Category: June Challenge

Long ago, in 2012, I won The June Challenge with 126 species and a friend commented, “I don’t think anyone will ever beat that total.” The phrase hadn’t been invented yet, but the proper response would have been, “OK Boomer.” My friend hadn’t foreseen today’s crop of birders, or the amazing communications network they would have at their fingertips. My winning total was actually beaten four times in the following decade: in 2015 by Lloyd Davis and Mike Manetz, who set a new record with 129; in 2016 by Jonathan Mays with 128; in 2021 by Tim Hardin with 127; and in 2022 by Tim Hardin and Jose Miguel Ponciano, who tied the record with 129. Although I never would have been rash enough to say, “I don’t think anyone will ever beat 129,” I figured that 126-129 was pretty close to the upper limit of what was possible in Alachua County during June. Someone might hit 130 one of these days, maybe even 132. But nobody was going to exceed it by much.
     But then came 2023. The low water at Paynes Prairie boded well; similar conditions had brought lots of shorebirds to the Prairie in 2021 and to Newnans Lake in 2012 and 2017. So I expected a good year with a winning total in the 120s. There seemed to be a lot of enthusiasm among the birders too. Actually to say it was “a lot” understates it. It was a “hold my beer” kind of enthusiasm, the kind that trekked out onto the mud flats at the center of the Prairie basin, the kind that wandered around Longleaf Flatwoods Preserve at 11:00 at night, the kind that rented touring boats to get out into remote sections of Newnans Lake and Lake Santa Fe, not once but six times, the kind of enthusiasm that actually alarmed some people who read about it. Birders splashed around in alligator-infested water. They got  mired on the Prairie (Maggie Paxson advised, “For anyone thinking of going out there, expect knee-deep plunges and thigh-high vegetation to wade through. It was exhausting.”) Tim Hardin and Jose Miguel Ponciano spent 45 minutes squatting on the open mudflats while a violent thunderstorm raged overhead. Jose Miguel wrote, “We just hunkered down, made ourselves as small as possible and waited for it to pass. We saw the Prairie filling with water in real time. We saw the storm (and our lives) pass before our eyes, with high winds and loads of water, right above our heads. Thunders falling left and right. It was scary. And stupid. And then it was awesome!!!! We saw Black-bellied Plovers, Short-billed Dowitchers, and a Caspian Tern sitting by a freaking Franklin’s Gull, and yep, two American Avocets. Man, this was an EPIC birding day. Absolutely fantastic!!!!”

     Law enforcement even got involved, and not just once. Mostly they were responding to reports of possible trespassing, but in one instance the Sheriff’s Office was called out to rescue a poor man who was stuck way out on the Prairie – it was Tim Hardin, of course, not stuck at all. This is the first year in which it might have been reasonable to regard The June Challenge as an Extreme Sport! It may have been a little reckless at times – the Park Service actually requested that we tone it down – but it was certainly fun to watch!

     And all of this extra enthusiasm, all of this adventuring, produced a list of birds that didn’t just beat the old record but obliterated it. As stated above, the five highest winning totals during the previous nineteen years had been 126, 127, 128, 129, and 129. This year’s winning total was 146 by Tim Hardin – not just one more than the old record, not just two more, but seventeen more! And in fact the old record was beaten by five other birders as well and tied by one. Ben Fick nearly equaled Tim’s winning total with 145, and Jose Miguel Ponciano, despite being out of the country for the first week of the month, made superb use of his remaining time and finished with 138. It was also great to see the under-16 contingent represented in the Challenge again this year. Isaac Ewing, age 14, is the younger brother of the legendary Ben and Sam Ewing, and he seems to be made of the same impressive stuff. No doubt he’ll be carrying home the June Challenge trophy before much longer.

     But not all the credit goes to the birders. The birds had something to do with it as well. There were eighteen species of shorebirds, including a Red-necked Phalarope, Black-bellied Plovers, American Avocets, Short-billed Dowitchers, and Stilt, Pectoral, and Western Sandpipers. There were nine species of gulls and terns, including a Common Tern, a Black Skimmer, and a Franklin’s Gull. There were four late-spring or early-fall migrant warblers: American Redstart, Blackpoll Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, and Black-and-white Warbler. There were eleven species of waterfowl, including Ruddy Duck, Lesser Scaup, Ring-necked Duck, and Northern Shoveler. Both
pelicans, Brown and American White, showed up. And don’t forget that poor Dickcissel, first found on April 19th, who was kind enough to remain at his post on Sparrow Alley, singing away, until June 11th!

     It was our twentieth June Challenge, and our best ever. Thanks to all of you who worked hard and continuously to make it so exciting and so successful. Alachua County’s birders are the very best!

                                                                                                            By Rex Rowan

Here is the complete list of totals per Challenger. The number of people who saw 100 or more birds was 34, which is 71% of the total participants. (When tied, the contestants are listed alphabetically by last name.)

The cumulative total of birds reported in Alachua County during June was 152.

Tim Hardin (left) and Jose-Miguel Ponciano shared the first place prize – possession of the trophy!

There was a real spirit of adventure in this year’s June Challenge, and it was as much fun to watch as it was to participate in. Tim Hardin had told me in May that he wasn’t planning to push so hard this year, and might even take mid-June off, so to speak, but once in the event he couldn’t help himself. This was probably due to the unrelenting competition he faced, mainly from Jose Miguel Ponciano, a UF biology professor who has rediscovered the joy of birding after 20 years absorbed in math and statistics, and Chris Cattau, a 19th-century explorer-naturalist who has somehow found himself transported into the 21st century, where he works as an ecologist. These and other hard-charging birders seemed to find something new and rare every day, and you could either keep up with them or they’d leave you behind. Birders chasing one rarity invariably seemed to find another. Chris found Black Terns on Newnans Lake and while looking for the Black Terns, Tim found Least Terns and Chris found a Common Loon, and the search for these turned up Common Terns, and so on. The energy and enthusiasm generated by all these rarities was enough to inspire the renting of boats on Lake Santa Fe and Newnans Lake, and the launching of canoes and kayaks at Newnans, Lochloosa, and Orange. It was a veritable birding navy! When the dust cleared, Jose Miguel and Tim had tied for first place with 129, and Chris had come in third with 124. This was Jose Miguel’s first June Challenge. It was Tim’s fourth, but he’s won first place, or tied for first, in the last three of them. They didn’t just win Alachua County, either. They won the state, with the highest total of all 68 birders who submitted a list to the FWC site: https://floridabirdingtrail.com/2022-june-challenge-results/

Alachua County birders recorded 132 species this June, and of these Tim and Jose Miguel saw 98%. That may be the highest percentage ever recorded in the Challenge’s history. There were some good birds. Brown Pelicans showed up not just once but three times, at Orange Lake, at Lake Santa Fe, and at Newnans Lake. Ring-necked Duck was found at both Barr Hammock and Orange Lake. Belted Kingfishers were seen in six different places, and Yellow-crowned Night-Herons were almost as common. Five species of migratory shorebirds were recorded, including an early-record Spotted Sandpiper at Powers Park on June 30th. Two species of migratory warblers dropped in at the end of the month, a Louisiana Waterthrush at O’Leno and three Black-and-white Warblers, two at San Felasco Hammock and one at the Hatchet Creek Tract. And an amazing six species of terns were recorded, including the best bird of the Challenge, Common Tern. At least two Commons were at Newnans Lake, constituting the first June record for Alachua County. On the other hand, Tumblin Creek Park’s Gray Catbird – discovered by Chris in 2015 – was not found for the first time in eight years, and we missed American Robin for the first time in nine years. Wood Thrush, formerly an uncommon nesting bird at San Felasco and in northwest Gainesville, continues to be missing in action; it was last reported in a remote part of San Felasco on the 2013 Challenge.

We fielded 44 participants this year, about the same as last year. Sadly, we had no entries in the under-16 category. Of the 44, twenty saw 100+ species. Of course the point of The June Challenge is not to win, or to get a big list; the point is to have fun, to get out in the fresh air and sunshine and to see some beautiful birds, and I hope every participant considers himself or herself a winner in that respect.

Thanks for playing! I’ll be back in touch next May!

Rex Rowan

Here are the final standings (in the event of a tie, names are listed alphabetically):

Tim Hardin 129, Jose Miguel Ponciano 129, Chris Cattau 124, Roxy Ohanyan 121, Raci Ulusoy 117, Pelin Karaca 116, Anne Casella 113, Stephanie Hornbuckle 111, Bob Carroll 109, Tina Greenberg 109, Glenn Israel 109, Rex Rowan 109, Debbie Segal 109, Marie Zeglen 107, Howard Adams 104, Eric Link 104, Brent Henderson 103, Becky Enneis 102, John Martin 102, Meredith Kite 101, Hanna Radcliffe 98, Danielle Zukowski 98, Brad Hall 96, Maggie Paxson 96, Darrell Hartman 95, Sue Hartman 95, Wendy Seale 94, Barbara Shea 94, Matt Hitchings 92, Matt Bruce 88, Erin Kalinowski 87, Jason Chen 84, Linda Holt 84, Bob Knight 83, Tom Wronski 83, Ellen Frattino 80, Austin Gregg 80, Jen Munley 80, Rick Wolf 79, Sara Palmi  76, Oscar Calinescu 74, Eric Amundson 71, Pratibha Singh 65, Autumn Rose 62.

And here’s the complete list of the 132 bird species reported during this year’s Challenge:

• Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
• Canada Goose
• Muscovy Duck
• Wood Duck
• Blue-winged Teal
• Mallard
• Mottled Duck
• Ring-necked Duck
• 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
• Purple Swamphen
• Limpkin
• Sandhill Crane
• Whooping Crane
• Black-necked Stilt
• Killdeer
• White-rumped Sandpiper
• Semipalmated Sandpiper
• Spotted Sandpiper
• Solitary Sandpiper
• Greater Yellowlegs
• Laughing Gull
• Least Tern
• Caspian Tern
• Black Tern
• Common Tern
• Forster’s Tern
• Royal Tern
• Common Loon
• Wood Stork
• Anhinga
• Double-crested Cormorant
• American White Pelican
• Brown 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
• Belted Kingfisher
• 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
• Eastern Towhee
• Yellow-breasted Chat
• 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
• Northern Parula
• Pine Warbler
• Yellow-throated Warbler
• Summer Tanager
• Northern Cardinal
• Blue Grosbeak
• Indigo Bunting