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

The massive June Challenge trophy has a new home. Despite being a relative newcomer to Alachua County and spending the first week of the month in Maine, Jonathan Mays beat everyone else to win The Tenth Annual Alachua County June Challenge! An amazing performance. And if you look at the following list, you’ll see quite a few performances that are only fractionally less amazing. We had 48 participants this year and sixteen of them 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 (when you can find it) sunshine and to see some beautiful birds, and I hope every participant considers himself or herself a winner in that respect. Here are the final standings:

Jonathan Mays  116 (114/2)
Rex Rowan  114 (112/2)
Howard Adams  113 (111/2)
Lloyd Davis  113 (111/2)
Adam Zions  113 (111/2)
Barbara Mollison  112 (110/2)
Ron Robinson  110 (108/2)
Anne Kendall  109 (107/2)
Marie Zeglen  109 (107/2)
Frank Goodwin  105 (103/2)
Danny Shehee  105 (103/2)
Chris Cattau  104 (102/2)
Maralee Joos  103 (101/2)
Ria Leonard  103 (101/2)
John Martin  102 (100/2)
Anne Barkdoll  102 (99/3)
Barbara Shea  101 (99/2)
Samuel Ewing  97 (96/1)
Dean Ewing  96 (95/1)
Bob Carroll  96 (94/2)
Irma Harris  91 (91/0)
Phil Laipis  91 (91/0)
Felicia Lee  90 (89/1)
Helen Warren  89 (87/2)
Sharon Kuchinski  88 (87/1)
Becky Enneis  88 (86/2)
Judy Bryan  87 (87/0)
Tina Greenberg  86 (85/1)
Elizabeth Martin  84 (84/0)
John Hintermister  83 (83/0)
Steven Goodman  83 (82/1)
Conrad Burkholder  82 (80/2)
Erin Kalinowski  81 (78/3)
Matt Kalinowski  81 (78/3)
Ignacio Rodriguez  80 (78/2)
Debbie Segal  79 (79/0)
Barbara Woodmansee  76 (75/1)
Francisco Jiminez  72 (70/2)
Geoff Parks  67 (65/2)
Mary Landsman  65 (65/0)
Nora Parks  65 (63/2)
Bob Knight  64 (64/0)
Emily Schwartz  64 (64/0)
Sidney Wade  63 (61/2)
Carol Huang  61 (59/2)
Owen Parks  44 (42/2)
Bill Enneis  42 (42/0)
Kathy Fanning  34 (34/0)

And here’s the complete list of the 129 bird species recorded (by at least one person) in the county in June:

1. Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
2. Swan Goose – Anne Barkdoll, Duck Pond, June 12
3. Graylag Goose – Duck Pond and Red Lobster Pond, several observers and dates
4. Black Swan – Duck Pond and Red Lobster Pond, several observers and dates
5. Muscovy Duck
6. Wood Duck
7. Mallard
8. Mottled Duck
9. Blue-winged Teal – La Chua observation platform, throughout the month
10. Lesser Scaup – John Hintermister, Rex Rowan, Newnans Lake, June 25
11. Ruddy Duck – John Hintermister, Rex Rowan, Newnans Lake, June 25
12. Northern Bobwhite
13. Wild Turkey
14. Pied-billed Grebe
15. Horned Grebe – John Hintermister, Rex Rowan, Newnans Lake, June 25
16. Wood Stork
17. Double-crested Cormorant
18. Anhinga
19. American White Pelican
20. Least Bittern
21. Great Blue Heron
22. Great Egret
23. Snowy Egret
24. Little Blue Heron
25. Tricolored Heron
26. Cattle Egret
27. Green Heron
28. Black-crowned Night-Heron
29. Yellow-crowned Night-Heron – a pair nested and produced three young at Possum Creek Park
30. White Ibis
31. Glossy Ibis
32. Roseate Spoonbill – La Chua observation platform, pretty much throughout the month
33. Black Vulture
34. Turkey Vulture
35. Osprey
36. Swallow-tailed Kite
37. Mississippi Kite
38. Bald Eagle
39. Cooper’s Hawk
40. Red-shouldered Hawk
41. Broad-winged Hawk – five observers, four locations, June 10-23
42. Short-tailed Hawk – Adam Zions, Jonathan Mays, Marie Zeglen, Palm Point, June 29-30
43. Red-tailed Hawk
44. American Kestrel
45. King Rail
46. Purple Gallinule
47. Common Gallinule
48. American Coot
49. Limpkin
50. Sandhill Crane
51. Whooping Crane
52. Killdeer
53. Black-necked Stilt
54. Greater Yellowlegs – Samuel and Dean Ewing, Powers Park, June 14
55. Laughing Gull
56. Ring-billed Gull – Anne Kendall, several other observers, Powers Park, June 5-7
57. Least Tern – Rex Rowan, Mike Manetz, Andy Kratter, Palm Point, June 8
58. Caspian Tern – Jonathan Mays, Powers Park, June 8
59. Forster’s Tern – Jonathan Mays, Palm Point, June 27
60. Rock Pigeon
61. Eurasian Collared-Dove
62. White-winged Dove
63. Mourning Dove
64. Common Ground-Dove
65. Yellow-billed Cuckoo
66. Barn Owl
67. Eastern Screech-Owl
68. Great Horned Owl
69. Barred Owl
70. Common Nighthawk
71. Chuck-will’s-widow
72. Chimney Swift
73. Ruby-throated Hummingbird
74. Belted Kingfisher – Irina and Frank Goodwin, Lake Alice, June 16; several observers, Newnans Lake, June 25-30
75. Red-headed Woodpecker
76. Red-bellied Woodpecker
77. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
78. Downy Woodpecker
79. Hairy Woodpecker – Rex Rowan, Adam Zions, Jonathan Mays, LEAFS, June 10-23
80. Northern Flicker
81. Pileated Woodpecker
82. Eastern Wood-Pewee
83. Acadian Flycatcher
84. Great Crested Flycatcher
85. Eastern Kingbird
86. Loggerhead Shrike
87. White-eyed Vireo
88. Yellow-throated Vireo
89. Red-eyed Vireo
90. Blue Jay
91. American Crow
92. Fish Crow
93. Purple Martin
94. Tree Swallow – Lloyd Davis, Palm Point, June 2
95. Northern Rough-winged Swallow
96. Barn Swallow
97. Carolina Chickadee
98. Tufted Titmouse
99. Brown-headed Nuthatch
100. Carolina Wren
101. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
102. Eastern Bluebird
103. Gray Catbird – Jonathan Mays, Paynes Prairie, June 7
104. Northern Mockingbird
105. Brown Thrasher
106. European Starling
107. Cedar Waxwing – Judy Bryan, Lake Lochloosa, June 4
108. Prothonotary Warbler
109. Common Yellowthroat
110. Hooded Warbler
111. American Redstart – Ron Robinson, at his backyard birdbath, June 1-2
112. Northern Parula
113. Pine Warbler
114. Yellow-throated Warbler
115. Yellow-breasted Chat
116. Eastern Towhee
117. Bachman’s Sparrow
118. Summer Tanager
119. Northern Cardinal
120. Blue Grosbeak
121. Indigo Bunting
122. Red-winged Blackbird
123. Eastern Meadowlark
124. Common Grackle
125. Boat-tailed Grackle
126. Brown-headed Cowbird
127. Orchard Oriole
128. House Finch
129. House Sparrow

No one found a Wood Thrush this year, and there were no early fall warblers (though we had one spring-migrant American Redstart at the beginning of the month). Water levels were higher than usual, so there were almost no shorebirds. Our single tropical storm was unproductive. Under these circumstances, 129 species was impressive.

We weren’t the only birders doing The June Challenge this year. I’ve heard that 54 other birders in 24 other Florida counties participated as well. And there were June Challenges in other states and in England. The founder of The June Challenge, Becky Enneis, went on a birding trip to Alaska with Linda Holt and Bob Carroll, and did a Challenge during the first eight days of the month; you can drool over their list, thick with life birds, here. Former Gainesville birder Steve Collins organized a Challenge in Texas. I haven’t seen the complete results yet, but Steve sent me his own results for Lubbock County, which can be seen here. Matt Hafner organized a Challenge in Harford County, Maryland, and has tabulated the results on the Harford Bird Club’s website. Jay Keller of San Diego County, California, exceeded our winning total by 108 species (!!!) and posted his list here; you can see photos of some of his June discoveries on his Flickr page. And farthest afield, our one international entry, from Kim Tarsey and Sue Cooper of the county of Norfolk, England, who tell me they had a bad year but ended up with 121 species.

All I can say to Jonathan Mays is, “Congratulations. And wait til next year!” To everyone else, I hope you had half as much fun as I did. Now … did I just hear a Louisiana Waterthrush? It must be time for fall migration….

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

The Tenth (!) Annual June Challenge begins on Saturday. The June Challenge, for those of you new to Alachua County birding, is a friendly competition in which individual contestants try to see as many species of birds in Alachua County as possible from June 1st to June 30th. Participation has grown considerably since the first Challenge in 2004 – last year 45 Alachua County birders submitted lists! But it hasn’t *just* grown locally: 92 other birders from 39 other counties, mainly in Florida but including counties in five other American states plus Norfolk, England, participated last year.

The ultimate purpose of the Challenge is to inspire birders to keep going through the heat of June, but there are other reasons to do it. In addition to the 100 or so breeding birds we expect here, very late spring migrants and very early fall migrants have been found in June, as have coastal strays like Sandwich Tern and Willet and unexpected wanderers like Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Reddish Egret, and Snail Kite. So there are discoveries to make – and not all of them are birds; June mornings can be beautiful and lively, full of butterflies and wildflowers, and much milder in temperature than you’d expect.

As with all contests, there are rules:

1. All birds must be seen within the boundaries of Alachua County between June 1st and June 30th. (You non-Alachua birders are challenged to participate within your own counties.)
2. Each bird on your list must have been seen, not merely heard.
3. Whooping Cranes and free-flying domestic Mallards and Muscovy Ducks are countable. As are all wild native birds, of course.
4. You’re competing with other Alachua County birders to see who can amass the longest individual list – BUT send me an email if you find something good so that I can alert the other contestants and they can go out and look for it. It is, after all, a *friendly* competition.
5. Email your list to me by midnight on Sunday, June 30th. There will be a June Challenge party at TJC creator Becky Enneis’s house in Alachua shortly thereafter, at which a handsome trophy and prizes will be given out.

You can do the Challenge on your own, of course, but I plan to be at Longleaf Flatwoods Reserve at 6:15 a.m. on Saturday to jump start it, and you’re welcome to join me, whether you’re a beginner or an experienced birder. From Longleaf we’ll go to Windsor, Powers Park, Palm Point, and La Chua ($2 admission for La Chua). You should be home by lunchtime with 40-50 species on that checklist! (Directions to Longleaf Flatwoods Reserve: From Gainesville, take State Road 20 (Hawthorne Road) east. After 4.4 miles you’ll pass Powers Park, and shortly thereafter you’ll cross the bridge over Prairie Creek. Three and a half miles after that, turn right onto County Road 325 and proceed 2.3 miles to the Longleaf parking lot.)

If you win, you get The June Challenge trophy, two and a half feet tall and lovingly crafted from the finest wood-like material. Your name and your accomplishment will be engraved in the purest imitation gold and affixed to the trophy, a memorial that will last throughout all eternity, or until someone drops it onto a hard surface. You keep the trophy at your house for a year, contemplating the evidence of your great superiority to all other birders (I can attest), and then the following June you either win again or you sadly pass the trophy on to the next June Challenge champion and sink back into the masses.

Hints for new Challengers: Bird as much as you can during the first and last weeks of the month, to get late spring and early fall migrants. Check the big lakes repeatedly (especially Newnans and Lochloosa) for coastal strays like gulls, terns, and pelicans. Check your email inbox to learn what other people are seeing and for tips on where to go. I apologize in advance for the many birding reports you’ll get in early June…

Please join us for The Tenth Annual June Challenge. Good luck to all!

Tickets are now available for the THIRD ALACHUA AUDUBON BACKYARD BIRDING TOUR! Details here.

Interested in receiving the Alachua County birding report by email? Contact Rex Rowan at rexrowan@gmail.com.