The Ruff seems to be ranging around the southeastern section of Newnans Lake today. Initially it was at the mouth of Prairie Creek and visible with a scope from Powers Park, but around mid-morning the Ewings (Dean, Ben, and Sam) saw it flush in response to a Bald Eagle and fly north. At 10:30 Glenn Price got this great photo “more towards the Windsor boat ramp”: http://www.raptorcaptor.com/Nature/Recent/i-5VnqxtM/A
Early this afternoon Mitch Walters had his own Ruff tale to tell: “Couldn’t resist, had to get in on this Ruff action. I was just there with Andy Kratter, Adam Kent, and Co. at Powers Park. At first I brought my scope, saw Andy and a couple of others out there on their kayaks getting REALLY close to the bird. I then texted Andy if I could borrow his kayak to take some shots of the bird. To my surprise he said YES. So I rushed back to my house, grabbed my camera gear and returned to Powers where I swapped with Andy. It got overcast, so I had to take my ISO to about 1000-1250, so a little grainy. Glad I didn’t scare it off, I was so nervous I would do that and upset all the spectators (because at one point the birds did flush for some reason, but I swear it wasn’t me). But wow, what a bird and what an experience!! Thanks Andy for the kayak.” One of Mitch’s outstanding photos shows the extent of the iridescence; it runs from the nape to the upper breast. This is one studly Ruff: https://www.flickr.com/photos/30736692@N00/33436404323/in/dateposted-public/
Since we’re on the topic of shorebirds, Mike Manetz found 12 species at the end of the La Chua Trail this morning, the most notable being 5 Stilt Sandpipers, a White-rumped Sandpiper, a Semipalmated Plover, and a Semipalmated Sandpiper. Lloyd Davis photographed two Semipalmated Plovers (originally found by Jennifer Donsky) on the 19th: https://www.flickr.com/photos/30736692@N00/34245627205/in/dateposted-public/
Still, yes, still on the topic of shorebirds, Mike writes, “Ran into Lloyd today and apparently the other day he made it all the way out Hatchet Creek to the north end on foot, past the old decayed pilings. He said there was mud out there, but no shorebirds. With us missing the predicted rain yesterday and today, and very little predicted the rest of the week, both Newnans and La Chua could get much more interesting.” Back in 2000 and 2012, the trail following Hatchet Creek out to the lakefront was well trodden, and many great birds were found out there, including first-county-record Sanderling, Ruddy Turnstone, and Hudsonian Godwit, and one of the county’s four Buff-breasted Sandpipers. The parking area – unfortunately gated by the St. Johns River Water Management District – is shown on this map. It’s on the east side of State Road 26 a little south of the junction with County Road 222. (Note that this is NOT the same place as Gum Root Park.) Park as best you can near the gate, follow the trail in to the open area, cut left and continue past the picnic shelter, do NOT cross the bridge (also marked on the map), and follow the creek all the way out to the lake. Keep your eyes and ears open for Acadian Flycatchers and Prothonotary Warblers, both of which nest out there.
(Of course now that I’ve devoted all this time to shorebirds, it’ll rain like crazy for the next week.)
Mike also found 60 Bobolinks out at the end of La Chua this morning. They should be passing through for another three or four weeks, unless the drought has affected the Southern Wild Rice that they feed on. They can often be seen from fairly close range at Sweetwater Wetlands Park.
This weekend’s field trips were, well … not entirely worth attending. Saturday’s Cedar Key trip didn’t lay eyes on a single tanager, bunting, grosbeak, cuckoo, or oriole. We saw only six warbler species, three of them spring migrants. We did stumble across a mixed flock of shorebirds – Short-billed Dowitchers, Dunlin, Sanderlings, Ruddy Turnstones, Least Sandpipers, Spotted Sandpiper – which we ogled from point-blank range at the Old Fenimore Mill condos. But there was little else to look at, and by the time we got to the State Museum half of our participants had gone home. Their departure satisfied the birding gods, who, having received their sacrifice, finally yielded up a few birds: a Prairie Warbler, male and female Blackpoll Warblers, male and female Cape May Warblers, and two Red-breasted Nuthatches. (Thanks to Ching-tzu Huang for the photos!)
Sunday’s field trip to Kanapaha Botanical Gardens also started out unpromising, but then picked up. Mike Manetz wrote, “Fairly slow until we came upon a tall tree called silky oak which was flowering and loaded with insects. In that tree we had four Cape May, a Blackpoll, two Palms and a Parula, all fairly in the open. The tree is not far from the garden house, going out the exit to the right.” Mike’s trip nearly did better in that one tree than we did in four hours at Cedar Key!
Bubba Scales has been having fun with his Go Pro video camera. He sets it up near a feeder or birdbath and later views the footage and edits it down to a video. Here’s one that shows a Cape May Warbler and a Gray Catbird coming to a jelly feeder in NW Gainesville on the 21st: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQWEcwbXf0E&feature=youtu.be
And here’s one of a male Painted Bunting in his SE Gainesville back yard on the 9th: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nfCq69UFSc
And speaking of pretty birds, even pretty birds that aren’t here any more, I just discovered two great photos of this winter’s Scissor-tailed Flycatcher by Mitch Walters:
