Late warbler migration

From: Rex Rowan <rexrowan@gmail.com>
To: Alachua County birding report

Normally warbler migration peaks in late April and trails off to almost nothing after the first week of May. In some years, though, the peak comes later, and this appears to be one of those years. Yesterday morning Mike Manetz, Barbara Shea, and I walked Bolen Bluff and came up with some impressive numbers: 32 American Redstarts, 20 Blackpoll Warblers, 20 Northern Parulas, 8 Black-throated Blue Warblers, 6 Common Yellowthroats, 5 Black-and-white Warblers, an Ovenbird, and a Northern Waterthrush. While we were at Bolen Bluff, Andy Kratter was finding lots of warblers in his SE Gainesville neighborhood, including 18 American Redstarts. Mike went back to Bolen Bluff this morning and found that numbers were a little lower but still high, and that two new species had dropped in: 26 American Redstarts, 10 Northern Parulas, 8 Black-throated Blue Warblers, 6 Blackpoll Warblers, 5 Common Yellowthroats, 1 Black-and-white Warbler, 1 Worm-eating Warbler, and 1 Magnolia Warbler, only the second that Mike has ever seen during spring migration in Alachua County.

Also, don’t forget that Sweetwater Wetlands Park is open on weekends, so you can go this afternoon or all day tomorrow. Our two AK’s (Andy Kratter and Adam Kent) and Jonathan Mays paid a visit this morning and tallied 54 species. Highlights included 14 Least Bitterns (including one juvenile), 2 Purple Gallinules, 2 Limpkins, a Prothonotary Warbler, an American Redstart, an Indigo Bunting, a Blue Grosbeak, 12 Bobolinks, and nine species of shorebirds, including 9 Black-necked Stilts, 4 Semipalmated Plovers, 18 Spotted Sandpipers, 4 Solitary Sandpipers, 10 Semipalmated Sandpipers, and 80 Least Sandpipers. The SWP website is here. If you have no idea where SWP is, the best map for finding it is at the bottom of this page: http://www.sweetwaterwetlands.org/#!contact/cudb

By the way, if you want to learn a little more about SWP, you might be interested in this: The Sweetwater Wetlands Park—Gainesville’s Newest Birding Hotspot. Presented by Debbie Segal.  Monday, May 11th at the Thomas Center (new location). Social at 6:30 p.m. and program at 7 p.m. Learn how the Sweetwater Wetlands was designed to remove large quantities of nutrients and pollutants while simultaneously providing diverse wildlife habitat and passive public recreation. Water quality, vegetation planting, hydrologic features, and long-term management will be discussed. This presentation has been scheduled to occur just prior to the May 17th Alachua Audubon field trip to Sweetwater Wetlands Park.

Kathy Malone has had a leucistic Common Grackle hanging around her place in High Springs. It has three or four pure white primary coverts, and the four tail feathers on the left are white. Otherwise it looks perfectly normal. Kathy posted a nice picture on her Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kmalone98/16819442094/in/dateposted-public/

Speaking of photos, on April 21st Trina Anderson got these shots of a Great Blue Heron eating a rather large rodent along the La Chua Trail. I passed them along to Scott Flamand, who in turn passed them along to Fiona Reid, author of the Peterson Field Guide to Mammals of North America, who identified it as a Hispid Cotton Rat: https://www.flickr.com/photos/46902575@N06/sets/72157649847422004

Does anyone on this list use independent listing software, like Bird Brain, AviSys, Birder’s Diary, or BirdBase? If so, please let me know. I’m especially interested in anyone who’s using listing software on a Mac. Thanks.

It’s like those birds are migrating or something

From: Rex Rowan <rexrowan@gmail.com>
To: Alachua County birding report

See what you miss when you don’t go on Audubon field trips? Rob Norton got this excellent shot of a Swainson’s Warbler at Steinhatchee Springs WMA on the April 26 Hickory Mound Impoundment trip led by John Hintermister: https://www.flickr.com/photos/73960438@N04/17097720139/

Another case in point: participants in last Sunday’s field trip to Newnans Lake saw two American Avocets fly past the pier at Powers Park. That’s a rare bird in Alachua County.

You’re kicking yourself for not going, aren’t you? Don’t despair, there are still some field trips left: https://alachuaaudubon.org/classes-field-trips/

Thrushes, historically rare here during spring migration, have been coming through in surprising numbers during the past two weeks. Beginning on April 20th and continuing through May 5th (but mainly from the 26th through the 2nd) local birders reported 5 Veeries, 4 Gray-cheeked Thrushes, 3 Swainson’s Thrushes, and 6 Wood Thrushes. I previously linked to Becky Enneis’s photo of a Wood Thrush, and Sam Ewing also got a photo of a Gray-cheeked: https://www.flickr.com/photos/121511542@N02/16673743583/  We had an even stronger thrush migration last year. In 2013 it was smaller but still above average, and in 2012 it was closer to normal: a few Wood Thrushes, one Gray-cheeked, one Swainson’s, no Veeries. In spring 2011, only one Wood Thrush and one Veery were observed.

Speaking of migrants, we’re getting to Connecticut Warbler prime time. Of the county’s ten spring reports, all were between May 6th and May 28th, but six of them were between May 9th and May 13th. And remember, Mike Manetz was looking for a Connecticut Warbler when he found this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/8711298883/  That was a great day: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/8737718788/

Deena Mickelson, Danny Shehee, and Tom Tompkins saw a Brown Pelican over the La Chua Trail on the 30th. Stay away from those three if you don’t want your picture taken: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/17196068340/

I’ve put up another blog post, this one describing a walk on the opening day of Sweetwater Wetlands Park. I was dissatisfied with what I wrote, but the photography, mainly by Danny Shehee (with an assist from Jacksonville’s Kevin Dailey), is excellent, and will give you an idea of what the place looks like if you’ve never been: http://fieldguide.blogs.gainesville.com/239/sweetwater-wetlands-park-open-at-last/

I told the Sun that people were having trouble subscribing to my blog. Trina Anderson had shown me a birding blog that notifies readers by email whenever a new post comes out, so I forwarded that to the editor, and he set up a similar email notification device in the right sidebar of my blog. So if you enter your email address, you’ll get an email whenever I post something new. I don’t think the Sun will sell your email to marketers, but I can’t make any guarantees, so caveat emptor. Or caveat subscriptor in this case.

Going back one paragraph … Attention, eBirders: the new official eBird designation for the sheetflow restoration area is “Sweetwater Wetlands Park.” An eBird hotspot with that name has been established. Please use it – initially with the “Find it on a map” option on the “Where did you bird?” page; afterward it should be under “Choose from your locations.” In that way, all the sightings will be properly gathered into a single database. Old checklists headed “Paynes Prairie Preserve SP–Sheetflow Restoration Wetland” have automatically been changed to the new name.

Also, eBird now has an online store where you can buy eBird hats and tee shirts, though I think it’s still a work in progress: http://shorepromotions.com/ebird_store

Alachua Audubon will hold a Woodpecker Walk for Kids at Northeast Park on May 10th. This is your chance to take a child or grandchild birding, because the Woodpecker Walk is aimed specifically at young people. Meeting time and place here.

Audubon of Florida’s Jacqui Sulek writes, “In honor of International Migratory Bird Day, Waccasassa Bay Preserve State Park will be hosting a birding hike on May 9th. There are only 14 spots available for the hike which is in one week. It’s a unique opportunity since we will be driving a van to the boundary of the preserve and then hiking in to a spot near a spring and trying to spot whatever we can while we’re out there. Contact 352-543-5567 to reserve your spot.  If there is no answer leave your name and number and someone will return your call to verify your reservation as soon as possible.”

Hairy Woodpecker at Longleaf Flatwoods Reserve

From: Rex Rowan <rexrowan@gmail.com>
To: Alachua County birding report

This morning Bob Carroll picked up Miami birder Toe Torres in Hawthorne and took him to Longleaf Flatwoods Reserve, where I joined them. Toe’s Florida life list, though 405 species long, was still lacking Hairy Woodpecker. He’d seen one in Virginia, where they’re much more common, but never in Florida. Hairies have been found along the Red Loop at Longleaf the past two or three years, and Ron Robinson and Jim Allison found one out there on March 11th, so that’s where we searched. We wandered for a good mile over the sandhills back there, but finally located it in about the same place where we saw it last year. Walk out the Red-White Connector (turning left onto the service road), and when the trail forks at the beginning of the Red Loop go straight (which is the right fork). Before long you’ll pass the turnoff to the camping area. Just stay on the main trail for about a hundred yards beyond the turnoff and you’ll be in Hairy Woodpecker territory. Listen for its drumming; it drums more often than it calls. We had to go off the trail to see it, and found it in some pines about a hundred feet from the fence marking the northern border of the property. I was looking at a different stand of pines when I heard Bob and Toe calling for me, and I ran back, but not quickly enough. Oh well, I’ll see it during The June Challenge…

Geoff Parks sent me an interesting email at 8:30, while I was at Longleaf: “I’m too busy to do anything about it right now, but there seem to be several migrants singing around Loblolly [NW 5th Avenue just east of NW 34th Street]. I’m hearing a Gray-cheeked Thrush through my office window, and when I came in there was an unusually high-pitched Black-throated Blue. I don’t want to cause a false panic but there’s a slim chance that it was a Cerulean…”

Speaking of migrants, have you watched “Gulf Crossing” yet this spring? It’s a 2013 film about trans-Gulf migration and it features some really beautiful photography. Watch the first minute and a half – just birds and landscapes – and maybe you’ll watch the rest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e20qNjdcSUk

Debbie Segal is looking for photos from Sweetwater Wetland Park (which opens on Saturday!). She writes, “I am preparing a power point presentation of the Sheetflow Wetland (aka Sweetwater Wetland Park) and would like to get a few more photos of birds, people, and/or the public use facilities. Do you know a few folks who might have some photos to share with me? If so, can you please forward this email to them or send me their names so I can contact them?” Let me know if you’ve got photos and I’ll put you in touch with Debbie.

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park has just posted a job announcement for their park biologist position (Environmental Specialist I). The preserve is one of the largest remaining tracts of Florida dry prairie. It is a breathtaking and remote landscape. Housing may be provided on site. This position had been held for many years by Paul Miller. He was a strong advocate for the endangered Florida Grasshopper Sparrow, which still exists in small numbers at the preserve. It will take a special person to fill this vacancy given the urgent actions needed for the sparrow at this time. There is a very short application deadline (May 1). Please forward this announcement to anyone you know who may be interested. Here is the direct link to the application site: https://jobs.myflorida.com/viewjob.html?optlink-view=view-796452&ERFormID=newjoblist&ERFormCode=any

Alachua County environmental officials are seeking public input on the 1,179 acre Watermelon Pond Preserve at a public meeting on May 4th at 6 p.m. at the Archer City Hall (16870 SW 134th Avenue). They’re looking for input regarding hiking trails, interpretative kiosks, sandhill restoration, and management of the preserve.

This is probably going to end up humiliating me, but how many of you have tried subscribing to my Gainesville Sun blog and failed, and how many have successfully subscribed? Please let me know, since two or three people have complained to me that they can’t subscribe and I’d like to have a number when I talk to the Sun about it. Of course, if the number of people who have tried to subscribe is no more than two or three, I don’t think the Sun will pay a lot of attention to me…

There’s good news and there’s bad news

From: Rex Rowan <rexrowan@gmail.com>
To: Alachua County birding report

The good news is that Steve Goodman and Sam Ewing, participating for the first time in Georgia’s Youth Birding Challenge, won the first place trophy today (!!!!): https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/17281902992/  Congratulations, guys! WE knew you were great birders, now everyone else does too!

Other good news: Backyard birding is getting more interesting. Just today, Becky Enneis had a Wood Thrush at her place in Alachua, Dana Griffin had an Ovenbird in his NW Gainesville backyard, and Ron Robinson photographed a Summer Tanager and a Black-throated Blue Warbler in his Back Yard De Luxe west of Gainesville.

Now the bad news: UF wildlife biology professor Dr. Peter Frederick, who has been observing the nesting colonies at Seahorse Key over the past few years, has reported a complete abandonment of nesting activity on Seahorse Key that seems to have occurred within the past two weeks. He gave me permission to publish his report, but he had some cautions: “I am very concerned about speculation and blame in the absence of much evidence and I hope that you will emphasize that there are still many possible explanations for what happened, some of which are natural causes. Please remind the readers that in the 1930s the birds bred predominantly on Snake Key and that colonies can be very dynamic.” With that said, here’s Peter’s report from the 25th:

“We learned a lot today about the loss of nesting at Seahorse, though we do not have a conclusive explanation for events. The synopsis is that Maria and Kenny were right – there has been a complete abandonment of all nesting at Seahorse, and many of those birds have apparently begun nesting at Snake Key. The cause of abandonment is unclear, though we think we can rule out one or two of the potential stressors.

“First, the Seahorse Key trip, in which we walked over large portions of Gardiners Point, revealed no active nesting of any species aside from ospreys on their platforms. Cormorants, Pelicans, ibises, egrets, herons, spoonbills – all are gone. Vic had recorded very typical flight line counts only two weeks ago and I had heard that Larry Woodward may have seen evidence of nesting even more recently. We found nests that were falling apart with no eggs or chicks, and hundreds of eggs on the ground, nearly all of which had been opened by Fish Crows. The characteristic marks of avian egg puncture (shell edge pushed inwards, intact hemispheres of eggs) are easy to tell from raccoon marks (crushed eggs, teeth marks) and we only found one or two eggs that might have been handled by a raccoon. All of this could well have been scavenging rather than direct egg predation. We also saw the remains of up to 15 dead cormorants, five dead pelicans, two dead ibises, three dead black-crowned night herons, and one dead fish crow. We estimate that there must have been many more dead birds – we did not cover the entire island or the entirety of Gardiners Point.

“Its unclear if the numbers of dead birds are abnormal – all breeding aggregations of birds have dead individuals lying about. I thought the number was excessive for normal mortality, though there was disagreement on this point by Marilyn Spalding, who has also been in a lot of colonies. The mortalities all seemed to be roughly the same age though, and many still had beetle larvae on them that may help us to define the rough time of death, CSI style. We collected about seven of the carcasses, and though all were bones and feathers, no flesh, there may be important information to be had from them. The synchronicity of the mortalities is also atypical of most healthy colonies.

“All signs pointed to a mass abandonment of nests that was at least roughly synchronous. The fact that so many species abandoned at once makes interruptions in many different food supplies at once unlikely as an explanation – so does the fact that nearly all species appear to have re-initiated nesting on Snake Key. The lack of evidence of raccoon bite marks on eggs suggests that raccoons were not the primary source of nest abandonment. We found no raccoon tracks on the beaches of Gardiners Point and found only one scat in the interior of Gardiners Point – it did not appear to have shell fragments or feathers in it. We walked the entire gulf-facing beach front on Seahorse and found tracks on the southeast part, suggestive of one or perhaps two individuals. Since Fish Crows cannot usually intimidate birds off their nests, their eating of eggs looks entirely secondary to the abandonment – the crows were scavenging abandoned eggs. The fact that the birds have re-initiated on Snake Key strongly suggests that something occurred at Seahorse that was hugely incompatible with nesting there, and frightened all the birds off.

“There are several possibilities for the cause. Eagles could have begun attacking adult nesting birds – this has caused mass abandonment before in seabird colonies, and the placement and skeleton evidence suggests that the carcasses we found could have been eaten by a raptor. However, they could also have been cleaned off by crabs or rats or beetle larvae and the evidence might have looked very similar. Eagles are common at Seahorse, but they have coexisted with birds there for some years and at other colonies elsewhere in coastal situations for some years. Snake Key has a resident pair – if the birds were flipped out by predatory eagles it seems unlikely they would have chosen Snake to re-nest.

“Human disturbance that included killing through shooting or some other mechanism could also be a possibility. The placement and disposition of the dead birds could have been from birds that were shot. There were many more carcasses on the edge, particular the north end of Gardiners Point, than in the middle. Thus someone with a gun might have been shooting  birds from a boat, creating this pattern. The carcasses we collected should allow us to tell whether they were shot – usually there are marks on bones that indicate the passage of lead shot, though this is easier to tell with shotgun than with single shot. We also found no shell casings despite some pretty intensive looking-down to avoid the cottonmouth moccasins. Similarly,  predation by eagles has characteristic talon marks that often puncture the back of the head. So I believe it would be of great value to get the carcasses analyzed by some lab that can do decent forensics. While it seems farfetched that someone would do such a thing (and even more, that no one would hear or see it), remember that we have probably gone two weeks without noticing that the birds had abandoned – so our detection and monitoring is episodic, and such an event could well have occurred.

“We did find large numbers of all the species except ibises nesting on Snake Key, nearly all on the north side. We saw one pelican apparently on a nest and many others building and courting. I counted 65 cormorant nests and over 150 individuals, many of which were carrying nesting material. We saw Roseate Spoonbills carrying nesting material and descending with it into the mangroves on the north side, and at least two Great Egrets carrying nesting material and displaying high courtship colors on the nares. In short, everything that abandoned at Seahorse was at Snake, starting anew, albeit probably in smaller numbers. Note that this section is being monitored by trail cameras set on poles looking towards the island, and these cameras should have been able to document the buildup of birds there – which may help us pinpoint the timing of the abandonment at Seahorse.

“We may never know what happened on Seahorse – but it is unprecedented in the history of the island as far as I or anyone else on the trip today knew. While the past numbers of nests have fluctuated, there is no record of zero in recent history, especially by all species. This could be temporary, and the birds might return to Seahorse next year, or it could be permanent, especially if they do well at Snake this year. Given the numbers of birds at Snake, it seems appropriate to put up no entry postings as they have been at Seahorse, since in my experience human disturbance from beachgoers and fishermen could be detrimental to nesting – but those are agency decisions to make.

“My experience with other colony abandonments is that we humans tend to jump to conclusions, and usually blame humans for such events, especially in the absence of evidence. Before we do so, I think we should at least get the carcasses analyzed. Until that time, I suggest that we ought to repeat that the abandonments at Seahorse appeared to be synchronous within the last two weeks, and the events leading to that abandonment are unclear. Interruptions in the food supply seems like the least likely explanation at this point, and investigations are ongoing. We should encourage anyone with observations about the nesting at seahorse to contact the Refuge. We should also appeal to the public to keep at least 100 meters away from the shores of Snake Key on all sides to give the birds a chance to re-nest. Given the late start of nesting there, it will probably be necessary to keep disturbance to a minimum well into July.

“I have probably missed important points in this whole description, and so encourage everyone to add information if they can.”

I wonder what will happen to the famous Seahorse Key cottonmouths, which survive on dead fish that fall from the nests. They’ll have a long wait between now and next spring, if the birds even return next spring.

It was twenty years ago today…

From: Rex Rowan <rexrowan@gmail.com>
To: Alachua County birding report

Mark your calendar! Sweetwater Wetland Park – what we’ve been calling the sheetflow restoration area – will open to the general public on weekends beginning on Saturday, May 2nd. Hours of operation will be 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. on both Saturdays and Sundays, and the admission price will be $5.00 per car. It’s not going to have enough parking places!

There’s a field trip to Sweetwater Wetland Park (SWP) tomorrow, your last chance to bird the place without paying an admission fee. It’s actually a Santa Fe Audubon field trip, but they’ve extended an invitation to Gainesville birders to join them. Be at the SWP entrance at 8:30 – not the usual double-gated entrance, but the single gate about a hundred yards to the north – and be prompt, because Debbie Segal will have to lock it after everyone gets there. She wanted to scout out the birding conditions before the field trip, so this afternoon she went for a drive around the cells, and she invited Dotty Robbins and me to come along. In the overflow channel that borders the cells on the north side we found shorebirds of a dozen species in a muddy, grassy tract that was partly flooded. There were lots of Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, lots of Solitary and Least Sandpipers, Killdeer, two Semipalmated Plovers, two Semipalmated Sandpipers, three Long-billed Dowitchers, a Pectoral Sandpiper, a Stilt Sandpiper, and (tying the county’s early record) a White-rumped Sandpiper. There were lots of birds out there, and it’s possible that we missed something. In a different part of the park we counted 63 Bobolinks. Other sightings included Limpkins, Least Bitterns, an American Bittern, a Purple Gallinule, and Northern Rough-winged Swallows.

I suspect that all those birds will still be around when SWP opens on May 2nd, so don’t feel that you have to give up tomorrow’s trip to Hickory Mound Impoundment and Steinhatchee Springs WMA: https://alachuaaudubon.org/event/hickory-mound-wildlife-management-area/?instance_id=405

Earlier in the day I’d led the community education birding class out La Chua. We got most of the expected birds, and nothing unexpected: Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Yellow-breasted Chat, Purple Gallinule, and Least Bittern. A couple of us stayed late and added a Summer Tanager and two lingering winter birds, Sora and Northern Harrier, to the day’s list. The Alachua Audubon Society field trip to Bolen Bluff, also held this morning, found American Redstarts, Black-throated Blue Warblers, a Cape May Warbler, Bobolinks, and a Whooping Crane.

People are reporting Rose-breasted Grosbeaks at their feeders. Evelyn Perry had two in her yard near the Kanapaha Prairie on the 23rd, and Bob and Erika Simons had two at their place in SW Gainesville on the 24th. My favorite Rose-breasted Grosbeak report, however, was the one Ron Robinson submitted on the 22nd, because it was accompanied by a photo of a grosbeak feeding right next to a Pine Siskin, not a combination we often see around here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/17234681116/

If you remember, a pair of American Robins nested in Geoff Parks’s NE Gainesville neighborhood last summer. They seem to be back. Geoff is seeing as many as three hanging around, weeks after the migrant robins have gone north. Even more interesting, Mike Manetz has heard one singing every morning in his NW Gainesville neighborhood, about a mile from Geoff’s place. I suspect it’s one of the offspring from last year’s nesting. But does it have any chance of finding a mate? And, if so, isn’t any female robin that’s still in Gainesville likely to be a sibling?

Finally, excuse the self-indulgence, but the next five paragraphs are from a diary entry, written twenty years ago tomorrow, describing a significant event (well, significant to me and Mike Manetz) that occurred twenty years ago today:

“Since September Mike Manetz and I have been working on a pamphlet, A Birdwatcher’s Guide to Alachua County, Florida. We really started writing around the end of December, and had most of the text done by last month. At this point Jonathan [Vaughan, a high-school friend of mine] was supposed to have taken over and, using his training in layout and graphic design, made a book out of it, but his father developed pancreatic cancer, and Jonathan spent every spare minute at his bedside. When his father died earlier this month, Jonathan really got down to work on the book. I went up to Jacksonville and spent most of a weekend in front of his computer, changing this word, asking him to alter that map; and then last Thursday he brought the computer down and Mike and I looked over everything, suggested a few last-minute changes, and got the final version printed out right there in my dining room. The next morning I delivered it to Xerographics, an inexpensive photocopying shop Mike had made a deal with.

“Yesterday afternoon at 5:30 Mike and his 10-year-old daughter Ashley met me at Xerographics. The pamphlet was still being trimmed and boxed, so we stood around nervously, wondering if they’d left anything out, or stapled anything in upside down. A UF biologist with a young son was there also, conferring with the staff about a Spanish-language folder on a rainforest conference to be held in Peru. When the boxes of our pamphlets were brought out, it took him less than ten seconds to walk over and ask, ‘Can I buy one?’ Mike said sure, and after commenting about the relatively high price (Mike replied, ‘How many thousands of hours of work did we put into this, Rex?’), he wrote us a check. So Peter Polshek was our first purchaser. And he made us autograph the title page. Mike said, as we were walking out the door, ‘I was real cool when he asked to buy the book in there, but I want to tell you, I just barely kept myself from jumping up and down.’

“So how did it feel to have the book in our hands? Partly good and partly disappointing. Here was this thing we’d been visualizing for so long, and we could actually heft it in our hands, and turn the pages, and see our pictures on the back cover and our names on the front. But they’d used cheap paper, so that the back of each sheet showed through, and some of the pages were crooked, and several of the covers had shoddy trimming jobs that gave them frayed edges. So that took the edge off our giddiness – but still I couldn’t keep my hands off the books on my drive home. I kept picking them up and looking at them.

“Last night Nina and the kids and I went over to the Manetzes’ and colored the pamphlet covers. Each cover depicted a Mississippi Kite drawn by Diana, Mike’s wife, and we colored in each of the 249 remaining kites’ eyes with red magic markers.

“This morning I showed the books around the office. Everybody smiled and went, ‘Oh!’ and leafed through it briefly, but no one seemed really interested. Mike, on the other hand, called at about 8:30 to tell me he’d already sold five copies at the school where he teaches.”

Of course that 1995 edition, with its 64 pages, 12 maps, and species accounts for 227 annually- and irregularly-occurring birds, made way for the 2006 edition, with 128 pages, 42 maps, and species accounts for each of the 340 bird species ever recorded in Alachua County. It’s about time for a third edition, but Mike and I are now very old (a surprise to many people who see that 1995 photo on the back of the book) and our vital energies are waning, etc. Who knows, though? We may have one more edition in us. Meanwhile, the 2006 book is still available at Wild Birds Unlimited.

Incidentally, Kevin Dailey is working on a similar project for Duval County: http://birdingjacksonville.com/  It’s quite impressive. Click on “Locations” and “Species” on the menu. It’s a work in progress, and I’m really looking forward to seeing it when he’s done.

The pinochle of spring migration is approaching. I mean pinnacle. Man, am I embarrassed!

From: Rex Rowan <rexrowan@gmail.com>
To: Alachua County birding report

Join Alachua Audubon on Wednesday evening for Dr. Katie Sieving’s presentation, “Cracking the Anti-Predator Code of Tufted Titmice.” Dr. Sieving, a professor in the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, has been studying the vocalizations of chickadees and titmice for years. They’re highly social birds with exceptional vocal complexity. “Capable of encoding 2/3 of the information that the English language can, the sophisticated information encoded in parid calls is used by numerous species to avoid danger and enhance survival. Dr. Sieving will discuss how we decode meaning in these calls and how we are beginning to map landscapes of animal information.” We’ll meet at the Millhopper Branch Library, 3145 NW 43rd Street. A preliminary social “hour” begins at 6:30 with the talk following at 7:00.

The timing of migration at Cedar Key has been frustrating this week. As described here, the Third Thursday Birding Club pretty much struck out on the 16th with only three or four warbler species. But one day later Pat Burns and Dale Henderson engaged in a little competition during which Pat found 17 warbler species and Dale 15. No matter, we’d try again on the 19th, during the Alachua Audubon field trip. And the 19th started out fairly well, with a Peregrine Falcon circling over Shell Mound and a light-morph Short-tailed Hawk hanging over our heads for thirty seconds at Black Point Swamp. But that used up all our luck, because we didn’t find any migrants except for a single Prairie Warbler and in fact saw few birds of any sort. Several people had already gotten bored and headed home when we called it a day at 1:00 … and of course later that afternoon Pat Burns posted to Birdbrains, “This afternoon we had wind, rain, flooding and birds. I could hear Indigo Buntings, so I visited the State Museum, cemetery and Trestle Trail. Yellow-billed Cuckoo 2, Eastern Wood-Pewee 1, Veery 2, Wood Thrush 8, Gray Catbird in flocks, Yellow-throated Vireo 1, Prairie Warbler 3, Black-and-white Warbler 5, American Redstart 1, Prothonotary Warbler 1, Ovenbird 2, Northern Waterthrush 5, Hooded Warbler 3, Summer Tanager 1, Scarlet Tanager 1, Rose-breasted Grosbeak 15, Blue Grosbeak 5, Indigo Bunting 60+, Orchard Oriole 7, Baltimore Oriole 5.” Bob Carroll decided to drive out there today, and this morning he sent me an email, reporting, “Dude, it’s hopping! Black-throated Green, Blackpoll, Tennessee, Yellow, Indigo Bunting. Flying in as I type. Yay!” And this afternoon I saw a report from Citrus Audubon Society, who visited Cedar Key this morning and had some great birding, including everything mentioned by Pat and Bob as well as two species we don’t often see there in spring, Chestnut-sided and Cerulean Warblers.

Back here in Alachua County, things have mostly been a little tamer, as is normal; inland sites always have a reduced spring migration compared to the coast. But there have been a few exceptions. It’s been a great week for uncommon raptors. On the 18th Dean and Sam Ewing were driving east on University Avenue near Main Street they spotted a Short-tailed Hawk overhead. Sam got a photo, and while they were standing there a Broad-winged Hawk also flew over. Sam didn’t get a picture, but that was okay, because when they got to Powers Park he was able to photograph another Broad-winged Hawk! Steve Hofstetter reports that a third Broad-winged was seen during the Mill Creek field trip – also on the 18th. It usually takes me about five years to see three Broad-winged Hawks, and here were three in a single day! Finally, there was an adult Peregrine Falcon perched on the vulture roost at Palm Point this morning. Mike Manetz had time to snap a photo before it flew away.

A handful of migrant warblers have been showing up locally. On the 17th Becky Enneis of Alachua wrote, “Finally!  Since noon at the drip pool I’ve had Worm-eating Warbler, male Black-throated Blue, and male Blackpoll.” On the 18th Matt O’Sullivan found eight warbler species at Palm Point, including a Cape May, a Black-throated Blue, an American Redstart, and a Northern Waterthrush. On the 20th Mike Manetz had three Cape Mays and a Blackpoll there, as well as a Northern Waterthrush. He returned today, with John Hintermister, Howard Adams, and me, but although we found four Cape Mays, a Prairie, and a Northern Waterthrush, and had 53 species overall (including a flyover Yellow-crowned Night-Heron seen only by John and Mike), the number of migrants seemed to have declined over the three-day period. We’ve still got another week and a half to the warbler migration, however, and it usually finishes strong.

Indigo Buntings are migrating through, and Painted Buntings often accompany them. Phil Laipis had two females in his NW Gainesville yard on the 19th and Rich Lewis had a male eating chopped suet and bark butter in his NW Gainesville yard on the 20th.

John Hintermister and Steve Nesbitt visited Steinhatchee Springs WMA on the 17th and tallied seven (seven!) singing Swainson’s Warblers (seven!). John tells me that he plans to make Steinhatchee Springs one of his stops on the Hickory Mound field trip on the 26th (seven!). Details here: https://alachuaaudubon.org/event/hickory-mound-wildlife-management-area/?instance_id=405

The Western Tanager at Jack and Mary Lynch’s yard is still there, and has been molting in the red head of his breeding plumage. Kathy Malone got a photo on the 17th: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/17039875120/

Speaking of Kathy, she had a very neat idea to help nesting birds: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kmalone98/17170394481/

Hugo Kons got a nice photo of a Barn Swallow at its nest under the I-75 overpass at Williston Road on the 13th: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/17225536972/

Donny Griffin sent this to me. It’s a video of a big hummingbird that makes daily visits to a Brazilian guy who feeds him, flying in through his open window: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=716617805095045&fref=nf

Hope to see you at the Millhopper Library at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22nd. Once we’ve absorbed what Dr. Sieving has to say we’ll be like the NSA to titmice, eavesdropping on their every communication!

A few news items, plus a Cedar Key bird report

From: Rex Rowan <rexrowan@gmail.com>
To: Alachua County birding report

Join the Alachua Audubon Society on Wednesday, April 15th at 6:00 pm for our annual pot luck dinner celebration and to help us welcome our newest board members, Marie Davis, Will Sexton, Katie Sieving, Charlene Leonard, Ted Goodman, Adam Zions, John Sivinski, and Trina Anderson. The event will be held at Dick and Patty Bartlett’s house at 3101 SW 1st Way, Gainesville, located in the Colclough Hills neighborhood between south Main Street and Williston Road – across the street from and a little south of Bubba Scales’s house, where it’s been held in the past. (Look for the Audubon signs!) Bring some food to share and your drink of choice, and enjoy visiting with Alachua Audubon members and the Board of Directors. This will be a fun gathering and an opportunity to share our more recent spring migration observations!

Matt O’Sullivan went to Cedar Key on the 11th hoping that the forecast rains would ground some migrants: “Well it was pretty quiet at Cedar Key as they never got any rain. It did get better as the day went on, and by the end of the day I had seen 11 species of warbler including a Worm-eating, a Black-throated Blue, 2 Cape May, and best of all 2 Swainson’s Warblers on the same log!!! The most common bird of the day was Prairie Warbler with about a dozen around, also had several Ovenbirds and Northern Waterthrushes. Other than that the only other migrants were an Indigo Bunting and a Baltimore Oriole that I heard but missed as it flew over my head. Others on the island saw a single Black-throated Green and a Magnolia Warbler.”

During the peaks of spring and fall migrations, Alachua Audubon offers two – even three! – field trips each weekend. This year’s “twofer” season began last weekend with a wildflower trip on Saturday and a San Felasco Hammock bird hike on Sunday and will continue through May 16-17. Our field trip schedule is here: https://alachuaaudubon.org/classes-field-trips/

The wildflower trip to Goldhead Branch State Park went well, thanks to a knowledgeable volunteer from the Native Plant Society. The group visited sandhill, scrub, and ravine habitats and admired some lovely and fragrant wildflowers. Bird life included Brown-headed Nuthatches, a briefly-seen Swallow-tailed Kite, a Summer Tanager, and Red-headed Woodpeckers. It was also a surprisingly good day for herps. We saw a couple of Eastern Fence Lizards, two Florida Softshell Turtles, a recently road-killed Coral Snake (gory photo here), a young Southern Black Racer, and a Florida Watersnake.

Bob Carroll reported on Sunday’s San Felasco Hammock trip: “Today’s field trip to San Felasco was quite successful. We had a hard time getting out of the parking lot, and a harder time reaching the Moonshine Creek Trail. The parking lot produced Red-headed Woodpeckers (actually across the street), Great-crested Flycatchers, and a distant view of a male Summer Tanager (also across the street). We also stopped in the area with mostly pines and an open forest floor before we reached the Moonshine Trail. We were looking at a male Summer Tanager when Alan Shapiro called out that he had something really yellow – like Prothonotary yellow. Sure enough, he had a Prothonotary Warbler that gave us really terrific looks. Then we had the unique experience of seeing the Prothonotary in the same tree as and really close to both a male and female Summer Tanager so we could study them at leisure. Once on the Moonshine Creek Trail, we had a cooperative Red-eyed Vireo dancing around us. Later we had to work very hard, but finally we got everyone a decent look at a Hooded Warbler. There were a lot of Hoodeds thoughout the forest, and it took four stops and four different males to get everyone a look, but patience paid off. The only real miss of the day were the Barred Owls that are usually very responsive on the last quarter of the trail. They were silent and invisible today.”

Speaking of Bob Carroll, he writes, “It’s Third Thursday time! This week we’re heading to Cedar Key in search of piles and piles of migrants. We’ll meet at Target and leave by 7:00, pick up Barbara Shea in Archer, then meet a few more people in Cedar Key by 8:30. Here’s a tentative itinerary: We’ll drive out to Shell Mound for shorebirds (while looking for Florida Scrub-Jays along the way). Then we’ll go into Cedar Key, stop at the Episcopal Church and check the mulberry trees. We’ll walk around the cemetery looking for warblers. We’ll check the museum grounds. We may also check the loquat bushes near the turn at Hodges Avenue and the area around Anchor Cove and Andrews Circle. We’ll drive out toward the airport and maybe check the area along SW 133rd Street. Somewhere in there we’ll stop for lunch. So far I’ve had three restaurant nominations:
Tony’s (award-winning clam chowder), Ken’s (music of the 50s and 60s, best burgers in town and looking out on the Gulf), Annie’s (variety of food with a porch overlooking Back Bayou). You can look on Yelp or Trip Advisor for reviews.
PLEASE: If you’re joining us for lunch, let me know as soon as you can AND vote for a restaurant. I’ll eliminate the one with the least votes and then make a pick. See you on Thursday!”

Bad news for photographers and early birders: Paynes Prairie’s management has discontinued a policy that allowed annual-pass holders to get onto the La Chua Trail before 8:00. Photographer Chris Janus writes, “The gate code for April is not working and the gate was disconnected, as I was told, permanently. I tried it last weekend and today and it did not work. I called the ranger station and was directed to the ‘Manager,’ who kindly returned my call and explained that during the last meeting the management expressed concerns about security (and following even longer explanation by the Manager) and safety on the trail, and they decided to disconnect the gate because there are dangerous animals on the trail, etc. etc. So goodbye to the sunrises and shots of undisturbed wildlife. We will still have a chance to take pictures of noisy runners, people feeding alligators or trying to sit on them during the normal ‘safe’ hours of trail operation. If you suspect sarcasm here, you are correct. And if you say that sarcasm is the last kind of wisdom, you are also correct. But at least it is wisdom, I’d say. Now, if you know any place one can go early on the weekend morning for a stroll and take some good pictures of wildlife and not to see too many people, please, let me know.”

I’ve put up a new blog post at the Gainesville Sun website: http://fieldguide.blogs.gainesville.com/138/swamps-and-spotted-turtles/ It describes an afternoon that I spent with Jonathan Mays in a swamp, looking for Spotted Turtles. And speaking of turtles, Jonathan told me about a new non-profit organization devoted to turtle conservation, the American Turtle Observatory: http://www.americanturtles.org/

Field trip update, still more migrants

From: Rex Rowan <rexrowan@gmail.com>
To: Alachua County birding report

Saturday’s wildflower field trip will be proceeding without its long-time leader, Dana Griffin. Dana has developed some back problems that are going to keep him off his feet for a while. He has our heartfelt wishes for a full recovery, and hopefully he’ll be back with us in the future. Meanwhile we’ll meet in the Winn-Dixie parking lot at the intersection of SW 34th Street and SW 20th Avenue at 8 a.m. and proceed to Goldhead Branch State Park (entrance fee $5 per vehicle, $4 single-passenger vehicle) on SR-21 north of Keystone Heights, where we’ll look at the native plants and wildflowers of several habitats, including sandhill, scrub, slope forest, lake edge, and seepage slope. Reportedly the state-champion longleaf pine is in the park, and if we can find it we’ll make a point of standing around and admiring it. Please join us on Saturday morning.

Nearly all the locally-nesting neotropical migrants are here now. The first Prothonotary Warbler of the spring was sighted by Sam and Ben Ewing at the Hogtown Creek Greenway on March 28th, the first Orchard Oriole of the spring by Lloyd Davis and Howard Adams at La Chua on April 2nd, the first Yellow-billed Cuckoo at San Felasco Hammock by Sidney Wade, Howard Adams, and Brad Hall on the 5th, and the first Blue Grosbeak by Howard at Chapmans Pond on the 6th (Howard is out there kicking some birdie butt!). The only spring arrivals that haven’t yet been reported are Eastern Wood-Pewee, which can go undetected because of its rarity in Alachua County, and Acadian Flycatcher.

So now it’s time to start watching for the transients, the birds that are just passing through on their way north. Some have been seen already, of course. Prairie Warblers and Louisiana Waterthrushes have been moving through since mid-March, and in fact the Louisiana Waterthrush migration seems to be over, with no observations since March 28th. Mike Manetz and Tina Greenberg saw a very early Cape May Warbler at Palm Point on April 2nd – they’re most likely during the last week of April – and I saw an American Redstart at the south edge of the Tuscawilla Prairie on the 4th. We have Indigo Buntings that nest here, of course, but northbound birds may show up at feeders this month, often in fairly respectable numbers. Watch for Painted Buntings among them.

Transient shorebirds are visiting as well. On the afternoon of the 5th I made a brief Sneaky Sunday visit to the sheetflow restoration area. My scope is in the shop, which made shorebirding a little more of a challenge,  but I saw 2 Pectoral Sandpipers, at least 1 Stilt Sandpiper (up to 5 have been seen there), 1 Spotted Sandpiper, 6 or 8 Black-necked Stilts, and several dowitchers, presumably all Long-billed, many of them molting into rich reddish-brown breeding plumage.

Also on the 5th, and also at the sheetflow restoration area, Adam Zions got a photo of a White-faced Ibis, which also seems to be molting into breeding plumage: https://www.flickr.com/photos/76166204@N08/17050072765/

Lloyd Davis points out that a much more accessible shorebirding area is developing at San Felasco’s Progress Center, where Lee Pond is drying up (as it regularly does). On the 6th he found a Stilt Sandpiper there: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/16892280789/

Lloyd also got a couple of interesting photos in his own back yard. He’s had a Tufted Titmouse visiting his feeder all winter that has some white wing feathers, patches of white on its head and body, and a bill that’s pink instead of black. Two of Lloyd’s pictures of the bird are here and here.

Last weekend, while traveling up to Georgia in the course of his Spotted Turtle research, Jonathan Mays stopped to investigate a cypress floodplain and found a young Eastern Mud Snake. This extraordinary photo shows just how un-mud-like a Mud Snake can be: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jmays/16891449969/

Jessica Burnett writes, “Neighborhood Nestwatch is a citizen science program founded by the Smithsonian Institution. The main goals of the program are to determine how backyard bird populations are affected by urbanization and to educate the public about wildlife and the scientific process. We are seeking participants in the Gainesville area (no more than 60 miles from downtown) who are interested in learning first-hand about the common birds found in their backyard and contributing to a multi-city study on the effects of urbanization on resident birds. On an annual basis, scientists will conduct a backyard bird-banding visit with the help of participants. Participants and their families/children will report sightings of banded birds to the Smithsonian, will monitor nests on their property, and will assist researchers during the site visit with mist-netting and nest searching. If you would like to participate, please email our team at gainesvillenestwatch@gmail.com. All levels of bird watchers and enthusiasts are welcome. We will be available any day of the week beginning in late April, until July 4th. Email us now to secure a spot!”

More spring migrants

From: Rex Rowan <rexrowan@gmail.com>
To: Alachua County birding report

Sorry about two posts in one day, but I wanted to get the Cave Swallow news out. There are lots of birders in Gainesville who don’t have Cave Swallow on their Alachua County life lists – though there are fewer of them today than there were yesterday.

This morning’s Ocala National Forest field trip was fairly successful. The sky was clear, the temperature warmed up nicely, and the landscape was beautiful, open, rolling pine savannah. We had close, but mostly brief, looks at Florida Scrub-Jays in two locations, extended close looks at Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, and scope views of a singing Bachman’s Sparrow. Otherwise I’m not sure we saw even ten species of birds. Pine woods are weird like that.

Lloyd Davis photographed a Caspian Tern at Alachua Lake on the 25th: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/16946186766/in/photostream/  There have been about 30 sightings in Alachua County history, none before 1975.

On the 26th, also at Alachua Lake, Lloyd spotted a flock of 20 American Wigeons – likely migrants on their way north – and photographed four of them: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/16970808982/

Lots of resident species have checked in during the last couple of weeks. I’ll give the details of the first report, but in most cases there have been several subsequent sightings: Christine Zamora saw an Indigo Bunting at Paynes Prairie on the 14th; Samuel Ewing saw a Red-eyed Vireo in NW Gainesville on the 20th; Pat Burns found a Hooded Warbler at San Felasco on the 22nd; Dalcio Dacol saw the first Mississippi Kites, two of them, in NW Gainesville on the 22nd; Cindy Boyd saw ten Chimney Swifts at Creekside Mall just after sunset on the 25th at about the same time that Sam Ewing was watching 19 passing over NW Gainesville; Ron Robinson and Chip Deutsch saw an Eastern Kingbird over Jonesville Park on the 28th; and Ron saw a Broad-winged Hawk over his place west of Gainesville on the 29th.

As to transients, the first Louisiana Waterthrush was seen by John Martin at San Felasco’s Moonshine Creek Trail on the 14th and there have been at least five reported since; Matt Bruce saw a Prairie Warbler at La Chua on the 15th and at least ten have been reported since; and Lloyd Davis found one Solitary Sandpiper at San Felasco’s Progress Center on the 25th and another at La Chua on the 27th.

Are you doing loon watches in the morning? If not, you’re missing out. Emily Schwartz counted 78 going over NW Gainesville between 9:10 and 9:37 on the 24th. The rain kept the birds down on Thursday and Friday, but after the front passed it was all systems go. On Saturday morning I saw 103 going over my yard in NE Gainesville (including a single flock of 35!) while Andy counted 88 going over his place in SE Gainesville and Ron Robinson and Chip Deutsch counted 29 going over Jonesville Park.

My blogging career at the Gainesville Sun – did I mention that? I’m sure I did: http://fieldguide.blogs.gainesville.com/ – is not setting the world on fire. Last week I wrote a short appreciation of a common lawn weed called Florida Hedgenettle or Florida Betony, ending with this: “We don’t usually look at little things, but when we do, we’re often startled to find them beautiful. Nature does some of its best work in miniature.” A few days later I got my very first email in response to a blog post! I was so excited! Probably someone writing to thank me for my graceful prose, or at least to share their enthusiasm about nature! I opened the email: “Mr. Rowen, How can you kill Florida Hedgenettle when it is growing among shrubs or plants? Thanks for any advice.”

Did you hear about this? This was great: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/man-saves-black-bear-from-drowning/

Increasingly, I need one of these when I go out birding: http://www.wired.com/2015/03/exoskeleton-acts-like-wearable-chair/

Cave Swallow, shorebirds at Sheetflow Restoration Area

From: Rex Rowan <rexrowan@gmail.com>
To: Alachua County birding report

There’s still a lot of daylight left, so it might be worth your while to run over to the sheetflow restoration area while it’s still Sneaky Sunday.

Mike Manetz had five species of swallows there this morning – Purple Martin, Tree Swallow (15), Barn Swallow (100), Northern Rough-winged Swallow (8), Cliff Swallow (2), and his county-life Cave Swallow (1)! He documented the latter two with photos:

Cliff: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/16943344146/

Cave (in the back, a little blurry but the contrast of the Cave’s orange-buff throat with the brick-red throat of the Cliff Swallow in the foreground is easy to see): https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/16349197693/

Mike also reported nine shorebird species, including 15 Long-billed Dowitchers, 8 Black-necked Stilts, a Spotted Sandpiper, 4 Stilt Sandpipers, and 4 Pectoral Sandpipers.