I had low expectations for this year’s Challenge. After last year’s record-setting results it felt like a reset was in order – a return to normalcy, as it were – especially given our near-drought conditions, the exhausting heat, and the scarcity of lingering migrants during the latter half of May (not a single White-rumped Sandpiper, for instance). We might break 110 species, but no one would get to 120.
Our kickoff field trip on the morning of the 1st was fine, but there were no surprises. We found our target birds at Longleaf Flatwoods Reserve, got Bald Eagle but missed Laughing Gull at Owens-Illinois Park, located a known pair of Green-winged Teal at La Chua (the female flightless), and checked off a couple of tough but expected birds at Sweetwater, a King Rail and a Short-tailed Hawk. Notably absent were migratory shorebirds.
On the eve of the Challenge, on May 31st, Chris Cattau had walked out to Alachua Lake from the northeast and found some mud flats, and on those mud flats were the missing migratory shorebirds: a White-rumped Sandpiper, a Semipalmated Plover, 15 Semipalmated Sandpipers, a Least Sandpiper, a Greater Yellowlegs, and a Lesser Yellowlegs. Those who were willing to follow his example added those half-dozen species to their June Challenge lists. And on the 3rd, visiting Belgian entomologist Bert Foquet bushwhacked out the La Chua Trail to the observation platform – which we should all be able to do, Park Service! – and saw a female Bobolink, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, and Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers.
Otherwise the first couple of weeks were quiet. The usual field trips to Watermelon Pond for the Burrowing Owls, to La Chua at sundown for the county’s other four resident owl species, and to San Felasco for Hooded Warbler, Acadian Flycatcher, and Eastern Wood-Pewee, all came off as usual, and we found most of the birds we were looking for (except Orchard Oriole, which was even scarcer than usual this month and looks to be headed down the same road as Hairy Woodpecker). Four pontoon boat trips went out onto Lake Santa Fe in hopes of finding stray coastal birds, but all four of them struck out completely.
On the 15th Tim Hardin sighed, “It is SO hot. Never saw full-shade beautyberry bushes in hammocks withered from heat and dryness until the last week.” But that afternoon the first rains came. And then strong east winds began to blow, and continued to do so for several days, bringing pelagic birds to the Atlantic coast and coastal birds to Alachua County. On the 18th Lloyd Davis found a Gull-billed Tern at La Chua, while Maggie Paxson and Dottie Dreyer found a Caspian Tern at Orange Lake. By the next day the first Gull-billed had been joined by a second, and both had been joined by five Black Terns, while at the 441 causeway Bert Foquet spotted two Lesser Yellowlegs, the first of many birds that would bring birders flocking to 441. On the 22nd Tim issued an open invitation for birders to join him on the 441 observation deck, and in addition to hundreds of Wood Storks, Great Blue Herons, and Great and Snowy Egrets they managed to find both yellowlegs, a Caspian Tern, and at least two Lesser Scaup. All were at a great distance, identified through spotting scopes, so of course some birders were inspired to walk out to where those birds were, and there they discovered other species, like a Black-bellied Plover and a pair of Blue-winged Teal.
The last week of the month was more lively than we had any right to expect. On the 24th a pontoon boat trip to Newnans Lake found a Willet. On the 25th Raci Ulusoy and Pelin Karaca found a Lark Sparrow at Watermelon Pond, accurately described by Maggie Paxson as an “absolutely NUTS June bird.” On the 27th Dottie Dreyer and Tina Greenberg found a Louisiana Waterthrush at Chapmans Pond, and on the 28th Tim spotted a Common Tern off the 441 observation deck. On the morning of the 29th Lloyd Davis discovered a Yellow-crowned Night Heron at the old water-control structure at La Chua, and Mark Gorday found 2 to 4 Black-and-white Warblers at Palm Point. And on the last day of the month Tim Hardin saw Yellow-breasted Chats on Paynes Prairie east of Bolen Bluff and a Spotted Sandpiper at Palm Point.
Though it started slow, June 2024 went out with a bang, largely thanks to Alachua County birders, who weren’t discouraged by heat or slow birding, but who throughout the month swarmed over the county, tireless, endlessly excited and interested, always eager for another adventure, intent on finding every bird there was. Mike Manetz started talking about this several months ago, how Alachua County’s birding community is like a finely-woven net that lets nothing through, that catches every bird crossing the county line. An accomplished limericist, if that’s what a maker of limericks is called, Mike was inspired by this year’s June Challenge to express his admiration:
Their June Challenge plans perfected,
Alachua birders reflected.
They all did agree,
Their motto would be,
“No bird shall pass undetected.”
And no bird did. Congratulations, guys.
Remember to submit your list to the statewide June Challenge site operated by FWC’s Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail: https://floridabirdingtrail.com/june-challenge/
And here are our winners, all 38 of them. (Alphabetical order by last name in case of a tie.) This was our second-best June Challenge ever in terms of number of species. From 2004 to 2022, the winning total never exceeded 129. We beat that total last year – we beat it to death, really – and we beat it again this year. Congratulations to Tim Hardin, who has now won or tied for first place five years in a row, and congratulations likewise to Bert Foquet, who won the very first June Challenge he ever participated in. Our second- and third-place finishers, Raci Ulusoy and Eileen Ahlquist, are also relative newcomers to Alachua County birding, and have done themselves proud.
Eileen Ahlquist took 3rd place.
Bert Foquet 135
Tim Hardin 135
Raci Ulusoy 130
Eileen Ahlquist 128
Dottie Dreyer 126
Tina Greenberg 124
Pelin Karaca 124
Ellen Frattino 120
Kristen Suggs 118
Sharon Kuchinski 117
Mark Gorday 113
Brent Henderson 110
Rene Slaw 110
Jerry Pruitt 109
Rex Rowan 108
Anne Casella 106
Pratibha Singh 104
Eric Link 102
John Martin 101
Bob Carroll 100
Jeanette Matheny 100
Maggie Paxson 99
Christine Zamora 96
Tonya Becker 95
Chris Cattau 93
George Becker 92
Becky Enneis 87
Jamielee Thompson 85
Emily Schwartz 83
Debbie Roberts 81
Debbie Segal 81
Howard Adams 77
Austin Gregg 71
Marcus Zokan 66
Linda Holt 63
Cyndi Dunphy 61
Dotty Robbins 22
Finally, here’s the complete list of bird species recorded in Alachua County during this year’s Challenge:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Canada Goose Muscovy Duck, Wood Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Mallard, Mottled Duck, Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck, Greater Scaup, Lesser Scaup, Northern Bobwhite, Wild Turkey, Pied-billed Grebe, Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Common Ground Dove, White-winged Dove, Mourning Dove, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Common Nighthawk, Chuck-will’s-widow, Chimney Swift, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, King Rail, Common Gallinule, American Coot, Purple Gallinule, Gray-headed Swamphen, Limpkin, Sandhill Crane, Whooping Crane, Black-necked Stilt, Black-bellied Plover, Killdeer, Semipalmated Plover, Least Sandpiper, White-rumped Sandpiper, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Willet, Greater Yellowlegs, Laughing Gull, Least Tern, Gull-billed Tern, Caspian Tern, Black Tern, Common Tern, Forster’s Tern, Royal Tern, Wood Stork, Anhinga, Double-crested Cormorant, American White Pelican, Least Bittern, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Cattle Egret, Green Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Swallow-tailed Kite, Cooper’s Hawk, Bald Eagle, Mississippi Kite, Snail Kite, Red-shouldered Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Short-tailed Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Barn Owl, Eastern Screech-Owl, Great Horned Owl, Burrowing Owl, Barred Owl, Red-headed Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker, American Kestrel, Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Acadian Flycatcher, White-eyed Vireo, Yellow-throated Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Loggerhead Shrike, Blue Jay, American Crow, Fish Crow, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Purple Martin, Barn Swallow, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Carolina Wren, Brown Thrasher, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Eastern Bluebird, House Sparrow, House Finch, Bachman’s Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Eastern Towhee, Yellow-breasted Chat, Bobolink, Eastern Meadowlark, Orchard Oriole, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Common Grackle, Boat-tailed Grackle, Louisiana Waterthrush, Black-and-white Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Hooded Warbler, American Redstart, Northern Parula, Pine Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Summer Tanager, Northern Cardinal, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting.
