Category: Birding Reports

Lark Sparrow still there

Posted on by Rex Rowan

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

The Lark Sparrow found by Rob Norton on Friday the 9th – https://www.flickr.com/photos/73960438@N04/16241183915/ – was not found later that afternoon or on the day following. However at 11:30 on Sunday the 11th Lloyd Davis relocated it in the same area where Rob had discovered it, first perched atop the tree in front of the white building across from the grassy parking area, and later in the dry vegetation in the ditch at the back of the parking area. The ditch runs behind some service buildings, and Lloyd found the bird near some banana trees, in the company of Chipping Sparrows. Lloyd posted pictures on his Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/lloyd.davis.399?fref=ts ), in a photo album called “Rare bird at Hague Dairy.”

Bob Carroll will be leading a Retiree Birders’ field trip to the Sweetwater Sheetflow Restoration Site on Thursday the 15th. Since construction crews will be working there at the time, four restrictions have been imposed on us: (1.) Only 25 people will be allowed, and so ONLY the first 25 who sign up can go. To sign up, email Bob at gatorbob23@yahoo.com (2.) Participants have to sign a liability release form, which Bob will forward to you. No release form, no field trip. (3.) Participants MUST wear long pants, closed-toe shoes, and a safety vest. He will try to supply vests for everyone, but that may not be possible. So if you have one, bring it. You can buy one for $10 at Lowe’s, or if you have Amazon Prime you can get a cheap one like this shipped to you before the field trip: http://www.amazon.com/41113-Industrial-Safety-Reflective-Strips/dp/B000IDSZ1U/ref=sr_1_5?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1420861703&sr=1-5&keywords=orange+vest  (That’s what I did. However it’s a little small for my 6’3″ frame; it looks as though I stole it from a ten-year-old boy.) But be sure you’re on the list before you order the vest! (4.) The group MUST enter together, stay with the trip leader, and leave together. GRU could be liable for a substantial fine if anyone wanders away from the trip leader, so we MUST stay in a group. Meeting place will be the parking lot of Bivens Arm Nature Park on South Main Street just before the intersection with Williston Road. Meeting time is 8:00 a.m. Bob adds, “Some of us are lunching at Chuy’s Mexican Restaurant after the trip. If you want to join us, let me know before Thursday.” Again, Bob’s at gatorbob23@yahoo.com

Rusty Blackbirds are being seen in large numbers at the Magnolia Parke wetlands. Lloyd Davis and Howard Adams reported 70 on the 4th, while at 9:35 this morning (the 11th) Adam Kent counted 82, “at first in tall oak on southeast corner of 39th Place and 50th Street. After about 10 minutes they flew north and disappeared into the swamp but later came back to the lawn area.” Adam posted a photo here: https://plus.google.com/photos/112734561717468647204/albums/6101004404063784193/6103154944918383458?banner=pwa&authkey=CJKJ7ay2oOCmCw&pid=6103154944918383458&oid=112734561717468647204

American Robins and (to a lesser extent) Cedar Waxwings have moved into the area. On the 3rd Matt O’Sullivan and I saw big flocks of both in the cypress swamps at San Felasco City Park, and on the 4th Mike Manetz and I found American Robins abundant at O’Leno State Park. I’ve seen flocks of robins passing overhead almost every day since.

Sidney Wade heard an unusually early Northern Cardinal singing on December 16th, which may be the earliest I’ve ever heard about. Right now, however, I’m hearing them most mornings. The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology posted an informative YouTube video about the cardinal’s songs and singing mechanics (though they don’t seem to understand that a video implies moving pictures): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9LNexIoCW0

We’ve got two apparently-wintering American Redstarts in the area. Michael Drummond saw one in his NE Gainesville yard on the 7th. Bob Carroll and I spotted another at the Hague Dairy on the 9th when we went looking for the Lark Sparrow, and it was seen by several other birders on the 10th and 11th.

Lark Sparrow at Hague Dairy

Posted on by Rex Rowan

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

Robert Norton found a beautiful adult Lark Sparrow at the Hague Dairy between 1:20 and 1:30 today.

He sent me a photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/16214071556/

And also sent a map showing where it was seen (the area where we usually park): https://www.google.com/maps/place/29%C2%B046%2745.0%22N+82%C2%B025%2702.0%22W/@29.779153,-82.417227,238m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0

Go see it if you can! Hopefully it will stick around at least through the weekend.

New birds for a new year, and a backward glance

Posted on by Rex Rowan

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

Hummingbird bander Fred Bassett will be visiting the Gainesville area next weekend. If you’ve got hummingbirds visiting your yard right now, if you’d like them banded, and if they’re coming regularly to a feeder, email me your name, your street address, and the number of hummers you’re seeing, and I’ll forward the information to Fred. Here’s a video of Fred’s mentor, the late Bob Sargent, describing his amazement at what he’s learned from hummingbird banding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfHtBTUZatI And here’s Fred (from 1:00 to 2:33) and Bob banding hummers in Mississippi in 2009: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v36GcpHsbw

On January 3rd Matt O’Sullivan and I took a stroll down NW 65th Avenue (east of 71st Street, off Millhopper Road) in hopes of seeing a Dark-eyed Junco reported by Jim Cox. No sign of the junco, or of the Chipping Sparrows that Jim found it associating with. But Matt and I did flush a Fox Sparrow – appropriately enough, from property owned by the Fox family: https://www.flickr.com/photos/118053703@N02/15566106073/ Mike Manetz and I attempted to see both birds this morning, but ended up finding neither.

The adult male Bullock’s Oriole that spent the last two winters in Ted, Danusia, and Steven Goodman’s NW Gainesville neighborhood is back again, and Sam Ewing photographed it on the 3rd: https://www.flickr.com/photos/121511542@N02/16000040167/

Alachua Audubon sponsored a field trip to the Sweetwater Sheetflow Restoration Area on New Year’s Day. Lots of birds were seen by lots of birders. Highlights included a Great White Heron visiting from South Florida, two or three Roseate Spoonbills ditto (John Martin photo here), two White-faced Ibises, Limpkins, a Merlin, and ten species of waterfowl, notably a Canvasback (John Martin photo here) and a large number of Gadwalls.

Rusty Blackbirds are wintering in the wetland at Magnolia Parke again, and Kathy Malone was able to photograph one on December 30th: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kmalone98/15965214167/

Roy Herrera set up a bonfire at his place north of LaCrosse on New Year’s Eve, and spotted an uninvited but very welcome guest, an Eastern Screech-Owl, in a tree overhead. He got a beautiful picture of this fairly common but seldom-seen bird: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/16174980815/

A quick look back at 2014 before we push on into the New Year:

Adam Zions produced his annual list of candidates for Alachua County’s Bird of the Year, shown here in taxonomic order:

Greater White-fronted Goose
Ross’s Goose
Black Scoter
Pacific Loon
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Calliope Hummingbird
Alder Flycatcher
Gray Kingbird
Cave Swallow
Bullock’s Oriole

He asked me which of these, in my opinion, had been the most interesting bird of 2014. I thought it was probably a tie between the Calliope Hummingbird at Jack and Mary Lynch’s High Springs home from January 3rd to March 4th and the Bullock’s Oriole at the Goodmans’ house from January 4th to March 19th, with the oriole having a slight edge since it was the first documented sighting in the county. Both attracted scads of out-of-town birders. Adam pretty much agreed, writing, “I would have no qualms with a tie between those two. I think the Black-chinned and Buff-breasted would come in at 3 and 4 (no particular order), and then move on from there. How awesome were the rarities/aberrants this year, that Pacific Loon and Black Scoter get pushed down a few pegs? With no drought creating favorable conditions for shorebirds and no tropical storms/hurricanes pushing pelagics inland, I think the county had a damn fine showing this past year.”

The task of compiling and ranking individual county and state year-lists for 2014 has been rendered ridiculously easy by eBird. Whether you’re intentionally competing or not, your totals are tallied and ranked at national, state, and county levels. Here are the largest Alachua County lists – birds seen in Alachua County – amassed by Alachua County eBirders :

Rex Rowan 238
Mike Manetz 231 (Mike also ended up with a third-place 244 species in Charlotte County, where he spent much of the year on family business)
Matt O’Sullivan 231
Lloyd Davis 226
Adam Zions 225
John Hintermister 219
Sam Ewing 215
Adam Kent 210
Barbara Shea 210
Benjamin Ewing 205
Dean Ewing 199
Andrew Kratter 198
Jonathan Mays 196
Debbie Segal 196
John Martin 192
Felicia Lee 192

And here are the largest Florida year-lists – including birds seen anywhere in Florida – compiled by Alachua County’s birders:

Adam Zions 306
Lloyd Davis 300
John Hintermister 294
Mike Manetz 282
Jonathan Mays 279
Adam Kent 278
Debbie Segal 278
Rex Rowan 276
Matt O’Sullivan 269
Barbara Shea 267
Andy Kratter 257
Gina Kent 255
Sam Ewing 249
Chris Burney 244
Benjamin Ewing 241

So much for 2014. And now a new year’s birding is underway. It’s fun to watch everyone dash out of the starting gate on January 1st, trying to see, as quickly as possible, the birds that may not stick around. Get that Canvasback! It could leave any day! And there’s no guarantee of another Canvasback before the end of the year! As of the 3rd, Adam Zions is leading the pack with 107 species, followed by Andy Kratter with 91 and Howard Adams with 87. Good luck to one and all. But don’t fret about the numbers, or the competitive aspect. Just have fun. Remember Kenn Kaufman’s words of wisdom: “Birding is something that we do for enjoyment, so if you enjoy it, you are already a good birder. If you enjoy it a lot, you’re a great birder.” Here’s hoping that a lot of good birders turn into great birders in 2015!

Remember to let me know if you’ve got any hummingbirds coming to your feeders.

Last birds of 2014

Posted on by Rex Rowan

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

Merry Christmas, birdwatchers!

Roy Herrera has noticed that the Whooping Crane – still at the Beef Teaching Unit on the 24th – is observing the season by wearing Christmas-colored bands, as seen in this Chuck Littlewood photo: http://www.charleslittlewood.com/recent_additions/h6F81287#h6f81287

The Bullock’s Oriole has returned to Ted, Danusia, and Steven Goodman’s NW Gainesville home for the third winter in a row. Ted got photos of the bird shortly after he first noticed it on the 21st (see photos here and here). Visitors are welcome to the Goodmans’ house at 6437 NW 37th Drive to look for the bird. Park on the street, walk down the right side of the house to the back corner, where you’ll have a view of the feeders in the back yard, and wait. Ted writes, “Same rules as last year. Come any time, don’t disturb the neighbors to the north who have feeders in their yard, but OK to view theirs from the street.”

Jennifer Donskey was looking for Rusty Blackbirds at Magnolia Parke on the 3rd and discovered that a beaver had taken up residence in the swamp there. I knew that beavers are present in the Santa Fe River and a small family group is (or was) resident at Mill Creek Preserve, but I was surprised to learn of one so close to town. Lloyd Davis went looking for it on the 20th and found both the beaver and the Rusty Blackbird that Jennifer had been looking for in the first place.

We’ve had a few recent reports of northern species that can be hard to find in Alachua County. Three Golden-crowned Kinglets and a Winter Wren were seen along the Santa Fe River during the Ichetucknee-Santa Fe-O’Leno CBC on the 16th. Pine Siskins are being reported almost daily; on the 19th Samuel Ewing saw and heard a flock of 14 flying over his NW Gainesville home. And on the 21st, visiting South Florida birder Carlos Valenzuela reported a Purple Finch at Bolen Bluff: “Female with bold white eyebrow and heavy dark triangular bill. The bird flew in and was feeding on a sweetgum tree leading out to the prairie, just bordering the forest.”

Also at Bolen Bluff was an American Redstart seen by Harrison Jones on the 17th. I tend to think of these December birds as dawdling fall migrants rather than wintering birds; only a small percentage are ever seen after January 1st.

Here’s an amazing story. Golden-winged Warblers, newly-arrived on their nesting grounds in Tennessee, turned around and flew all the way back down to the Gulf Coast to avoid oncoming tornadoes, then returned to Tennessee once the tornadoes had passed. Thanks to Ching-tzu Huang for the link: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30531060

Audubon Florida posted this on the possible misuse of Amendment 1 conservation funds: http://fl.audubonaction.org/site/MessageViewer?dlv_id=61979&em_id=50121.0&pgwrap=n

Christmas Bird Count results

Posted on by Rex Rowan

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

Sunday’s Christmas Bird Count tallied a spectacular 157 species – though it’s possible that some of the undocumented rarities will be struck off the list by the regional editor and we’ll end up with a smaller number. The complete list of species and numbers is below.

There were an unusually high number of rarities reported, including two species new to the Gainesville Count, Wood Thrush and Wilson’s Plover. Neither was documented with a photograph, but on the day after the Count Andy Kratter was able to relocate the Wood Thrush that had first been discovered by Harry Jones at Kanapaha Gardens, and it may yet be photographed. Birders attempting to relocate Felicia Lee’s Wilson’s Plover for a photograph were unable to do so. Other good birds included:

– Two Snow Geese in a flock of Sandhill Cranes at the Kanapaha Prairie. John Martin photo here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/thermalin/15424485194/
– A Canvasback at Sweetwater Wetlands Park (AKA the Sheetflow Restoration Wetlands). Matt O’Sullivan photo here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/118053703@N02/16036582521/
– A Greater Scaup at Sweetwater Wetlands Park.
– A Great White Heron at Sweetwater Wetlands Park. Matt O’Sullivan picture here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/118053703@N02/16038275472/
– A White-faced Ibis at Sweetwater Wetlands Park.
– Two Roseate Spoonbills, one at Sweetwater Wetlands Park, one flying over Bivens Arm. Matt O’Sullivan picture of the former bird here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/118053703@N02/16038533595/
– Three Purple Gallinules wintering along the La Chua Trail. Jonathan Mays photo here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jmays/15416903544/
– The Whooping Crane that’s been present every day at the UF Beef Teaching Unit.
– A Spotted Sandpiper.
– Two Laughing Gulls on Newnans Lake.
– Two White-winged Doves in a yard near the Kanapaha Prairie.
– One hummingbird in the genus Archilochus, either a Ruby-throated or a Black-chinned.
– Two Least Flycatchers.
– Five Ash-throated Flycatchers at four separate spots on Paynes Prairie (not a single one of them open to the public!). Matt O’Sullivan pictures of two different birds here and here.
– A Blue-winged Warbler along Cones Dike, only the second for the Gainesville Count. Steve Collins photo here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/odephoto/15848141028/
– Two Yellow-breasted Chats.
– Five Dark-eyed Juncos along the Lake Trail at Lake Wauberg. Not found on the following day, though at least two parties went looking for them.
– Five Painted Buntings in two separate places, a new high for the Gainesville Count.
– Eight Pine Siskins were reported, by four teams.

Our Sandhill Crane count was on the low side, with only 2,555.

Limpkins infested Newnans Lake during most of 2013-14 – John Hintermister and I counted 39 there on February 20th – but only three showed up there on the Count, while 15 were seen at Sweetwater Wetlands Park. I’m not sure what that signifies, but it’s interesting.

Big misses included Northern Pintail, Northern Bobwhite, Common Loon, and Long-billed Dowitcher.

The Ichetucknee-Santa Fe-O’Leno CBC took place on the 16th. John Martin photographed a Winter Wren along the Santa Fe River – https://www.flickr.com/photos/thermalin/15859003848/ – and the county’s first Golden-crowned Kinglets of the winter were seen in the same area. A Vermilion Flycatcher and a Black-throated Green Warbler showed up in exactly the same locations where they were seen last year, the former at a rural area in Columbia County, the latter at River Rise.

The Melrose CBC is taking place as I write this, and we’re hoping to learn that the Pacific Loon has returned for its third winter.

I’m not sure you can see this link without a Dropbox account, but Wade Kincaid got a great photo of the Whooping Crane that’s been at the Beef Teaching Unit since the 7th: https://www.dropbox.com/s/oq8wybwrtkx4a7m/AP140042.jpg?dl=0 A couple of inquiring minds found a web page with background information on this individual bird (including baby pictures!): http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/crane/13/BandingCodes_1309.html

And here are the results:

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 212
Snow Goose 2
Muscovy Duck 291
Wood Duck 149
Gadwall 108
American Wigeon 2
Mallard 7
Mottled Duck 66
Blue-winged Teal 395
Northern Shoveler 53
Green-winged Teal 232
Canvasback 1
Redhead 1
Ring-necked Duck 795
Greater Scaup 1
Lesser Scaup 50
Bufflehead 11
Hooded Merganser 198
Ruddy Duck 57
Wild Turkey 26
Pied-billed Grebe 204
Horned Grebe 1
Wood Stork 75
Double-crested Cormorant 1,022
Anhinga 202
American White Pelican 40
American Bittern 9
Great Blue Heron (including 1 Great White Heron) 149
Great Egret 176
Snowy Egret 205
Little Blue Heron 263
Tricolored Heron 45
Cattle Egret 58
Green Heron 37
Black-crowned Night-Heron 71
White Ibis 1,811
Glossy Ibis 159
White-faced Ibis 1
Roseate Spoonbill 2
Black Vulture 407
Turkey Vulture 844
Osprey 3
Northern Harrier 40
Sharp-shinned Hawk 8
Cooper’s Hawk 8
Accipiter, sp. 1
Bald Eagle 58
Red-shouldered Hawk 175
Red-tailed Hawk 41
King Rail 28
Virginia Rail 11
Sora 54
Purple Gallinule 3
Common Gallinule 280
American Coot 2,446
Limpkin 18
Sandhill Crane 2,555
Whooping Crane 1
Wilson’s Plover 1
Killdeer 459
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Greater Yellowlegs 29
Lesser Yellowlegs 1
Least Sandpiper 25
Wilson’s Snipe 189
American Woodcock 22
Bonaparte’s Gull 21
Laughing Gull 2
Ring-billed Gull 534
Herring Gull 18
Forster’s Tern 24
Rock Pigeon 58
Eurasian Collared-Dove 6
White-winged Dove 2
Mourning Dove 223
Common Ground-Dove 6
Barn Owl 1
Eastern Screech-Owl 10
Great Horned Owl 37
Barred Owl 43
Eastern Whip-poor-will 3
Archilochus, sp. 1
Belted Kingfisher 44
Red-headed Woodpecker 14
Red-bellied Woodpecker 274
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 78
Downy Woodpecker 115
Northern Flicker 43
Pileated Woodpecker 143
American Kestrel 44
Merlin 2
Least Flycatcher 2
Eastern Phoebe 410
Vermilion Flycatcher 1
Ash-throated Flycatcher 5
Loggerhead Shrike 20
White-eyed Vireo 124
Blue-headed Vireo 88
Blue Jay 399
American Crow 664
Fish Crow 109
crow, sp. 125
Tree Swallow 141
Carolina Chickadee 298
Tufted Titmouse 388
Brown-headed Nuthatch 3
House Wren 234
Sedge Wren 66
Marsh Wren 64
Carolina Wren 412
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 457
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 560
Eastern Bluebird 149
Hermit Thrush 63
Wood Thrush 1
American Robin 1,121
Gray Catbird 147
Northern Mockingbird 174
Brown Thrasher 27
European Starling 57
American Pipit 3
Cedar Waxwing 7
Ovenbird 9
Northern Waterthrush 3
Blue-winged Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 99
Orange-crowned Warbler 105
Common Yellowthroat 285
Northern Parula 5
Palm Warbler 856
Pine Warbler 130
Yellow-rumped Warbler 2,438
Yellow-throated Warbler 41
Prairie Warbler 6
Yellow-breasted Chat 2
Eastern Towhee 90
Chipping Sparrow 655
Field Sparrow 8
Vesper Sparrow 28
Savannah Sparrow 229
Grasshopper Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 45
Lincoln’s Sparrow 2
Swamp Sparrow 596
White-throated Sparrow 40
White-crowned Sparrow 5
Dark-eyed Junco 5
Northern Cardinal 656
Painted Bunting 5
Red-winged Blackbird 2,753
Eastern Meadowlark 396
Common Grackle 338
Boat-tailed Grackle 984
Brown-headed Cowbird 38
Baltimore Oriole 27
House Finch 56
Pine Siskin 8
American Goldfinch 351
House Sparrow 114

Whooping Crane at Beef Teaching Unit

Posted on by Rex Rowan

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

This morning there’s a Whooping Crane at the UF Beef Teaching Unit (AKA Sandhill Station), north of Williston Road along SW 23rd Street: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zUwrxikNCmjA.kI7vr13r19T4

Darrell Hartman thought he saw one there on Sunday, but it was way in the back and he wasn’t sure. Today he has no doubt.

This is one of about 550 Whooping Cranes on earth, and here’s a chance to see it at pretty close range. Go if you can.

Western Kingbird at La Chua

Posted on by Rex Rowan

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

Sidney Wade writes that she found a Western Kingbird at La Chua on Sunday morning: “It flew from the trees across from the (mid)-boardwalk, then settled in a bare shrub to the west of the boardwalk. We got a good look at it through the scope–gray head, yellow belly, black tail, white outer tail feathers. Then he flew away.”

Yesterday’s field trip along La Chua found about 60 species, but we didn’t see a Western Kingbird. Our best included the resident Vermilion Flycatcher, at least three Sedge Wrens, a wintering Purple Gallinule, three American Bitterns, a Redhead (that turned up in a photo viewed after the field trip), and a Horned Grebe at very close range.

Gainesville birding news! (If “birding” is very, very loosely defined.)

Posted on by Rex Rowan

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

The Alachua Audubon Society invites you – members and non-members alike – to celebrate conservation, birds, and the holidays at our Holiday Social at 6:30 on Friday evening. This festive event will include hors d’oeuvres, beverages, and a silent auction – one of our important annual fund raising events. This year’s Holiday Social will be held at the Mill Pond Clubhouse. Directions: From Newberry Road, turn south on NW 48th Boulevard (across from Gainesville Health & Fitness). Drive south about 2 blocks. Look for tennis courts on the right. The Clubhouse is right next to the tennis courts on the right. Look for our Alachua Audubon signs! Here’s a map if you need one. You can park anywhere along the entrance road.

There’s a new pay station, and a raised entrance fee, at La Chua: “We have moved the honor box for La Chua Trail from the trail head to smack in the middle of Camp Ranch Road effective Friday, December 5th. The fee will now be $4.00 per car for everyone using the parking area (including Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail users). The fee will be for all vehicles parking in that lot (whether accessing the La Chua Trail or the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail). Visitors put the fee in the envelope, tear off the stub, put the envelope with fee in the honor box, then put the stub on their vehicle dash. If they have an FPS annual pass or Friends membership card, they can place that on their dash instead of the envelope stub.” (An FPS annual pass is good for admission to all of Florida’s state parks; a Friends of Paynes Prairie membership card is good for 12 admissions to Paynes Prairie per year.)

Don’t forget that you can set up carpooling for Alachua Audubon field trips, using the “Leave a Reply” function of the individual field trip pages on the web site. Here are the pages for the next three field trips (including Saturday’s walk at La Chua):
https://alachuaaudubon.org/event/la-chua-trail-8/?instance_id=369
https://alachuaaudubon.org/event/st-marks-national-wildlife-refuge-2/?instance_id=374
https://alachuaaudubon.org/event/gainesville-ponds-3/?instance_id=373

I noted half a dozen Ring-billed Gulls flying over the Waldo Road Walmart on the 25th, and I figured that gulls would be in all the area parking lots thereafter, but I haven’t seen even one since then. There were, however, about 100 on Newnans Lake on the 27th, and a flock of 13 Herring Gulls flew over Tuscawilla Prairie on the 29th, probably bound from the Atlantic Coast to the Gulf Coast.

On the 24th Linda Terry wrote, “Just witnessed 3 crows killing another crow. I knew it was possible but had never witnessed it.” I asked if the corvicidal trio had eaten the dead bird afterward, and she replied, “They were trying to eat some.” I guess that’s why they call it a murder of crows.

If you have Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” streaming service, you can sit down this very minute and enjoy “Birders: The Central Park Effect,” a very good one-hour film about the birds and birders of New York City’s Central Park. The trailer is here (I should note that the only instance of bad language in the movie made it into the trailer): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIewN_hfMLc Incidentally, one of the birders interviewed in the film, Catherine Hamilton (the younger woman at 0:26 in the trailer) is an excellent bird artist: http://mydogoscar.com/birdspot/blog/

Did you see in the Sun that 1,000 acres of land between Waldo Road and Newnans Lake is being set aside as a state forest? Yes sir it is: http://www.gainesville.com/article/20141125/ARTICLES/141129786/0/search Click on the little map immediately to the left of the photo to see the extent of it.

Last of all, since the Christmas Bird Count is approaching, here’s a special request for those of you who live within the Gainesville Count circle – essentially Gainesville, Micanopy, and Rochelle: Please keep an eye on your feeders, and if you’re getting daily visits from any unusual birds, like a hummingbird, a Dark-eyed Junco, a Pine Siskin, a Purple Finch, a Painted Bunting, or anything else that strikes you as out of the ordinary, please send me an email and let me know. We’ll be sure that a Christmas Count team stops by and tries to add it to the day’s tally.

Goose, goose, ducks.

Posted on by Rex Rowan

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

Debbie Segal spied a Snow Goose at the Hague Dairy at 2:45 this afternoon. Go north on NW 59th Drive (the road running along the eastern border of the dairy) about half a mile beyond the dairy entrance and look left into the field with the big rolling sprinklers in it.

In other goose-related news, the Ross’s Goose was relocated early on Saturday afternoon in the field where it was originally observed. Some people have found it and some haven’t, though it stands out like a cue ball on a billiard table; it seems to move around the field and is sometimes out of sight behind a rise.

Saturday’s field trip to the Sweetwater Restoration Wetland found the three impoundments of the treatment wetland full of birds. Among other things, we saw 13 species of waterfowl, including American Wigeon, Buffleheads, one Canvasback, and lots of Gadwalls. Soras and a couple of King Rails were calling from the marshes, we spooked a couple of American Bitterns, two Roseate Spoonbills were feeding in the shallows, and more than a dozen Limpkins were seen in Cell Three. After everyone else had left, Adam Zions and Debbie Segal took a last turn around the dikes and found a White-faced Ibis associating with three Glossy Ibis.

Samuel Ewing reported a Pine Siskin calling as it flew over his NW Gainesville home on the 22nd, by one day the earliest ever recorded in the county.

I’ve seen Pied-billed Grebes eating fish, crayfish, even a Black Swamp Snake, but I’d never seen one eating a frog until I stumbled across this Tom Tompkins photo of a particularly ambitious grebe, taken along La Chua on the 20th: http://ttompkinsphoto.smugmug.com/Paynes-Prairie-Gainesville-FL/i-CCS47bG/A

For some reason, most birders don’t trouble themselves with the scientific (Latin) names of birds, though there’s a fair bit of insight to be gained by knowing at least which genus a bird belongs to (order and family are helpful too). Some birders may be put off by the unpronounceability of the scientific name, which is why I posted a pronunciation guide online. A few nights ago I found something similar that had been worked into a photographic field guide on the BirdFellow website. For instance, go to the page on White-faced Ibis. Right next to the bird’s name is a little triangle in a circle: a “play media” symbol. Click on this, and you’ll hear a voice: “White-faced Ibis. Plih-GAY-dis CHEE-hee.” I was a little nonplussed to learn that their pronunciations don’t always agree with the ones I posted, but more than one biologist has told me that there’s no right way to pronounce a scientific name (I don’t care about the right way; I’d just like them to be standardized). Anyway, while you’re on the White-faced Ibis page, click on “Identification Photos” and look over their (enlargeable) photo gallery. They have one of those for nearly all species in the BirdFellow field guide. It’s a pretty nice resource. You should bookmark it. Evidently BirdFellow was set up by Oregon’s Dave Irons to be a place where birders could post their sightings and photos, like eBird. However, unlike eBird, it would also be a place to network with other birders, compare notes, and ask ID questions. That aspect of the website does not seem to have taken off, unfortunately, but the online field guide is still quite good.

Ross’s Goose in SW Gainesville

Posted on by Rex Rowan

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

Steven Kobb writes, “I just saw this guy land in a field next to Meadows of Kanapaha about 5pm 11/20/14, all alone.” Here’s the picture: https://www.flickr.com/photos/74215662@N04/15217953304/ To get to the field – assuming that the bird is still there in the morning – go west on Archer Road to the traffic light at Tower Road (SW 75th Street). Turn left at the light and go two miles. The field will be on your right.

Barbara Shea, who is leading the trip to Circle B Bar Ranch, at 6 a.m. on Sunday the 23rd, writes, “If you happen to put out an email between now and Sunday would you please ask folks to be very prompt. We have a ways to go and a local guide waiting for us. I will bring printed directions to Circle B.”