Volume 59, Number 5, May, 2017 Florida Birding Highlights Article & Photos by Mike Birmingham, Entomologist Names from Wikipedia Excited about my trip, I printed eBird checklists of than the hotspots in Brevard County, Florida. I put the hotspot Common addresses in the GPS and I learned the field marks of Grackles unfamiliar birds seen on the checklists before departure. in our I stayed in Cocoa Beach next to the Lori Wilson Columbia Park. The park had a maritime hummock of oak and County. palms accessed by a boardwalk. Only a Yellow-rumped Common Warbler and Black-and-white Warblers were seen in Gallinules the dense evergreen swam canopy. A walker near told me the lizards reeds. with pink throat Their red fans were Green bills with anoles, the only white Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) native species. She tips were said there were distinctive. American Coot are numerous, noisy and several brown Anole have white bills. species which had A pleasant surprise was seeing a Crested Caracara at been introduced to Brevard Zoo which I photographed. I had seen one near Florida from the Jacksonville along Rt. I 95 eating carrion, but traffic was West Indies. Birds continued on Page 2 Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis) prey on Anoles as evidenced by a tail missing on one. She enthusiastically described the Ritch REMINDER! Grissom Memorial Wetlands near Brevard Zoo as a birders’ paradise. Century Run/Birdathon That was all I needed to hear to make the trip to May 13, 2017 - Saturday - All Day Grissom Wetlands. A birder there pointed out a Great Blue Heron with two nestlings on a stick-built nest Important Reminder to get pledges for our main on top of a pole. A pair of Limpkins waded along the fundraiser of the year. shoreline. I recognized these large, brown birds with We are still in need of money for Sanctuary repairs. white spots from photos in Peterson. A pair of Sandhill Cranes walked in a meadow of tall weeds. Their field May 14, 2017, Sunday 4 pm Potluck Picnic/ marks are a red cap and rusty brown flanks and rump. Count Tally at the home of Marcia Anderson. Boat-tailed Grackles are noisy birds and they are larger Florida Birding Highlights continued from Page 1 too heavy to stop. The large hawk-like bird is named for its dark crest. Port Canaveral is north of Cocoa Beach and across the Banana River from the Kennedy Space Center. Space X Falcon 9 launched while I was birding at the Port. An

Osprey plunged Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus) feet first into the immatures of the Little Blue Heron and White Ibis. The Crested Caracara (Caracara cheriway) river lifting a fish from the water and Great Blue Heron and Great Egret did not mix with carrying it to a post to eat. Brown Pelicans sat on water in the locks looking for trapped fish. A Snowy Egret has a black bill and yellow feet, and rode the lock gates

Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga) the others. Green Herons walked along the shoreline Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) hunting as they opened and closed. Ruddy Turnstones used the creatures at under structure of the piers to perch and walked along the water’s the canal turning over stones to find food. edge. Dozens Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge visitor of American center validated my pass which I needed to enter the Avocets with seven mile Black Point Drive loop road. Upon exiting buff necks the center I came upon dozens of Black Vultures fed on the devouring a feral hog road kill. On the loop road I mudflats. saw Anhinga soaring high overhead in a broad circle. A birding Similar to cormorants they sit on the ground with wings hotspot on extended to dry. Mixed wader species fed together – the Island Roseate Spoonbill, Tricolor Heron, Snowy Egret, Little was the Dike Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens) Blue Heron, Glossy Ibis, and White Ibis including continued on Page 6

May 2017 The Warbler alandevoebirdclub.org 2 Reminders & Notices ADBC Field Trips CLC Outings - For Information about CLC May 6, Sat. - OLANA (morning) events, programs & outings: Visit www.clctrust.org or Meet 8 am at the parking lot by the pond at Olana call 518-392-5252 State Historic Site, Route 9G, less than 1 mile south of the Rip Van Winkle Bridge. This is a good location for early MOH ON A S W udson ohawk ird lub rips K H M B C T D U warblers and a good way to gear up for the Century Run next H

B & Programs I B week. Coordinators: Chris Franks and Tim O’Connor 518- R U D CL 781-0204, 518-822-1232. More info: 518-439-8080 or www.hmbc.net

May 11, Thurs. - DROWNED LANDS SWAMP (morning) Welcome New Members! Meet 8 am at the visitor parking lot of Drowned Lands Lisa E. Noferi & Brooke Hapeman Deborah Allen & Conservation Area on Route 3 in the township of Ancram Daniel Dillon Elizaville NY Robert Hoch about 3.5 miles north of Ancramdale Route 82. We will be Canaan NY Hensonville NY looking for spring migrants. Coordinator: Bill Cook 518-851- 2678. Renewing Members for 2017 May 13, Sat. - CENTURY RUN/Birdathon (full day) John & Clare Bracken May 14, Sun. - LEWIS A. SWYER PRESERVE-MILL John Loz Tim O’Connor CREEK (morning) Meet 7:30 am at the pull off on the west side of Route 9J north of the hamlet of Stuyvesant. We will be looking for spring ALAN DEVOE BIRD CLUB MEMBERSHIP FORM migrants. Coordinator: Bill Cook 518-851-2678. Membership Annual Renewal Date: January 1st Send check to: Sandra Williams, 1730 Co. Rte 9, Chatham, NY May 14, Sun. - POTLUCK PICNIC/BBQ/CENTURY 12037, payable to the Alan Devoe Bird Club, Inc. RUN COUNT TALLY (afternoon) Meet 4 pm at the home of Marcia and Richard Anderson. Name:

Bring a dish to share; hamburgers and hotdogs provided Street address: by Marcia and Richard. Please phone if you plan to attend. Coordinator: Marcia Anderson 518-758-6433. City, state & zip:

May 20, Sat. - HAND HOLLOW (morning) Telephone: Meet 8 am at the parking lot. From the intersection of Route 22 and US 20, go west on US20, turn left on CR 5, E-Mail: proceeding south to the intersection with CR 34. Turn right Paper Warbler or E-Warbler (please circle your preference) and proceed to the intersection of CR 34 with CR 9. As you prepare to turn right, you will see across the road the farmhouse MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES: that marks the parking lot of the Hand Hollow preserve Adult $20 [ ] Junior (18 or younger) $10 [ ] immediately on the left, marked by the distinctive green and Supporting Adult $30 [ ] Individual Life $500 [ ] white logo of the Columbia Land Conservancy. Coordinators: Family/Household $25 [ ] Supporting Family/Household $45 [ ] Chris Franks and Drew Hopkins 518-781-0204. continued on page 5 ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS: General Fund: Sanctuary Fund: Educational Opportunities Fund:

TOTAL ENCLOSED:

May 2017 The Warbler alandevoebirdclub.org 3 Excerpt from the DEC Hudson River Almanac by Tom Lake, Hudson River Estuary Program Consulting Naturalist “4/8 - Stuyvesant, HRM 127: We found a Pink- at this same location for over two weeks. The Pink-footed footed Goose a quarter to a third of a mile out in a field Goose was a first sighting for Region 8 and Columbia within a flock of a dozen Canada Geese and seven Snow County. Thanks to Debbie Shaw and Kathy Schneider Geese. This was near where six Sandhill Cranes were et. al., I was also able to view it. To subscribe to the HR sighted yesterday feeding in a cornfield. After a while, Almanac, use the links on DEC’s Hudson River Almanac or the entire flock of geese took off heading north and DEC Delivers web pages.) east, but still flying low, probably relocating rather than leaving. Debbie Shaw - Alan Devoe Bird Club, Naomi Lloyd, Will Raup, Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club [In recent year, pink-footed goose sightings have been increasing in frequency in northeastern North America. There has been a dramatic increase in the reports of this species from Quebec, Newfoundland, Maine, Massachusetts and New York. Pink-footed geese breed in Greenland and Iceland and their presence has become an inexplicable phenomenon mirrored in a similar increase of other Eurasian goose species in our area such as barnacle goose and greater white-fronted goose. Rich Guthrie.]” (Editor’s Note: The Sandhill Cranes were originally found west of Kinderhook by me on March 30, 2017, and seen Sandhill Crane photo by Nancy Kern

In Memorium Chandler S. Robbins: 1918-2017 Ornithologist and birding legend Chandler S. Robbins recently died at the age of 98. Birders are probably most familiar with Chandler Robbins as the author (with Bertel Bruun and Herbert Zim) of the groundbreaking Birds of North America: A Guide to Field Identification, illustrated by Arthur Singer, published in 1966 - often called by birders, the “Singer Guide” or the “Golden Guide”. Chan joined the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a biologist in 1945 and retired in 2005 from the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel Maryland, after sixty years with the Service. He organized and for decades ran the annual North American Breeding Bird Survey. He was also an active bird bander and in 1956 banded a Laysan on Midway Island in the Pacific that has come to be nicknamed “”. The albatross is now the oldest banded wild bird in the world and in 2017 was still nesting on Midway. Since the bird was an adult when it was banded, it is at least 66 years old. Chan was awarded the Eisenmann Medal by the Linnaean Society of New York in 1987 for “excellence in and encouragement of the amateur”. Since Chan was based in Maryland for most of his career, many New York birders may not have known him personally, but all have been influenced by his life and work, whether they knew him or not. Those who had the fortune to meet him know what a great person he was. A true legend. (Editor’s note: I had the great fortune to meet him at Cornell in the 1970s)

May 2017 The Warbler alandevoebirdclub.org 4 Ghent’s White Red-tailed Hawk by Nancy Kern After pulling out of the Chatham Price Chopper, a but one with some beautiful white bird caught my eye as it was chased by color pigment of several crows. Exiting from Rt. 66 into an empty bank dark dots and a few parking lot I grabbed the camera on the seat next to me. pale red tail feathers. By pure good There is also one luck I got a at the Columbia bunch of shots County Airport as the birds with more color circled above in the white body. with the bright The man was very sun shining on interested and after and through discussing that I was their feathers. a bird club member I heard “is it a he said he often Snowy Owl”, enjoyed walking and there was through our Wilson a nice man M. Powell Wildlife on a BMW Sanctuary, making White Red-tailed Hawk motorcycle. I this conversation photo by Nancy Kern explained that another plus for the White Red-tailed Hawk no, it was a day. If you are at the photo by Nancy Kern leucistic Red-tailed Hawk that had been in the Ghent Price Chopper, be area for about ten years, and people often think they sure to look around and up, and let us know if you see are Snowy Owls. It was not a pure white albino bird, this amazing “white bird”.

Field Trips continued from page 3 May 27, Sat. - RAMSHORN-LIVINGSTON the leader to register for this trip. If no calls, the trip will be SANCTUARY (Greene County) (morning) cancelled. Coordinator: Will Yandik 518-851-7460. Meet 7:30 am at the parking area. Directions: Crossing the Rip Van Winkle Bridge from east to west, turn left at first traffic June 11, Sun. - GREENPORT CONSERVATION AREA light onto Route 385. Continue 2.5 miles through the village (morning) of Catskill. Turn left on West Main Street after crossing the Meet 8 am in the parking lot of the Greenport Conservation Catskill Creek. Continue 0.8 miles to small rotary; exit rotary Area. From the North: Take Route 9 to Greenport, NY. Veer on Dubois Road. Proceed 0.1 miles to RamsHorn parking area right onto Joslin Blvd., and go straight for 1.1 miles. Turn right on right. Call the leader to register for this trip. If no calls, the into the parking lot at the sign for the Conservation Area. If you trip will be cancelled. Coordinators: Larry Federman and Karen reach Daisy Hill Road, go back 0.1 miles. Coordinator: Chris Schoemer 518-678-3248. Franks and Drew Hopkins 518-781-0204; 518-249-4711.

June 10, Sat. - BICKNELL’S THRUSH ON HUNTER MOUNTAIN (Greene County) (morning) Note to Field Trip Leaders: Following the field trip for Meet 7 am at Columbia-Greene Community College for car which you are the leader, send a brief summary/write-up of the trip pooling. This trip involves a 3.5 mile hike up Hunter Mountain for the Warbler to the editor - Nancy Kern, PO Box 321, Ghent NY 12075. email: [email protected] on a dirt road. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Swainson’s Thrush, Blackpoll Warbler and Bicknell’s Thrush are possible here. Call

May 2017 The Warbler alandevoebirdclub.org 5 Florida Birding Highlights continued from Page 2 Roads east of the bridge to Titusville. The Reddish necks and heads with a dark spot at the bill base. Male Egret with outstretched wings “danced” in the shallow Blue-winged Teal have a white facial crescent. Females water. Anhingas swam with only their snake-like necks were identified by association with the males. and sharp pointed bill exposed. One speared a fish and I left Florida cementing my belief that wildlife swallowed it head first. I deliberated over the identity of refuges are essential in densely populated areas such as lesser or Greater Yellow Legs based on bill length. Black- the coastline in Brevard County. Refuges provide critical necked Stilts flushed when fisherman waded to shore. I habitats for birds to breed and for migrants to feed. They recognized Northern Shoveler pairs by their broad bills. are also vital for people to bond with wildlife, and are Mottled duck sexes look the same and have unmarked necessary for wildlife preservation.

Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja), Tricolored Heron Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis) (Egretta tricolor), Snowy Egret (Egretta thula)

American Avocet (Recurvirostra americana)

Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata)

continued on Page 7 Blue Winged Teal (Anas discors)

May 2017 The Warbler alandevoebirdclub.org 6 Florida Birding Highlights continued from Page 6

White Ibis Immature. (Eudocimus albus)

Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus)

Little Blue Heron, immature (Egretta caerulea)

Limpkin (Aramus guarauna)

Boat-tailed Grackle (male). (Quiscalus major)

Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps)

Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata) May 2017 The Warbler alandevoebirdclub.org 7 BIRD SIGHTINGS

March 2017

Compiled for the Alan Devoe Bird Club by William Cook, Ph.D., Columbia-Greene Community College, 4400 Route 23, Hudson NY 12534 Report for March 2017 Nancy Kern found 6 Sandhill Cranes in through the woods behind her home in Hillsdale. But Kinderhook on Route 21 and excited many area this wasn’t pure chance since she is using live chickens birders. This is still a very uncommon bird in to lure them in. She just has to do with fewer omelets Columbia County and remains the nemesis bird for for breakfast this month. Will Yandik and myself who went looking for these Last March remains a winner. We had over 100 and others without any success. To make matters worse species recorded in March 2016 and we still haven’t and rub salt in the wound, my wife, who is vacationing reached 100 for all of 2017. Among the birds missing in Florida, texted me photos of two of them walking from this year’s March list are several ducks, two across the lawn of her friend’s condo to ask me what galliforms, a couple of lobe-toed species, a brace of they were. Despite their uncommonness in Columbia kinglets and a white-eyed blackbird. County they are becoming more regular. Whereas they A total of 87 species were reported in March. Of only appeared irregularly in decades past they have been these 58 are common residents, winter visitors or early found here every year for the past four years. Statewide spring migrants: Canada Goose, Mute Swan, American they are becoming more regular and the first breeding Black Duck, Mallard, Hooded Merganser, Common record for them was in 2003 at Montezuma Wildlife Merganser, Wild Turkey, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Refuge in Wayne County. Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Nancy had some other very worthy sightings this Hawk, Bald Eagle, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed month including Great Cormorant, Merlin and Hawk, Killdeer, American Woodcock, Ring-billed Lapland Longspur. All of which can be found here Gull, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Great Horned every year but take a lot of effort is terms of time in the Owl, Belted Kingfisher, Red-bellied Woodpecker, field and diligent searching. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Broad-winged Hawk appeared quite early with Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Pileated Woodpecker, Mimi Brauch’s sighting on March 6th. They used to American Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon, Blue Jay, American be considered rare before April but March sightings Crow, Fish Crow, Common Raven, Black-capped continue to increase. The earliest date in John Bull’s Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Red-breasted Nuthatch, 1998 book is March 1st. Fox Sparrows are moving White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Carolina through in seemingly good numbers with Mitzi Wren, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Northern Lobdell, Elisabeth Grace, Carl and Helen Specht Mockingbird, European Starling, Cedar Waxwing, reporting the most observations. They winter as American Tree Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, White- far north as Long Island but their breeding range in throated Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Canada and Alaska is only as close as central Quebec. Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Common John Piwowarski found that the Bald Eagles at Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, House Finch, Purple Stockport Station were on their nest as of March 4th. Finch, American Goldfinch, House Sparrow. The Tim Dormady saw an eagle further north on the river remaining 29 species, less common residents, winter in southern Rensselaer County being harassed by a visitors and early spring migrants are detailed below. Peregrine Falcon. Leigh McBride took some decent 17 new species (*) were added to the annual total this photos of an immature Northern Goshawk escaping March.

May 2017 The Warbler alandevoebirdclub.org 8 March 2017 Report Key to Locations: Species Date Location Observer AC Ancram AS Austerlitz Snow Goose 5 25 GM RN B D CL Clermont Wood Duck * 5 29 AS HL L R CM Chatham American Wigeon 12 KH Z CN Canaan Green-winged Teal 8 12 CM CO G P CO Copake Ring-necked Duck 8-27 GM CM RN AS D B L G CV Claverack DT N. Dutchess Lesser Scaup 10 26 CO GM Y C GL Gallatin Black Scoter * 10 CO Y GM Germantown Bufflehead * 8-26 CO GM Y C GP Greenport Common Goldeneye 12 CO Y GH Ghent Ruddy Duck * 26 CO R HD Hudson HL Hillsdale Pied-billed Grebe * 8 TG Y HR Hudson River Double-crested Cormorant * 26 GM C KH Kinderhook Great Cormorant 19 GM Z LV Livingston Great Blue Heron * 12-31 GP AS GM HL L S R P MC Mill Creek NL New Lebanon Northern Goshawk * 26 HL R RN S. Rensselaer Broad-winged Hawk * 6 19 GH B SC Powell Sanct. SANDHILL CRANE * 30 KH Z SP Stockport Eastern Screech-Owl * 19 NL eBird SV Stuyvesant Barred Owl * 20 29 AS RN L D TG Taghkanic Merlin 17 KH Z Eastern Phoebe * 27-31 HD RN HL LV O D R C Observers Horned Lark 15 18 KH SV Z A=Alan, Phyllis & Betsy Tree Swallow * 27-31 HD HL O R Wirth, B=Mimi Brauch, Lapland Longspur * 18 SV Z C=Bill Cook, D=Tim Snow Bunting 16 RN CV D S Dormady, E=Marian Sole, Fox Sparrow 4-24 AS TG CM HL AS L S G R F=Chris Franks, G=Elisabeth Eastern Towhee * 15 CM eBird Grace, H=Drew Hopkins, K=Kathryn Schneider, Eastern Meadowlark * 2 LV K E R C L=Mitzi Lobdell, M=Mike Pine Siskin 30 AS L Birmingham, N=Richard Nord, O=Tim O’Connor, P=John Piwowarski, Q=Susan Scheck, R=Leigh March 2017 Summaries McBride, S=Helen & Carl Specht, T=Scotti Tomson, 1981 1998 2003 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 U=Marion & Bill Ulmer, Total Species 74 81 79 74 89 77 75 86 101 87 W=Owen & Carol Whitby, Year to Date 80 90 89 82 105 85 90 93 109 97 Y=Will Yandik and Z=Nancy Kern

May 2017 The Warbler alandevoebirdclub.org 9 Alan Devoe Bird Club Others Board of Directors Marcia Anderson - Treasurer Ellen Scott - Publications - 392-0120 Marcia Anderson - Chair & Budget, Finance, Archives & Website Chair - 758-6433 The Warbler Nancy Kern - Vice-Chair, Publications Chair, Sanctuary Chair & Warbler Editor - 392-0120 Editor Nancy Kern Marion Ulmer - Assistant Editor & Education Chair - 392-4022 Assistant Editor Marion Ulmer Sandy Williams - Membership Chair - 392-3234 Layout Brenda Haynor William Cook, Ph.D. - Bird Reports & Field Trip Chair - 851-2678 Mailing Carl, Helen & Stephanie Mike Birmingham - Conservation Chair - 518-755-7469 Specht, Susan & Henry John Piwowarski - Public Relations Chair Scheck Marlene Vidibor - Corresponding Secretary Chris Franks - 518-781-0204 or cell 901-550-5735

Notable Dates May 20, 2017, Saturday May 6, 2017, Saturday 8:00 am - Hand Hollow. For more information, see page 3. 8:00 am - Olana. For more information, see page 3. May 27, 2017, Saturday May 11, 2017, Thursday 7:30 am - Ramshorn-Livingston Sanctuary (Greene 8:00 am - Drowned Lands Swamp. For more information, County). For more information, see page 5 see page 3. June 10, 2017, Saturday May 13, 2017, Saturday 7:00 am - Bicknell’s Thrush on Hunter Mountain (Greene Full Day - 2017 Century Run/Birdathon. For more County). For more information, see page 5. information, see attached letter. June 11, 2017, Sunday May 14, 2017, Sunday 8:00 am - Greenport Conservation Area. For more 7:30 am - Lewis A. Swyer Preserve-Mill Creek. For more information, see page 5. information, see page 3. May 14, 2017, Sunday 4:00 pm - BBQ/Potluck picnic and Century Run list compilation at the home of Marcia Anderson, please phone

518-758-6433 if you plan to attend.

alandevoebirdclub.org

Chatham, NY 12037 NY Chatham,

P.O. Box 20 Box P.O.

Alan Devoe Bird Club Bird Devoe Alan

FIRST CLASS FIRST The Warbler The