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| winter 2006 meeting. . . |
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Our second consecutive winter meeting was a splendid, colorful, soggy adventure. It most certainly featured something for every birder: peering into backyards for “painted” hummingbirds, a celebration of Swallow-tailed Kites and Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, enormous trees that actually made many of us forget about birds for awhile (a brief while), the Curlew Sandpiper that wasn’t, the Henslow’s Sparrow that was, and huge rafts of ducks in the mist. Seventy Georgians joined several like-minded Floridians for a weekend in the Red Hills region of northwestern Florida and southwestern Georgia in late January. The hotel and its staff were exceptional, the birding was better than that, and our Florida friends were nothing short of terrific – doing their utmost (and succeeding) to create a memorable weekend for their visitors from the north. We started off this adventure with something unusual for one of our meetings – a Friday afternoon field trip, in this case to the Springhill Sewage Treatment facility. Only birders would understand . . . Anyway, the holding ponds were filled with dabbling and diving ducks, shorebirds stood in the shallows and lined pond embankments, and raptors swooped over our heads looking for an easy lunch. At the last pond we visited, near a flock of dowitchers, stood an invitation for good-natured debate. “Curlew Sandpiper,” said one group of birders. “No, Dunlin,” said the other group. After much discussion about winter plumage coloration, rump patches, the qualities and shortcomings of field guides, and decurved bills, everyone was eventually convinced that the bird before us was a Dunlin, or so it seemed. Two days after the meeting the email traffic and GABO postings indicated that folks in the Tallahassee area were still convinced about the bird’s identity, only now they were convinced it was the other species! Those of us who lightly dismissed the bird as a Dunlin were now kicking ourselves for “disrespecting” a Curlew Sandpiper, a life species for many. Of course, the discovery of a Curlew Sandpiper caused many birders to travel from afar to witness this phenomenon and, birders being birders, one of them took a digital picture of the bird and posted it online so everyone could join in the debate. A day later the species had conclusively morphed back into a Dunlin. Isn’t birding fun? Friday night’s program featured Tall Timbers’ biologist Jim Cox, who provided a fascinating talk about the biology of the RCW, and in particular about how forces like big agriculture, railroad barons, and the outbreak of the Civil War led to the loss of vast acreages of mature wildlife habitat, yet spared forested treasures like Tall Timbers. Saturday night’s program unexpectedly featured two wonderful speakers. Noted author (A Tracking Desire and Between Two Rivers) and conservationist Susan Cerulean led off the evening with a presentation that celebrated the majesty of the Swallow-tailed Kite and gave credit to the dedicated biologists who strive to understand the mysteries of this species’ migration patterns and habitat needs. Gina Zimmerman, whom some of you may remember as a graduate student from Georgia Southern University who worked with Ken Meyer (our Valdosta speaker a few years ago) on his kite research, followed Susan with a talk about kite research, how modern transmitters and satellites have unlocked the mystery of their migration route, and the challenges involved with conducting such research in remote areas on a limited budget. Gina now works for Ken through the Avian Research Institute, based in Gainesville, Florida. The field trips (see the species list in this newsletter) on Saturday and Sunday primarily focused on St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, Wakulla Springs State Park, and a tour of various hot spots and residential backyards in and around Tallahassee. One of those backyards featured three species of hummingbirds: rufous, Allen’s, and ruby-throated, along with two Baltimore Orioles. The hummingbirds had been banded and some had been marked with various colors of paint which, although the latter wasn’t exactly aesthetically pleasing, was the primary means by which most of us could identify one nondescript hummer from another. Hint: the Allen’s Hummingbird was the one with the punk hairdo and a yellow spot on the top of its head! In another yard the homeowner actually chopped down a small forest of palm fronds so we could get a great look at a Black-chinned Hummingbird! Everyone who visited Wakulla Springs was treated to a tour of areas that are normally closed off to the public. What they saw was the talk of our evenings at the hotel – state-record, gigantic trees. Sunday at St. Marks began under an ominous sky, but then we spotted an American Golden Plover and concerns about the weather vanished. Then, of course, the deluge began. One thing everyone should know about St. Marks, and that is that the weather there never matters to birders, even a rainy, chilly day. The birding was fabulous. Ducks, eagles, night herons and sparrows were as thick as flies. At one point we found ourselves standing under shelter looking across the Gulf of Mexico as rafts of scaup and mergansers materialized out of the mist, along with a few scattered Common Goldeneyes. When the rain let up a group of us tromped through a damp brushy field and cornered two Henslow’s Sparrows under wax myrtles. At one point, six of us formed a circle within four feet of one of the Henslow’s as it hunkered down at our feet. Obviously, it was a remarkable weekend filled with images we won’t forget. Our thanks go to the talented Tallahassee hosts for their hospitality and for providing such a memorable adventure. My thanks, as always go to Bill Lotz, Anne Mursch, Steve Holzman, Barbara Brigham, and Helen Ogren for all of your hard work. You make these meetings look easy! Come join us for our next sojourn – Kennesaw in April! Submitted by Bob Sargent
Bill Lotz, Compiler The following table contains a
combined list of the species
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08/2006
