I'm not sure how many people would consider it a treat to spend time at a sewage treatment plant, but I would imagine there are many more who would say, "No thanks," than would say, "Yeah, let's get up at 4:45 AM and go!." I seem to be in the latter group. For many reasons, not the least of which was my tardiness in working out the details and announcing yesterday's field trip to the the Alabama Coastal Birding Association (CBA), I was the only CBA member in attendance. Gerry Morgan and Nancy Madden were excellent hosts as our party of Mississippi birders and visitors from as far away as California split into two groups and birded around the various dikes and fields. In spite of a brisk southernly wind, I managed to total 43 species of mostly non-passerines. Highlights included an AMERICAN BITTERN, two ROSS'S GEESE, beautiful views of CANVASBACKS and, for me, my lifer views of two VIRGINIA RAILS. See below for a complete list of birds seen by me.

Many thanks to the Mississippi Coastal Audubon Society for this special birding opportunity!

Here are the birds:

Snow Goose 1
Ross's Goose 2
Gadwall 40
Blue-winged Teal 5
Northern Shoveler 75
Green-winged Teal 15
Canvasback 8
Redhead 10
Ring-necked Duck 5
Lesser Scaup 200
Ruddy Duck 50
Pied-billed Grebe 1
American Bittern 1
Great Egret 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron 1
White Ibis 15
Bald Eagle 1
Northern Harrier 3
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 5
Virginia Rail 15
Sora 20
Common Moorhen 5
American Coot 700
Sandhill Crane 15
Sandhill Crane (Mississippi) 2
Black-necked Stilt 20
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Least Sandpiper 5
Dunlin 2
Wilson's Snipe 45
Eastern Phoebe 5
Tree Swallow 30
Marsh Wren 10
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
American Pipit 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 15
Palm Warbler 10
Swamp Sparrow 5
White-throated Sparrow 1
Red-winged Blackbird 25
Eastern Meadowlark 1
Boat-tailed Grackle 45

CBA Field Trip 11-20-10, Birding at the Dump, or Where's Waldo

11 of us met at the Magnolia Springs Landfill to start our Coastal Birding Association field trip. We were very lucky to be met by Dr. Bill Summerour who showed us the three viewing areas and helped us find the more unusual species among the hundreds of gulls. For the Laurophile(s) among us this was just a matter of scanning and rescanning the gulls; however, for most of us, it was more like a Where's Waldo puzzle, with at least two twists: 1) You really aren't sure what Waldo looks like and 2) Waldo may not even be in the puzzle! We ended our two plus hours at the landfill with a few of us seeing a LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL and most of us seeing at least one FRANKLIN'S GULL. The best bet area for viewing a FRANKLIN'S GULL at the landfill is in the pond by location #1 as described by Dr. Bill. (see: http://www.pbase.com/swmavocet/mag_sp_landfill_2010)

We then headed north to go to the partially developed Fairhope Falls subdivision off of CR 104 near Silverhill. Birding was a little slow there and it doesn't seem like there are as many sparrows as last year. In addition, most of us were fairly burned out, hungry, or needed a bathroom break after spending over two hours on our Where's Waldo puzzle so we only spent a little over a half hour at Fairhope Falls. However, everyone agreed that the area looked "birdy" and was worthy of further investigation. Keep those Fairhope Falls reports coming Karen!

Magnolia Springs Landfill:

Black Vulture     2
Turkey Vulture     20
Laughing Gull     750
Franklin's Gull     1
Ring-billed Gull     75
Herring Gull     30
Lesser Black-backed Gull     1
American Crow     1
Fish Crow     10
European Starling     20
American Pipit     4
Savannah Sparrow     10
Eastern Meadowlark     8

Fairhope Falls:

Great Blue Heron     1
Great Egret     1
Killdeer     1
Wilson's Snipe     2
Downy Woodpecker     1
Eastern Phoebe     1
Carolina Chickadee     1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher     1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet     2
Northern Mockingbird     1
Yellow-rumped Warbler     15
Pine Warbler     1
Palm Warbler     5
Savannah Sparrow     1
Northern Cardinal     2
Red-winged Blackbird     1

10-2-10 CBA Ft. Morgan Field Trip

It was a glorious Saturday morning for the Coastal Birding Association's field trip to Ft. Morgan. A brisk northeast wind kept temperatures cool and the mosquitoes almost non-existent, conditions more common in late October than October 2. Besides beautiful weather, the birds were very cooperative with enough activity to keep eight birders entertained as we walked around the grounds of the fort. Most of the passerine activity occurred in the "Stables" and on the Gulf side of the first battery as you enter fort's grounds with surprisingly few birds in the "Middle Grounds." Here is the list I compiled for the morning:

Brown Pelican     10
Double-crested Cormorant     1
Great Blue Heron     1
Osprey     1
Sharp-shinned Hawk     5
Cooper's Hawk     2
Broad-winged Hawk     19
Red-tailed Hawk     1
Merlin     1
Peregrine Falcon     1
Semipalmated Sandpiper     1
Least Sandpiper     1
Pectoral Sandpiper     1
Laughing Gull     5
Royal Tern     5
Mourning Dove     X
Yellow-billed Cuckoo     1
Chuck-will's-widow     1
Red-bellied Woodpecker     5
Northern Flicker     3
Eastern Wood-Pewee     1
Great Crested Flycatcher     2
White-eyed Vireo     8
Red-eyed Vireo     4
Warbling Vireo 1
Blue Jay     X
Carolina Chickadee     X
Carolina Wren     X
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher     10
Ruby-crowned Kinglet     5
Eastern Bluebird     3
Swainson's Thrush     1
Wood Thrush     15
Gray Catbird     15
Northern Mockingbird     X
Brown Thrasher     5
Tennessee Warbler     3
Yellow Warbler     1
Magnolia Warbler     8
Black-throated Green Warbler     4
Pine Warbler     3
Prairie Warbler     1
Palm Warbler     7
Bay-breasted Warbler     1
Black-and-white Warbler     2
American Redstart     6
Ovenbird     1
Common Yellowthroat     7
Hooded Warbler     1
Yellow-breasted Chat     2
Summer Tanager     1
Scarlet Tanager     1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak     2
Brown-headed Cowbird     1 

Birding in the rain: CBA field trip Saturday, August 28

Saturday morning looked more like a field trip rain-out than a good day for birding. If I had had my druthers I would have stayed home in bed but having the title of CBA Field Trip Coordinator comes with a few responsibilities and showing up to field trips is one of them. As I drove to the meeting spot I thought I would probably just be turning around since, "no one else would be crazy enough to go birding in this weather," but instead I was surprised by 13 enthusiastic birders. It's a good thing they seemed to know more than I did about the birding conditions as we had a good day of birding on a "not hot" morning and got wet more from perspiration than rain. Here is the, probably incomplete, list of birds seen:

Blakeley Island parking area A:

Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Pied-billed Grebe
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Common Moorhen
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
Spotted Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
Mourning Dove
Common Ground-Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Empidonax sp.
Great Crested Flycatcher
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
Yellow Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Lark Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Blue Grosbeak
Red-winged Blackbird
Orchard Oriole

Blakeley Island parking area B:

Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Pied-billed Grebe
Great Blue Heron
Little Blue Heron
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Common Moorhen
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Spotted Sandpiper
Willet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
Caspian Tern
Black Tern
Forster's Tern
Mourning Dove
Empidonax sp.
Yellow Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird

Battleship Park:

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
White-faced Ibis
Clapper Rail
Killdeer

CBA Field Trip to Dauphin Island 8-14-10

Overcast skies with intermittent rain and a fairly early start, kept things from getting too hot for nine birders on the Coastal Birding Association's first "fall" field trip. Not long after reaching the end of the, used to be pier now elevated walkway, the arguably, best bird of the day, MARBLED GODWIT, was spotted. Other birds of note included GRAY KINGBIRD (seen at the adjacent condominiums), a WHITE- MORPH REDDISH EGRET, several PIPING PLOVERS (including one banded individual), SNOWY PLOVERS, seven species of terns and two juvenile NORTHERN GANNETS. As the first of several rainstorms threatened, participants decided it was time to try our luck at the Shell Mounds. All in all the Shell Mounds were pretty slow as might be expected this early in migration. The hoped-for Cerulean Warbler, did NOT make an appearance but warblers that did included: YELLOW, BLACK-AND-WHITE and KENTUCKY other neotropical migrants included RED-EYED VIREOS, BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHERS and a SUMMER TANAGER.

Dauphin Island Public Beach:

Northern Gannet
Brown Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Reddish Egret
Osprey
Black-bellied Plover
Snowy Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Piping Plover
Willet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Marbled Godwit
Sanderling
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Laughing Gull
Least Tern
Caspian Tern
Black Tern
Common Tern
Forster's Tern
Royal Tern
Sandwich Tern
Black Skimmer
Mourning Dove
Gray Kingbird
House Finch

Shell Mounds:
Broad Winged Hawk
Chimney Swift
Yellow Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
Kentucky Warbler
SummerTanager
Native birds

Other:
Magnificent Frigatebird