The Crane Alachua Audubon Society Volume 56 Number 6 July—Aug. 2015 Page 1

Volume 56 Number 6 July—Aug. 2015

The Crane

And on the 12th he photographed a very late Com-mon Loon on Newnans Lake. John Martin visited Palm Point June 9th and picked out a Least Tern from across the lake. John also discovered a Scaup June 20th at Alachua Lake that exhibited identifica-tion characteristics of both Lesser and Greater Scaup, and continued to be the subject of lively debate through the month. Eventually it was determined to be a Lesser; not as rare as Greater, it was nonetheless a fairly rare bird here for June and a great "tick" for the Challenge! The new Sweetwater Wetlands Park was one of the hotspots for Challengers despite the City's weekends-only admission policy. It was our only go-to location for the sometimes difficult Yellow-crowned Night Heron and King Rail. And it was there Lloyd Davis found another Greater Yellowlegs and Danny Shehee pointed out a Belted Kingfisher that stayed for a week or so. As mentioned elsewhere in the Crane, Short-tailed Hawks were seen by several participants in sev-eral different locations. Peter Polshek alerted us to a family of Broad-winged Hawks including at least two juveniles and an adult just outside Mill Creek Pre-serve. Peter, along with Lloyd Davis, discovered a Whooping Crane on the 26th at Alachua Lake. Lloyd also scored big June 29th with a Caspian Tern at Lake Santa Fe. Also on the 29th Mike Manetz picked up an early Louisiana Waterthrush along Moonshine Creek in San Felasco Hammock. The white-hot intensity of this year's challenge led to a tie for first place and some record-breaking totals (previous high total, including ABA countable species plus exotic species was 127). The winners in the adult division were: (continued on Page 6)

The June Challenge Edition of the Crane Newsletter

June Challenge Simply stated, the June Challenge is a compe-tition sponsored by Alachua Audubon to see (not just hear) the most bird species in the county during the month of June. This year's competition was as fierce as it was friendly, with several birders "all-in" down to the very last day, yet sharing every sighting so others would have a chance to see newly found birds. Participants know it's critical to bird as much as possible the first few days of the month, which is when you are most likely to see late-straggling mi-grants. To emphasize this, Rex Rowan annually or-ganizes a large-group outing on the first day of the month. This year's opening day was pretty routine until the final stop at the La Chua trail platform. Low water levels had attracted a collection of migrant shorebird species that would prove difficult if not im-possible to find later in the week. In the steamy heat of the noon hour we found Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers, a Semipalmated Plover, Greater Yellow-legs, and the most spectacular of all: a Red-necked Phalarope picked out by Dean and Sam Ewing! The following two days were also productive as a few migrant warblers were still dribbling through, including a Redstart found by Andy Kratter, and a Blackpoll and two more Prairies picked up by Matt O'Sullivan. A few Bobolinks and a Tree Swallow along the former Sweetwater dike were excellent addi-tions to the list, as was a Brown Pelican found by Emily Schwartz at Lake Wauberg. Chris Cattau found three great birds early in the month. First was a Gray Catbird, possibly a pair, June 3rd at Tumblin' Creek Park; two days later along the shore at Palm Point he discovered a county late-record Spotted Sandpiper.

The Crane Alachua Audubon Society Volume 56 Number 6 July—Aug. 2015 Page 2

The second half of spring mi-gration was as unremarkable as the first. With winds continuing mostly from the south/southeast and a lack of frontal activity through early May, there were no major fallouts or block-buster rarities, but rather a steady stream of the expected migrants. American Redstarts

and Blackpoll Warblers were numerous at times. A walk along Bolen Bluff on May 8th yielded as many as 32 redstarts and 20 blackpolls, plus eight Black-throated Blue Warblers. There were plenty of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks at backyard feeders and a smattering of Scarlet Tanagers. Shorebirding was better than average. Two locations, Sweetwater Wetlands Park and Alachua Lake, had favorably falling water levels and plenty of mud to attract sandpipers. Sweetwater Wetlands had both Spotted and Solitary Sandpipers in the double-digits, plus our only Pectoral, Stilt, and White-rumped Sandpipers. The rarest shorebird of spring, and proba-bly the year, was a Red-necked Phalarope picked out by Dean and Sam Ew-ing on June 1st from the platform overlooking Alachua Lake. This was only our third county record and the first since the year 2000! Falling water levels on Payne's Prairie Basin greatly benefited sev-eral breeding species. The number of nesting Least Bitterns was remarkable! I don't think anyone conducted an actual survey, but it was not uncommon to see at least ten on a walk around Sweetwater Wetlands or along La Chua Trail. Long-time birders can remember when it could be difficult to find one or two! Conditions were also favorable for nesting Black-necked Stilts. At Alachua Lake one could count up to twenty adults, plus many chicks. Purple Gallinules and Mottled ducks were exceptionally numerous and easy to find. Another big attraction at Alachua Lake was the presence of variable numbers of Roseate Spoonbills. I can remember when you would be lucky to see one in the county over the course of a year. Another breeding species that seems to be expanding in our area is Short-tailed Hawk. When I first started birding here they were nearly mythical, but over the past ten years sightings have increased dramatically. This spring there were reports from five different locations: Archer Road west of I-75 (Matt Bruce), UF campus (Peter Polshek), Hunter's Crossing (John Martin), downtown Alachua (Bob Carroll), and Windsor boat ramp on Newnans Lake (Lloyd Davis). All these sightings were of dark-morph birds. Believe it or not, by the time you receive this issue of the Crane fall migration will be under way! Someone will have already spotted our earliest migrant Louisiana Waterthrush and maybe our first "fall" Black-and-white Warbler. By early August, Yellow and Kentucky Warblers and American Redstarts will be possible, along with the highly prized Cerulean Warbler. It's often said that "there's no rest for the weary". I would insert "birder"! Thanks to those

who share their sightings through June 30, 2015.

Around The County… By Mike Manetz

Alachua Audubon Officers & Chairpersons of

Standing Committees

Deadline for Sept—Oct Crane:

Aug. 15th

President ................. Anne Casella 352-378-0505

Vice President ........ Scott Flamand 352-665-7020

Secretary... ................... Felicia Lee 714-791-8855

Treasurer .............. Dotty Robbins 386-454-8087

Membership .................. Paul Moler 352-495-9419

Field Trips ......... John Hintermister 352-316-2396

Education ............. Emily Schwartz 352-372-0754

Birding Classes Charlene Leonard 352-226-1214

Festivals ............... Barbara Shea 352-472-4650

Conservation ............... Bob Simons 352-372-7646

Crane Editor ............ Debbie Segal 352-514-0596

.......... Submittals: Debbie.segal@gmail.com

Advertising ............... Debbie Segal 352-514-0596

Website ................... Rex Rowan 352-371-9296

Yearbook ................... Bob Carroll 352-372-6698

Crane Circulation .................. Erika & Bob Simons

352-372-7646

AAS Website ...................www.alachuaaudubon.org

The Alachua Audubon Soci-ety’s mission is to foster ap-preciation and knowledge of

birds and other native wildlife, to protect and restore wildlife

populations and their habitats, and to promote sustainable

use of natural resources.

Content of The Crane is the sole responsibility of the editor and ful-fills stated objectives and goals of Alachua Audubon Society. Annual subscription to The Crane is in-cluded in National Audubon dues. See back page for subscription in-formation. Submissions to The Crane are welcomed.

The Crane Alachua Audubon Society Volume 56 Number 6 July—Aug. 2015 Page 3

Paynes Prairie in Jeopardy

You may have read about the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) plan to make Florida’s state parks self-supporting but you may not be aware of how close to home this threat has come. Paynes Prairie has been targeted as one of the parks that could generate revenue for the state. DEP staff members from Tallahassee have already contacted area farmers in Alachua County about leasing grazing rights on the prairie. Other potential revenue-generating activities include hunting and timbering. Paynes Prairie is one of the jewels of the state park system and Alachua Audubon is very concerned about the impacts that exploitation of the prairie for profit will have on the prairie’s habitat and wildlife. We are poised to work with others who share our concerns to oppose this land use change at Paynes Prairie in the strongest way possible. We do not expect our schools, roads, public health programs and art and history museums to be self-supporting – why are our state parks any different? As we lose more and more of natural Florida to devel-opment, it is imperative that we preserve the small percentage of land held by state parks, keep this land safe from agricultural uses, and maintain it for the enjoyment of the public. The state parks already bring in 77% of their costs – isn’t that enough? We hope you are ready to join us in opposing the use of Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park for agricul-tural, hunting, and timbering activities so that we can continue to enjoy this magnificent park in its natural state. Provided below are some action items that we encourage you to take. 1. Send a letter or email to the Editor at the Gainesville Sun. 2. Send a letter, email, or call the governor and cabinet officers. (It will be a waste of time to write to the Florida Park Service or the DEP secretary).

3. Send a letter, email, or call your state senator and representatives. (Short letters are better than long letters.) Our principle message is “no cattle ranching, timbering or hunting in Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park.” Our motto: “Don’t mess with Paynes Prairie.” We need lots of letters. There is no such thing as too many letters. Please Contact: Governor Rick Scott (850) 488-7146 http://www.flgov.com/contact-gov-scott/

Senator Rob Bradley (904) 278-2085 https://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/s7

Representative Keith Perry (352) 264-4040 http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/details.aspx?MemberId=4497

Representative Clovis Watson (352) 264-4001 http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/details.aspx?MemberId=4541

Photograph of AAS birding field trip along Bo-lens Bluff Trail at Paynes Prairie. Photograph taken by Trina Anderson of the field trip par-ticipants searching for birds from the observa-tion tower at the north end of the trail. Many birds were spotted including a Whooping Crane.

The Crane Alachua Audubon Society Volume 56 Number 6 July—Aug. 2015 Page 4

Plum Creek Revises Envision Alachua Development Plan

In response to feedback from Alachua County staff and various others, including Alachua Audubon, Plum Creek has made some significant changes to their proposed future development plans. Plum Creek has canceled their plans to de-velop some parcels and decided to not protect some parcels with a conservation easement. Spe-cifically, the most significant change is that they have taken the area on either side of SR 26 out of their development plan and also dropped their plan to preserve the area with a conservation ease-ment. Plum Creek still proposes to develop three large areas—on the north side of SR 20 just east of Newnans Lake, north of Hawthorne near US 301, and on the outskirts of Hawthorne. They also still propose to place conservation easements on the majority of their remaining lands, including most of the environmentally sensitive areas. In addition, they are proposing to significantly widen and en-hance the proposed wildlife corridor along Lochloosa Creek, a change that Alachua Audubon lobbied hard for. If agreed to, Plum’s Creek revised develop-

ment plan will be more protective of the sensitive

environmental resources, especially the wide swath

near Newnans Lake.

By Bob Simons

Party Box Available Everyone knows the 3 Rs – reduce, reuse, re-cycle. Alachua Audubon can help you reduce your pa-per waste by reusing! We have created a “Party Box” – two Tupperware bins with hard plastic plates and plat-ters, glass drinking glasses, and silverware. It is perfect for your picnic or patio party. If you would like to borrow the Party Box for your next event, please contact Emily Schwartz at emilysgfl@gmail.com to reserve the boxes. There should be enough plates, cups, and silverware for a gathering of up to 16 people. The Party Box can be used free of charge, but it must be returned clean.

Sierra Club Summer Picnic

Poe Springs County Park

The executive committee of the Suwan-nee/St. Johns Sierra Club extends an invitation to the Alachua Audubon membership. You are in-vited to a pot luck picnic on Saturday, July 18th from 11 a.m to 2 p.m.

Bring a potluck dish to share and your own cutlery. Activities at the park include swim-ming, snorkeling, kayaking, canoeing, wildlife viewing, playground, volleyball, hiking and nature trails. More info on Poe Springs: http://www.floridasprings.org/visit/map/poe%20springs/

Sweetwater Wetlands Park Officially Opens

Sweetwater Wetlands Park officially opened its gates to the public on May 2nd. It is now open on weekends from 7 am to sunset and on holidays. The City of Gainesville Parks, Rec-reation, and Cultural Affairs, the entity that runs the public use aspect of the park, is hopeful that the City Commission will allocate funds so that the park will be open seven days a week starting on October 1st. The entrance fee is $5 per car or $2 per bike. A parking pass can be purchased from the city at the 3rd floor of the Thomas Cen-ter for $25, and the pass will be honored through September 30th. Kim Chaney and Danny Rohan were hired as the new rangers for the Sweetwater Wet-lands Park, and those of you who have already visited the park have likely met these friendly and enthusiastic rangers. The City has done a fantas-tic job of identifying public use needs and imple-menting those deficiencies. Benches have been added and more benches are planned. In addition to the educational signs that were created for the park, the City is creating more signage to help visitors orient themselves around the large facility and to be aware of the park rules. One of the biggest public use (Continued on Page 9)

The Crane Alachua Audubon Society Volume 56 Number 6 July—Aug. 2015 Page 5

Georgia Youth Birding Experience On April 25th and 26th, Steven Good-man and I participated in the annual Georgia Youth Birding Competition. The competition began on Saturday at 5 pm and ended the fol-lowing day at 5 pm. The goal was to see or hear as many species as possible in the state of Geor-gia in that time period. The only boundaries were that it had to be in Georgia, so planning the route proved a bit difficult. With the help of the eBird database and local birder, Nathan Farnau, we decided on a route. We started at the coast on Saturday and worked our way inland towards the Charlie Elliot Wildlife Cen-ter, about an hour southeast of Atlanta, where we had to turn in our lists by 5 pm on Sunday. Once the competition began it was non-stop birding, with a few hours of sleep in a mo-tel in Darien, Georgia. The coastal areas were very productive and we found lots of waders, gulls, terns, shorebirds, and other waterbirds on Saturday evening. Owling proved very unpro-ductive, and was perhaps our greatest challenge of the competition. We picked up Barn Owl in Darien on Saturday evening, but despite a few hours of owling in many areas, we could not find any of the other expected species. We got rained out on Saturday night though, and had a strong wind on Sunday morning, which may have accounted for that. Some other challenges we encountered included moving quickly and lack of sleep. The competition was amazing though, and I had a wonderful time, and learned a whole lot about bird calls, habitat relations, and how to do a big day overall. By 5 pm on Sun-day we had turned in our lists at the Charlie El-liot Center, seeing 167 species over the 24-hour period. We ended up winning the competition and setting a new record for number of species, which was very exhilarating! I think the main keys to success were having a good route, being familiar with bird sounds, and working together as a team. I really enjoyed the whole competition, and look for-ward to hopefully (continued on Page 8)

10th Georgia Youth Birding Event Sets Records

Teams in Georgia's Youth Birding Com-petition set high marks for bird species seen or heard and conservation funds raised as the 10th annual event continued to spread its wings and expand its impact for wildlife. Youth from pri-mary to high school ages searched the state for birds during the 24-hour contest held Saturday through Sunday evening (April 25-26) by the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division, part of the Department of Natural Resources. The Florida Scrub-Jay Team, consisting of two teens from Gainesville, Fla., was the overall winner with 167 species, an event record. But Ste-ven Goodman, 16, and Sam Ewing, 14, both ex-perienced birders, also represented another com-petition highlight:; 13 of the 27 teams were com-peting in the event for the first time. Coordinator and founder Tim Keyes said he's encouraged by the number of new teams, from first-time to vet-eran birders, and by participants' growing skills. During the first Youth Birding Competition a decade ago, the winning team had 100 species. “It keeps ramping up every year,” said Keyes, a wild-life biologist with the DNR's Nongame Conserva-tion Section, which works to conserve wildlife not legally fished for or hunted. This year's teams raised nearly $2,900 for conservation, a voluntary part of the competition that pushed the 10-year total past $20,000. The Wood Thrushes, a middle school team, led with $1,282. The Youth Birding Competition is aimed at cultivating an interest in birds and conserva-tion. Sponsors include The Environmental Re-sources Network Inc., or TERN – friends group of the Nongame Conservation Section – the Georgia Ornithological Society and the Atlanta and Albany Audubon Societies. The event's reach is being multiplied by Race4Birds (www.race4birds.org), a foundation started last year to spread the Youth Birding Competition concept. Similar events are scheduled or in the works for seven other states, from Florida to Minnesota. The Wood (continued on Page 8)

The Crane Alachua Audubon Society Volume 56 Number 6 July—Aug. 2015 Page 6

June Challenge (continued from Page 1)

(1 Tied) Lloyd Davis, 129 (124/5) (ABA countable species/exotic species) (1 Tied) Mike Manetz, 129 (124/5) (2) Peter Polshek, 128 (122/6) (3) Howard Adams, 123 (119/4) In the youth division, the winners were: (1) Sam Ewing, 109 (105/4) age 14 (2) Nora Parks-Church, 75 (74/1) age 11 (3) Maddy Knight, 69 (66/3) age 5, and our young-

est participant as far as I know By Mike Manetz

And the results for ABA countable species are: (remember, exotic species only count as a tie breaker) Lloyd Davis and Mike Manetz 124; Peter Pol-shek122; Howard Adams119; Danny Shehee 118 (Photographed 107); Brad Hall 115; Barbara Shea 114; Susan Jacobson 113; Chris Cattou and Rex Rowan 111; Ron Robinson 108; Dean Ewing, Bob Carroll, and John Hintermister 106; Ben Ewing, Sam Ewing, (14 years old), and Deena Mickelson 105; Anne Casella 103; Marie Davis 101; Ellen Frat-tino and Will Sexton 99; Sharon Kuchinski 97; Katherine Edison, 96; Erika Simons 94; Bob Simons and John Martin 93; Tina Greenberg, Deb-bie Segal, and Becky Enneis 92; Jennifer Donsky 91; Anne Barkdoll 90; Trina Anderson 88; Geoff Parks 84; Bob Knight 82; Andy Kratter 81; Cindy Boyd 78; Linda Holt 77; Nora Parks-Church (11 years old) and Erin Kalinowski 76; Maddy Knight (5 years old) 66; Isaac Ewing (6 years old) 65; Emily Schwartz 64; Scott Knight 60; Owen Parks-Church (7 years old) 55; Bill Enneis and Sue Ann Enneis 52. Thank you Bob Carroll for compiling the results, Becky Enneis for hosting the June Challenge party, and especially to Rex Rowan for his frequent and highly anticipated email updates.

Welcome New Advertisers Alachua Audubon welcomes Santiago Salazar and Susan Justus Weinstein, our newest adver-tisers in the Crane Newsletter. Please continue to patronize our new and continuing advertis-ers. Their financial support largely offsets our newsletter printing costs.

Audubon Adventures National Audubon creates classroom kits for students in grades 3, 4, or 5 called Audubon Adventures. Sets of material for 32 students covering three topics are in the kit. Topics for the 2015-16 school year are: At Home in a Habitat, Caretaking Our World’s Water, and Power from Our Planet.. Would you like to sponsor one or more classroom kits? If so, or for more information, please contact Emily Schwartz at 352-372-0754 or emilysgfl@gmail.com. The donor’s cost is $46 per kit.

The Crane Alachua Audubon Society Volume 56 Number 6 July—Aug. 2015 Page 7

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The Crane Alachua Audubon Society Volume 56 Number 6 July—Aug. 2015 Page 8

10th Georgia Youth Birding Event (continued from Page 5)

Thrushes' raised money this year to help Race4Birds. And The Scrub-Jays competed in part because their mentor, Adam Kent, is interested in holding a youth birding contest near Gainesville, Florida. The Scrub-Jays' Steven Goodman is al-ready sold on birding. From aspects such as searching for species to seeing wild places, “It has every element of awesomeness in it!” he said. The competition, which ran from 5 p.m. Saturday to 5 p.m. Sunday, ended with a wildlife program and awards banquet at Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center near Mansfield. Teams used as much of the 24-hour period as they wanted to count bird species in Georgia.

Georgia Department of Natural Resources Press Release

Note: The Alachua Audubon Society sponsored Team Florida Scrub-Jay and provided donations for the competition’s fund raising efforts and to cover the team’s travel expenses. On behalf of Alachua Audu-bon, we sincerely appreciate Adam Kent’s coaching and mentoring efforts for these amazing youth birders.

Georgia Youth Birding Experience (continued from Page 5)

participating in similar competitions in the near future. I'd like to thank Adam Kent for being our mentor and coaching us along the way. I know we would not have won without him! I'd also like to thank Alachua Audubon for provid-ing financial and moral support.

Sam Ewing (Age 14)

Photographs of Sam Ewing and Steven Goodman during the Geor-gia Youth Birding Competition. Photographs taken by Adam Kent.

The Crane Alachua Audubon Society Volume 56 Number 6 July—Aug. 2015 Page 9

Photo above of Felicia Lee and Gina Kent while staffing the AAS booth at the April Earth Day Cele-bration at First Magnitude Brewery. Photo taken by Seaton Tarrant. Photo below of a recent AAS field-trip at the Sweetwater Wetland Park. Photo taken by Chip Deutsch.

Sweetwater Wetland Park (continued from Page 4)

challenges was accessibility of the gravel trails, particularly for wheelchairs. After feedback from visitors during the first few weekends that the park was open, the City has worked with GRU and Public Works to stabilize the trail be-tween the boardwalk and open air classroom. Many birding highlights have been ob-served at the Sweetwater Wetlands Park. A large flock of visiting Bobolinks greeted visitors right when the park opened. The reclusive Least Bitterns and Purple Gallinules are abun-dant and fairly easy to spot, as well as families of Limpkins with multiple chicks. Lucky ob-servers have spotted Yellow-crowned Night-Herons during early morning or late evening hikes. Multiple shorebird species were ob-served during spring migration and a few lucky birders saw Least Terns at the wetlands. And lingering winter residents have continued at the wetland for longer than expected, including Blue-winged Teal, Belted Kingfisher, and Tree Swallow.

By Debbie Segal

The Crane Alachua Audubon Society Volume 56 Number 6 July—Aug. 2015 Page 10

Non-profit Organization U.S. Postage Paid Gainesville Florida 32601 Permit No. 18

Alachua Audubon Society P. O. Box 140464 Gainesville, Florida 32614-0464 AAS-thecrane@att.net

The Crane July—Aug. 2015

Join Audubon! To join Audubon on 3 levels (National, Florida, and

Alachua), fill in application and mail to:

Paul Moler 7818 SW Co Rd 346 Archer, Florida 32618

Questions? Contact Paul 352-495-9419 or paulmoler@bellsouth.net

Chapter E-18 New Membership Application

Not for renewals! Name:__________________________________

Telephone:______________________________

Address:________________________________

City:___________________________________

State:_________________ Zip:______________

Please check level of membership: Basic $35.00

Introductory Membership: One Year $20.00

Make check payable to Alachua Audubon Society Chapter ONLY Membership $10.00

(Receive The Crane but no National or State Publication)

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To start receiving The Crane electronically, simply send an email to AAS-thecrane@ att.net Please include your name and address.

Watch for the complete list of 2014/2015 Alachua Audubon Field Trips in the next edition of the Crane Newsletter.