Tag Archives: Roseate Spoonbill

Late spring update

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

At 7:00 on Tuesday evening, May 14th, Adam and Gina Kent will share photographs and descriptions of their recent trip to Cuba where they saw a wide variety of endemics and migrants and met with conservation professionals who manage some of the world’s richest environments. Please join us at the Millhopper Library, 3145 NW 43rd Street.

Two of the links in the last birding report went bad between the time I wrote it and the time you received it. The correct link for the film “Birders: The Central Park Effect” playing at The Hipp on the 21st is http://thehipp.org/birder.html

  And the correct link for the story on the eBird team’s North American Record Big Day, complete with map and photos, is http://ebird.org/content/ebird/?p=654

Conrad Burkholder took a really lovely photo of the area around Alachua Sink during the Alachua Audubon field trip on Saturday the 11th. The field trip found a Great White Heron, two Whooping Cranes, three Roseate Spoonbills, two Purple Gallinules, three Yellow-breasted Chats, eight Blue Grosbeaks, a dozen Indigo Buntings, two Orchard Orioles, and 100 Bobolinks, among other things.

On the 10th Jonathan Mays saw the spring’s only White-rumped Sandpipers so far: “White-rumped Sandpipers are in – had a flock of 8 peeps buzz by me this morning at the La Chua observation platform. Some were giving the little mouse squeak flight calls of White-rumps but I was only able to confirm actual white rumps on three of the birds.”

Dale Henderson notified me on the 7th that a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher was hanging around the Cedar Key airfield. It was still there on the 11th. That’s pretty late for a Scissor-tailed, but last year I saw one there in June.

There are still a few Cedar Waxwings hanging around. I saw four at the Main Street Publix on the 12th and heard (but didn’t see) a few in my NE Gainesville neighborhood on the 13th.

Not really meaning to rub your noses in it, but in case you’re interested here are two photos of birders looking at last weekend’s Kirtland’s Warbler.

Jonathan Mays got a photo of a Canebrake Rattlesnake (formerly a distinct subspecies, now simply considered a Timber Rattlesnake) in northern Alachua County on the 5th.

The Tenth Annual June Challenge begins in about two weeks.

Remember Adam and Gina Kent’s presentation on birding in Cuba at 7:00 on Tuesday evening!

No news is bad news

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

The Kirtland’s Warbler seems to have been a one-day wonder. Gary Davis wrote, “I was at San Felasco from 7:30 to 3:00 birding with Lloyd Davis, John Murphy, Bob Wallace, and others. I did not see the bird and as far as I know nobody else saw it during that time. Birding was slow all day, with no notable sightings.” Stuart Muller was philosophical: “If I could fly, I’d be back up in the air in this weather too. Lovely moment though.”

Mike Manetz walked out La Chua today. He found a Least Bittern in the canal – just where they were last year – and saw three Roseate Spoonbills at the observation platform, though they flew off as he watched. Jonathan Mays, on a different part of the Prairie, saw a spoonbill too – perhaps one of the same three – and got a photo.

Jonathan also got this photo of a singing male Prothonotary Warbler at Palm Point on the 2nd, which I’m linking here just because the color is so glorious, and to remind you that they’re resident all summer just a few miles east of Gainesville, so you should go marvel at them.

The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology is sponsoring a Young Birders’ Network. Here’s the YBN page on eBird and here’s the Facebook page.

Speaking of eBird, a team composed of eBird project leaders just set a new North American Big Day record of 294 species, besting the old record by an astounding 30 species. The story is here. Matt Hafner, Alachua County Birder Emeritus (even though he actually lived in Marion County), gets a mention. Matt may be the best birder I’ve ever met, and I’ve met John Hintermister and Mike Manetz, so that’s saying something.

Wild Birds Unlimited is sponsoring a showing of “Birders: The Central Park Effect” at The Hipp on May 21st. For details and a link to the trailer, go here.

Florida’s 2013 legislative session is over. For environmental highlights, go here, but I can tell you that the feral cat bill died a richly-deserved death in committee.

Sumer is icumen in. I heard my first cicadas of the season tuning up in the back yard this afternoon.

And speaking of poetry, one of our local birders, Adrienne Daniel, was inspired by her backyard birds:

DELIGHTFUL FRIENDS!

You are enjoyment, you are a smile,
You invite me to stay a while.
There is an order in what you do
And that can be said by very few.
You are thankful for what you receive
Or so your actions make me believe.
The seasons dictate your fashion style
And some of you travel many a mile.
I don’t know just how you know
Unless you search high and low.
Maybe it is the pull of generations past
But I sure hope this will last and last.
I am so lucky you found my home
And some of you never roam
But those of you who can’t stay for long
Always favor me with a glorious song.
The notes linger in my mind for days
And you delight in so many ways.
You all are my sunshine every day
From my first coffee to the suns last ray
To all my feathered friends I drink a toast
And hope I have been a proper host.

Christmas Count highlights

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I’m not sure, but I think the 161 or 162 species seen on today’s CBC is a record for the Count. Highlights in brief:

BLACK SCOTER: First county record. Six on Lake Wauberg. Be there first thing Monday morning!

Groove-billed Ani: One along the fenceline trail that cuts back toward the powerlines after you’ve walked through the barn at the beginning of the La Chua Trail. The bird was where the powerline cut intersects the fenceline trail.

Sprague’s Pipit: Two on Kanapaha Prairie, exactly where they were on the last CBC.

Ash-throated Flycatcher: TEN on Paynes Prairie, scattered among four territories. (TEN!)

Least Flycatcher: Four on Paynes Prairie.

Red-breasted Nuthatch: One in Micanopy, three in one tree (!) near the Kanapaha Prairie.

Canvasback: Five on Newnans Lake.

The rest in taxonomic order: Red-breasted Merganser 4, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 1, Roseate Spoonbill 1, Limpkin 5, Spotted Sandpiper 1, Laughing Gull 1, Winter Wren 1, Northern Parula 1, Wilson’s Warbler 1, Yellow-breasted Chat 2, Le Conte’s Sparrow 6, Lincoln’s Sparrow 6, Summer Tanager 4, Indigo Bunting 2, Painted Bunting 1.