just take delight in their existence. We’ll meet at the gate to Watermelon Pond’s Metzger Tract at 7:30 a.m. – again, that’s on Saturday, June 18th. To get to the gate, go west from Gainesville on State Road 26 (Newberry Road) to the traffic light at the junction with US-41 in Newberry. At the traffic light turn left onto 41 and go 2.9 miles to SW 46th Avenue. Turn right onto 46th and go 1.2 miles to SW 250th Street (a dirt road). Turn left onto 250th and go 3.0 miles to the gate. There are gates on both sides of the road there, and you can park at either one (so long as you don’t block it), but we’ll be entering the one on the left. We’ll be walking about half a mile to the fenceline from which we’ll be able to observe the owls. If this is not clear to you, please let me know and I’ll send you a map.

John Middleton of Lafayette County, who is not (alas) doing The June Challenge, got a great June bird during a visit to Alachua County on the 9th. While sitting in a boat at the north end of Newnans Lake, photographing Ospreys, Bald Eagles, and various waders, he saw a rather seedy-looking gull fly over and got a few nice pictures of it. It turned out to be a yearling Herring Gull, the only Herring Gull ever recorded in Alachua County in June. Here’s one of John’s photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/30736692@N00/27575810556/in/dateposted-public/

As mentioned in the last birding report, I spent four and a half hours at Palm Point on the morning of the 7th and saw storm-blown Sooty Terns, Black Terns, Forster’s Terns, and Laughing Gulls. Trina Anderson spent an hour at Palm Point that afternoon and saw a Caspian Tern, even got a photo. That evening Mike Manetz and I went back in hopes of finding the Caspian, but though two Sooty Terns were still present we never saw our target bird. That’s four or five hours I’ve put into seeing a Caspian Tern this month, with nothing to show for it.

Also on the 7th, Anne Kendall saw a bird that’s been hard for June Challengers to find: “There was a King Rail with three chicks at the Paynes Prairie boardwalk on 441. They were about 3/4 of the way out on the north side when I saw them but the chicks walked under the boardwalk while I watched.” (Anne also corrects her earlier advice about the Yellow-throated Vireo: “The Yellow-throated Vireo at the Campus USA Credit Union is SW 12th Street and 4th Avenue, not NW as I told you in my email.”)

I went to Sweetwater Wetlands Park this evening in hope of seeing the Ring-necked Duck. I went all the way to the far end of the property, where it’s been hanging out, but I couldn’t find it. Then I noticed a little Striped Crayfish Snake crossing the trail. It was moving slowly, and it seemed to me that it would be an easy target for a Red-shouldered Hawk or Cattle Egret. So I picked it up and walked it down to the water’s edge in the direction it had been going, and as I bent down to let it go the Ring-necked Duck flushed from the grass at the edge of the canal and swam out into the open. If not for that snake I’d never have seen it. Thanks, snake! A little bit west of that point, I heard a Common Yellowthroat and a Prothonotary Warbler singing, both of which I still need for the Challenge, but I wasn’t able to spish them out into the open. Farther on I ran into Bryan Eastman and Nina Bhattacharyya and we were in the midst of a conversation when a Wilson’s Snipe fluttered up from the drainage ditch between cells 1 and 2. We have only a few June records for that species.

I was lucky enough to find both an American Robin and a pair of Northern Flickers within a minute of each other on the afternoon of the 7th. The flickers were on the lawn at 2014 NE 7th Street and the robin was on the ground at 2101 NE 7th Street. On the 8th Jonathan Mays found two robins by parking his car at Northeast Park and then running up and down 6th Terrace, 7th Street, and 8th Street repeatedly until he located the birds on 7th Street. On the 9th Tina Greenberg found a robin in the same yard where I’d seen the flickers.

I got my 100th June Challenge bird on the 8th. Though not a rarity, it was in some ways the most unexpected thing on my list. It was a Eurasian Collared-Dove, and it was feeding on the ground in my next-door neighbor’s yard. I’ve never seen a collared-dove on this street in the entire 24 years that I’ve lived here. As of the 11th I’m up to 106. At least three or four people are ahead of me.

We spent hours staring at Newnans Lake on Tuesday the 7th, and passed some time wondering how big it was. So I’ve measured it using this web site. From Palm Point across the lake to the Windsor boat ramp is a little over 2 miles. From Powers Park looking northeast to the northern end of the lake is just under 4.5 miles. So birds that look like they’re on the far side of the lake are probably out in the middle. In fact, while most of us were at Palm Point, Debbie Segal phoned from the Windsor boat ramp and pretty much confirmed that. Birds that looked to us as though they were flying right past Debbie looked to Debbie as though they were flying right past us.

In case you’ve ever wondered, here are the sizes of Alachua County’s largest lakes (according to this web site): Orange Lake 12,550 acres (9th largest in the state), Newnans Lake 7,517 acres (16th largest), Lake Santa Fe 5,850 acres (18th), Lake Lochloosa 5,700 acres (20th), Little Orange Lake 576 acres (on the Alachua/Putnam line), Lake Alto 573 acres, Lake Wauberg 254 acres, Lake Alice 82 acres (including associated marsh). I don’t know the sizes of some others, including Prairie Lake, Sunshine Lake, and Burnetts Lake. Watermelon Pond is probably too variable to measure.

If you’re in the market for a new pair of binoculars and you’re willing to spend $350, Pete Dunne (in the April issue of BirdWatching magazine) recommends the Zeiss Terra (“a fine yet reasonably priced binocular that I strongly recommend”). I’ve never tried it myself, so I can’t vouch for it, but here’s some more information from Eagle Optics (and if you order before June 19th you get a $50 rebate!): http://www.eagleoptics.com/binoculars/zeiss/zeiss-terra-ed-8×42-binocular

There’s a new informational resource out there. It’s called County Rare Birds, and it allows you to look up the recent sightings that eBird’s filters have interpreted as rare for any county in the United States and Canada. In some cases these won’t really be rarities – Lloyd Davis reported a Mallard, for instance, but it’s a tame, retention-pond bird (that’s how eBird wants to treat Mallards now, don’t ask me why) – but in most cases they’re good birds. The best way to understand what the web site has to offer is to click on the link. Once you’re at the site, use the “Search Your Location” function in the left sidebar to find Alachua County. When the list of rarities comes up, you can click on the location to see a Google Map showing where each bird was seen (usually just a park location), and you can click on the eBird checklist for more details on the sighting. Here’s the link: http://countyrarebirds.com/

Tropical Storm Colin blew only a few birds into Gainesville this morning. About twenty people showed up at Palm Point to scan the lake. The final tally was 7 Sooty Terns, 4 Black Terns, and 2 Forster’s Terns. Peter Polshek continued south to Lake Lochloosa after seeing the Newnans Lake birds, but he found only three Forster’s Terns there.

I just now (11:50) got messages from Debbie Segal and Deena Mickelson that a Whooping Crane can be seen at very close range from US-441. Going south from Gainesville, 441 dips down onto Paynes Prairie, and the first thing you’ll see on your right (west of 441) is a cow pasture. The Whooping Crane is in that pasture. Hope it sticks around long enough for June Challengers to see it!

Tropical Storm Colin is on track to cross North Florida tonight (Monday night). Tropical storms that come ashore on the Big Bend can be very good for pelagic and coastal birds on our big lakes. So you want to be at Palm Point first thing tomorrow morning, because storm-blown birds may not linger much beyond first light. Here’s the storm’s predicted track as of Monday morning: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at3.shtml?5-daynl#contents

Geoff Parks tells me that “at least one” American Robin is singing east of NE 6th Terrace a little south of 23rd Avenue.

Jonathan Mays shared an entertaining story of a high-spirited chase around the county in search of June Challenge birds. Even for someone with Jonathan’s ability (and luck), things don’t always go right: “Adam Zions and I birded all over southeastern Alachua County on Sunday. Made the lap around Tuscawilla Prairie … nada. Hit all access points around Orange Lake … ditto … nada. Then, knowing things were awaiting us at Lochloosa … you guessed it … nothing. So, went to Newnans Lake …. more … nada … from both Powers Park and Palm Point. We headed towards town as the clouds started to build. Happened to swing through the new Depot Park area when Adam spotted a Eurasian Collared-Dove on the powerlines going into GRU. TICK! Then, the hits kept coming (though not necessarily Challenge birds): Red-headed Woodpecker along 4th Street, a yellow male House Finch, Loggerhead Shrike, flyover Laughing Gulls (no idea where they’re going), and Northern Rough-winged Swallow. So we decided to settle in till the storm passed at the closest local brewery (totally in luck – First Magnitude). From there and in the safety of their tarp and picnic table umbrellas, we had 2 Northern Rough-winged Swallows easily in view for most of the stay, 2 Barn Swallows same, and 2 Tree Swallows flying over (observed on our way in, not after we were leaving). Then, and my best bird of the day, had a Cooper’s Hawk fly through hunting, probably, rare swallows. Also had 3 Eastern Bluebirds (an adult and 2 youngsters) and 2 House Sparrows … the latter was a June bird for me. With the clouds building, we went back to Palm Point and enjoyed some killer clouds but no doubt the fewest avian species I’ve ever had there. Lesson – stay at your local brewery!”

Tom Wronski notifies local birders, “I volunteer at Paynes Prairie, and the La Chua Trail will be closed for 3 days sometime between June 7-17 for herbicide application. The exact 3 days will be decided upon based on weather conditions. I thought the June challengers should know that their access to La Chua will be restricted soon. I’ll let you know which 3 days when I’m informed by park rangers.”

Fans of H.P. Lovecraft finally have a presidential candidate of their own: https://cthulhuforamerica.com/

(Reminder: There will be more posts than usual at the beginning of The June Challenge. It will go back to normal before long. I’m saying this because this morning, after posting twice yesterday, I received emails from two people asking to be removed from the mailing list!)

This is one of those rare Junes that’s almost better than spring migration.

Chip Deutsch and Matt Bruce saw two Gull-billed Terns at La Chua this morning. Matt wrote, “We watched for about five minutes as the birds flew over the water on the east side of the trail near the last bend before the tower. We got to see them at very close range (maybe ~30′ at one point). They had full black caps, short tails, distinctly stout black bills, pale gray backs, and a little bit dark gray along the edge of the wingtips.” They were gone when several of us walked out La Chua this evening.

A Ring-necked Duck has been at Sweetwater Wetlands Park since the 3rd, in the channel south of Cell 3. I was uncertain of its identity for a while. At first I thought Ring-necked because of the distinct peak at the rear of the crown. Then I started to think that it might be a Redhead, because molt might cause the peaked crown (it’s missing its flight feathers and is thus in eclipse plumage) and the banding on the bill is so faint, more like a Redhead’s. The general opinion among experienced birders, however, is that it’s a Ring-necked. Bob Carroll got a photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/26860625233/in/dateposted-public/

A walk out La Chua this evening was profitable. I dressed for rainy weather, so of course there wasn’t any rain at all. Mike Manetz pointed out the Hooded Merganser that Frank Goodwin found on the 1st at Gator Point and Ben Ewing found an adult Yellow-crowned Night-Heron and a Whooping Crane while scoping from the observation tower. Also present were up to four Blue-winged Teal, two Roseate Spoonbills, and about 25 Semipalmated Sandpipers. Alas, no Greater or Lesser Yellowlegs and no Dunlin.

Anne Casella advises, “After birding this morning, I stopped at the Campus USA on NW 12th St and NW 4th Avenue at 11 am. While I was at the cash machine, I heard a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher so I parked and got out to look for it. A Yellow-throated Vireo began singing in an oak tree across the street and was very easy to see. It then flew to an oak in the Campus USA parking lot, still singing away. A lot easier to see than the Yellow-throateds at San Felasco.”

I’ve still got some printed June Challenge checklists on hand. If you’d like one, send me your mailing address and I’ll put one in an envelope for you.

Here’s what a birder’s life is like:

After hearing from Jonathan Mays about the Caspian Tern, I ran down to Palm Point and sat for an hour with my spotting scope. Although it was beautifully quiet, there was no tern of any description. I went home. A couple of hours later I got a call from Jonathan. He and Peter Polshek were at Palm Point, looking at the Caspian Tern. So I drove back to Palm Point and spent about an hour and a half with Jonathan and Peter, and the Caspian never showed up again.

I’d been planning to go to La Chua at about 6:30 this evening, but I’d spent too much time NOT seeing the Caspian, so when I got back in my car at 7:15 I headed home and ate dinner instead of birding at La Chua. So of course I got this email from Jonathan a little while ago:

“Good evening on La Chua! Rained on my hike out but got to the platform to find Charlene Leonard and Will Sexton already there and having already nailed down some good stuff. They’d spotted the 2 Roseate Spoonbills and an adult Yellow-crowned Night Heron and I was able to get some photos. They also had a nice flock of shorebirds (48+ total, not counting Black-necked Stilts or Killdeer) pinned down for me, though they didn’t stay pinned for long. The rain picked up but I risked taking the camera out anyway … haven’t sorted through the images yet but we had minimum counts of 31 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 3 Least Sandpipers, 2 Lesser Yellowlegs, 1 Greater Yellowlegs, and 1 Dunlin. Our Dunlin was still mostly basic plumage and showed no black in the belly, or at least we didn’t see any, so perhaps a different bird than the one you all had last night? There were another 10-12 peeps that didn’t stay put and I never got to sort through them with the scope. Probably mostly (all) more Semipalmateds. Amazing.

“Just before leaving, Charlene spotted the Whooping Crane way the heck out on the opposite side of the lake. We walked back post-sunset and heard, then saw, a Barn Owl flying out west of the trail towards the 441 observation platform. About 5 minutes later we heard then saw a second come off the boardwalk railing. I got photos of the first, and maybe the second. We joked about seeing 2 Barns when we were really hunting you-all’s Great Horneds from the previous evening. Right about then we spotted another owl farther down on the railing … but larger and with ear tufts.”

Jonathan will be posting his photos from today, including a fantastic flight photo of the Caspian Tern, on his Flickr site, so have a look: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jmays/

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.

There were 26 of us in the Longleaf Flatwoods Reserve parking corral at 6:15. As we waited politely for everyone to finish signing their names to the release form, we could hear a Bachman’s Sparrow, one of our two target birds for this location, singing out beyond the informational sign. I thought, “Ha! So much for this being the unlucky *13th* June Challenge!” But of course by the time we walked through the gate the bird had fallen silent and would not respond to a taped song. It was the only one we heard while we were there, possibly because the property had been burned in mid-February and the vegetation is not yet profuse enough to offer good shelter for nesting. Or maybe because it was the 13th June Challenge. Our other target species for Longleaf was Common Nighthawk, and it was likewise elusive. Two or three were spotted by a couple of sharp-eyed birders, but all were distant and hard to locate in the light fog. We did manage to lure in three or four Brown-headed Nuthatches, which partly made up for our difficulty with the sparrow and the nighthawk.

From Longleaf we drove to the Windsor boat ramp to scope Newnans Lake. Again we missed one of our targets, Bald Eagle, but we found the other, Laughing Gull. We also saw a Least Bittern and a pair of Wood Ducks fly by. Our best birds of the morning, however, went unidentified: a flight of eight terns too far off to ID. They were probably Forster’s, but no details were visible apart from the all-white body and characteristic hunting style of splashing into the water.

We’d spent too much time at Longleaf, so we drove past Powers Park and went straight to Palm Point. We could have driven past that, too, because the only bird we added to our list was Yellow-throated Warbler. We did get better looks at the Laughing Gulls, however.

Our next stop – and the last stop for the sane ones among us – was the La Chua Trail. We missed Blue Grosbeak, Orchard Oriole, and Yellow-breasted Chat. A pair of Tree Swallows and two drake Blue-winged Teal had been lingering in the vicinity, but we didn’t see them. A Roseate Spoonbill had also been seen, but only a few of us noticed it as it flew west from Alachua Lake. We learned that Frank Goodwin had photographed a female Hooded Merganser (photo) at Gator Point (the last bend in the trail before the observation platform), but the glare was pretty bad by then and we were unable to relocate it. However when we got to the observation platform we did see some late shorebirds: a Lesser Yellowlegs and half a dozen peeps. It was late enough in the day that heat distortion made the peeps difficult to identify. I felt confident that one of them was a Semipalmated Sandpiper, but I couldn’t say anything beyond that. Peter Polshek thought that some of the peeps were larger than the others, but we were unable to come to an agreement on their ID. We had one remarkable sighting out there: a Black-crowned Night-Heron snatched a downy young Common Gallinule and gulped it down. I had no idea they did that.

The sane people went home at this point, but four insane people went on to Sweetwater Wetlands Park in hope that the Snail Kite was still around. The sightings board in the restroom area didn’t mention any Snail Kite being seen, but it did mention a Bobolink. (Does anyone know who saw that? It’s the second-latest ever seen in the county.) We spent an hour and a half looking for the Bobolink and the kite, but left with nothing added to our June Challenge lists but Limpkin.

This morning I was at Sweetwater Wetlands Park a little after it opened at seven. I walked the boardwalk in hope of seeing yesterday’s Bobolink, but no luck. I scanned Cell 2 in hope of seeing the Snail Kite. No luck again. So I headed to La Chua and was on the trail by eight. I scoped Alachua Lake from Gator Point in hope of seeing yesterday’s Hooded Merganser. My luck did not change. But things got a little better when I reached the observation platform. The Lesser Yellowlegs and three of the peeps were still there, and with the morning light and the absence of heat distortion I was able to see that Peter had been right, that two of the birds were Semipalmated Sandpipers but one of them was a Least. The two Blue-winged Teal were visible, unlike yesterday. I scanned for the Whooping Crane without success, but I did see 19 bison! Jonathan Mays came along and told me that he’d seen the Roseate Spoonbill the previous evening not very far from the platform, and a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron near Gator Point. We walked back together, seeing a late Tree Swallow flying with a Barn Swallow as we neared the barn, and then walking down Sparrow Alley to the powerline cut, along which we heard two Yellow-breasted Chats singing (and saw one). The chats were on the left, perched in a 15-foot cherry tree at the point where the large oak trees stop and the growth is mainly blackberry.

I’m heading back out to La Chua this evening with Mike Manetz in hope of seeing the Roseate Spoonbill and Yellow-crowned Night-Heron.