On Friday January 11th, seven hardy bird folks did the loop around Lake McKethan and then visited Big Pine for Red-headed Woodpeckers.  The bird of the morning was a Great-crested Flycatcher at Lake McKethan.  Here is the list of bird seen or heard at Lake McKethan:
Pileated Woodpecker            Downy Woodpecker          Am Crow
Red-bellied Woodpecker      Robin                                 Carolina Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet         Palm Warbler                      Great Egret
Sandhill Crane                     Tufted Titmouse                  Red-shouldered Hawk
Pied-billed Grebe                 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker   Eastern Phoebe
Common Gallinule              Blue Jay                               Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Little Blue Heron                 Killdeer                                Hermit Thrush
Northern Cardinal                Black Vulture                       Turkey Vulture
Great Blue Heron                 Anhinga                                American Coot
Carolina Chicadee                Great-crested Flycatcher
At Big Pine:
Red-headed Woodpecker (Many)
Red-tailed Hawk
Carolina Chicadee
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler

It's about time that Mother Nature in her infinite wisdom decided to reward us with superb weather! Cool start to the mornings, but warming mid day and outer layers were starting to fly off. Years past have been BRRRR and not the most conducive to comfortable viewing.  The visitors center being closed was a bummer as was the unavailability of the tram for the far reaches of the preserve.  High water in the basins and elsewhere made for hardships for the birds to have open mud flats and low marsh areas to feed. There was the Vermilion Flycatcher again in a usual spot.  He was very cooperative with the photographers and lit on perches very close to the avid camera snappers. 
The most sought after bird this trip was the American Flamingo who has been present in the far reaches of the preserve for a very long time.  On Jan 5th, a couple of the group trekked out to view the marvelous creature and got good shots.  Then on Sunday 6th, 5 of us trekked out 1.9 miles to get a view.  Unfortunately good photos by our group were not as promising.  The AMFL was a very long distance from our viewpoint.  By looking through bins, we could see the AMFL, but not well enough to get good shots we then had to trek back the 1.9 miles, but grateful that at least we could see a bird that was a lifer in the wild for many of us. Thanks to Ken Spilios, his photos of the VEFL,White Faced Ibis, AMFL served us well.  The trip netted  83 species. 

The first day ended with our group enjoying a great seafood dinner.  The restaurant is very good and located next door to our hotel.  The con was that it was closed Monday night for some of us who stayed over. This photo was taken with my phone by one of the waitresses.  Good time was had by all.

 Mike & Effie Smith and I were only three of the more than 50 birders who participated in this the 118th annual Christmas Bird Count.  These teams spread out in a 15 mile circle to do a count on a day that was near perfect.  Many years in the past have been cold and blustery, but this day did make up for the past.  This year's total species for all teams was 129!  Our team got 63 species and that was somewhat off last year, but we were pleased.  One bird that we were surprised to see was the Yellow Variant House Finch. Another surprising total of a single streaming sighting was over 2700 Fish Crows as they were going to roost!
​Photos by Effie Smith

Six hardy birders, (Ken, Charlene, Rey, Cindy, Bob, Diane) joined us for a chilly morning of birding.  The Group managed to tally 48 species, including:
 





Photo Courtesy Ken Spilios
​
o  Six Warbler species, Magnolia, Prairie, B & W, Palm, Butterbutt, C. Yellowthroat
o  A. Kestrel and B. Eagle and Osprey
o  Horned Grebe, along with many P.Bills
o  Blue-headed Vireo, R.C. Kinglet, Chipping Sparrow
o  C. Ground Doves
o  Many Forester Terns and R.B. Gull
o  P. and R.B. Woodpecker and N. Flicker
o  W. Pelicans and Sandhill Cranes and a lone M. Turkey
 
​The Magnolia was the Bird of the Day, for sure!  All enjoyed an inside lunch at Gator Joes.
 ​Eileen & Jim

As a post script, several members spotted this Whooping Crane on their way home on 441 near Micanopy.  It was with some Sandhill Cranes and has been reported.

Photo Courtesy of Diane Doudna.

Thanks to all that joined us and helped with the count,
​Jim & Eileen

Hurricane Michael came along and cancelled our walk, but today 16 people came out to enjoy the area and feel refreshed in a much cooler morning.  We had Norther Flickers, White-eyed and Red-eyed Vireos, Carolina Wrens and House wrens all over the place.  The exciting fly overs were  6 Coopers Hawks, 5 Kestrels, at least one Northern Harrier, all in migratory flight. Five species of warbler, and guess what is back.  Fall is here, Yellow-rumped Warblers. Exciting was the flash across of one Yellow-billed Cuckoo and just as we were leaving, this one gave decent views.  The eBird List can be seen here.          Photo by Fred Hileman

Photos by Jim Meyer
​Blog by Jim Meyer.

The first walk for the season brought us face to face with a "Murder" of Crows and a hoard of mosquitoes. But neither was a deterrent to our enjoyment for a fun time after a long hiatus.  The crows, hawks, titmice, woodpeckers and others were extremely upset in an area that to our surprise was not the Barred Owl that we had heard, but the Great Horned Owl.  The Owl finally left the area, but I could still hear him off in the distance with his very low, "Ho-hoo-hoo."  Warblers were not in great numbers, but we all got looks at two Blue-winged Warblers.  For me, this was only the second and third time that I had seen one. We had gone into an area prior to exiting at the point in the above picture, but Ken could not pass up the opportunity to "expose" us.  Although he had been in the area, someone had to take the photo.  We had just been treated to several excited species because of a tiny snake that was coiled on a tree above our heads.

We had a Prairie warbler and the first Blue-winged Warbler near this spot.  You wouldn't think that this tiny creature would have startled so many birds into action, but all snakes can be a threat to their survival. We tallied 25 species of which the list can be seen at this eBird link.
Fred Hileman
​Photos by Ken Spilios

I led a very enthusiastic group of birders through some of the trails in the preserve this morning.  When Whitey Markle asked me to lead a group from the St John's-Suwanee Sierra Club, little did I know that we would be starting at 10:00 AM.  I voiced my doubts that there would be many birds around at that time. I soon was to realize that some birds did in fact wait around for us.  The species weren't in abundance, but we did get some good looks at a few good birds.  Yellow-throated Vireo, Yellow-throated Warbler, Black-and-White Warbler, Pine Warbler, Northern Parula, and my first of the season Blackpoll Warbler.  I did not get a photo of the Blackpoll today, but dug through my photos and found the one I have posted here from 2016.  There also were at least 4 Clapper Rails calling out along the marsh edges.  We all got a good look at one at the canoe launch.  For the two hour trip a total of 26 species was recorded and the eBird link can be seen here.
Good Birding and good company.

Fred Hileman
​President
Citrus County Audubon