RARITY FOCUS 

Flamingos!

At the very end of August, Hurricane Idalia hit Florida, impacting western and northern Florida as well as parts of the southeastern U.S. It brought a significant number of errant American Flamingos along with it.

These birds first started showing up and down the Florida peninsula, but a few days after landfall and into September, American Flamingo were reported from as far away as Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia. Then they were followed by reports from Texas, Kentucky, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Pennsylvania.

The consensus suggests that these birds originated in the Yucatan, although Cuban origins for some individuals cannot be dismissed.

How many flamingos arrived through September? Some estimates run over 75 in Florida alone and maybe a couple of hundred overall. (There may have been some duplicate counting, from multiple states.)

Regardless, it’s astounding! And these birds were observed and photographed by hundreds of thrilled birders across these far-flung states.

You can read one Texas-based summary from early in September here:

https://www.chron.com/life/wildlife/article/texas-flamingos-hurricane-18350280.php

and another news report from late September in Wisconsin, of all places:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/flamingos-spotted-on-wisconsin-beach-the-first-wild-flamingo-sighting-in-the-states-history/ar-AA1hfeOW#image=1

But there was another stunner of a species in contention for our rarity of the month, and it’s another bird that was found in Florida in September.

On 3 September, Adam Pikos reported what appeared to be a Gray Gull at Santa Rosa Beach in Walton County located in the Florida Panhandle. He was unsure at first, but he shared photos with his report, inviting feedback:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S148902457

He turned out to be right! And this became the first documented and positive record of this species in the U.S.

The species normally occurs over inshore waters and coastal sandy beaches, at river mouths, and on adjacent rocky shores in Ecuador, Peru, and Chile!  (Remarkably, the species breeds inland in remote areas of the dry Atacama Desert located in Chile.) The closest previous records seem to be a few seen in Yucatan and Campeche in Mexico.

Our Florida bird was observed almost daily by many local and traveling birders through the afternoon of 20 September, sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, and often in the company of Laughing Gulls. It then disappeared for a week reappearing for the last couple of days of the month.

Lifeguards and regular beachgoers became used to birders searching for the Gray Gull and were often helpful in keeping track of the bird. (One lifeguard even claimed that the gull had been around for three weeks prior to birder-discovery.) Gull-feeding – often with popcorn – was one method used to find the bird. And birders sharing cell-phone numbers were effective in keeping tabs on the bird, which often ranged along a one-and-a-half mile stretch of beach.

You can read a discovery story and see a photo from 12 September, in Coastal News Today:

https://www.coastalnewstoday.com/post/fl-first-grey-gull-for-usa-discovered-in-florida

More details on the species and photos can be found here:

https://ebird.org/species/grygul/US-FL

So… take your pick for “the” rarity species for September. We won’t insist on favoring one or the other. In fact, we are sure that if you were fortunate to see either one, that will be your personal choice!

ACCESS MATTERS: MORE FLORIDA RECOGNITION AND ACCESS

And speaking of Florida… there had not been additional site nominations for the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail since 2011. At least until just recently!

Last October, new site nominations began to be considered. Anybody could nominate a site for addition to the Trail until the nomination period ended in February. Candidate sites were then evaluated for their birding and wildlife viewing opportunities, ecological significance, educational opportunities, and crucial accessibility to the public.

The 14 successful applicants were announced last month, and they range from large nature preserves to cherished community parks:

1. Sweetwater Wetlands Park - Gainesville
2. Robinson Preserve - Bradenton
3. Ocala Wetland Recharge Park – Ocala
4. Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse Outstanding Natural Area - Jupiter
5. Lafayette Heritage Trail Park - Tallahassee
6. The Nature Conservancy’s Tiger Creek Preserve – Lake Wales
7. Dr. Robert B. Hayling Freedom Park – St. Augustine
8. Oyster Bar Marsh Conservation Area – Vero Beach
9. Cypress Creek Natural Area - Jupiter
10. North Jupiter Flatwoods Natural Area – Jupiter
11. Pine Glades Natural Area - Jupiter
12. Winding Waters Natural Area – West Palm Beach
13. Yamato Scrub Natural Area – Boca Raton
14. Escribano Point Wildlife Management Area - Milton

You can read about them and their specialty birds – including Snail Kites, Swallow-tailed Kites, Sandhill Cranes, Wood Storks, Loggerhead Shrikes, Brown-headed Nuthatches, and multiple rails and marsh-loving sparrows - here:

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/FLFFWCC/bulletins/3705aec

With special “birding trail” status for these 14 sites, the issue of welcoming access is only enhanced, and this is good for birders… and the birds.

CITY MURALS CONTINUE: WASHINGTON DC

There is a huge Black Rail mural that is now found next to the Park at LeDroit, a community space in the LeDroit Park neighborhood of Washington D.C. This is part of the growing bird-murals effort and the very first Audubon Mural Project installation in the nation’s capital.

We covered the ambitious Audubon Mural Project in the May 2020 issue of this E-bulletin, describing the spread of bird murals in New York City:  

https://conta.cc/452OEjm

This initial DC mural, with the oversized and imposing Black Rail, was officially finished last month, and it is part of a nationwide effort by the Endangered Species Coalition to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act.

You can find out more about this work and the accomplished artist, Yulia Avgustinovich, here:

https://www.audubon.org/news/eastern-black-rail-yulia-avgustinovich

And here’s more on the nationwide mural project:

https://www.audubon.org/amp

IBA NEWS: SMALL PROJECT AND GRASSLAND MODEL

Last month, we focused on an Important Bird Area (IBA) in Vermont that was under threat as a continuing grassland habitat (especially for Grasshopper Sparrows):

https://conta.cc/3PEZPKI

This month, we examine a small slice of grassland habitat in nearby Maine, in the town of Unity, 30 miles NNE of the state capital, Augusta. These 50 acres in question, now a part of the Sebasticook Regional Land Trust, were recently boosted by a modest $5,000 grant from Cornell University to transform farmland contaminated with PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) into a nature preserve for grassland birds.

Most PFAS are so powerful that they will not break down in the environment for thousands of years, earning them the label, “forever chemicals.”

Organic farmers in this Unity area couldn't farm at the land knowing what they knew about PFAS. But management for wildlife and grassland birds can continue without the farming. The grant should jumpstart the transformation from farmland to grassland habitat. At the same time, the Sebasticook Regional Land Trust wants to know if three decades of PFAS contamination in the ground will have any effect on the birds on the field. Testing will have to follow.

Management and study are a fine alternative to simply “letting the place go,” according to parties engaged in the arrangement.

Even with Bobolinks, Eastern Bluebirds and sparrows, the site is not an official IBA, but it may serve as a model for management on other similar locations. Note: the state’s 80-plus land trusts together conserve more than 12% of the state, and they often help in buffering existing IBAs.

Here’s some media coverage on this site and its possibilities:

https://www.wmtw.com/article/protecting-birds-former-unity-maine-farmland-pfas-contamination-become-important-habitat/45306173

For additional information about worldwide IBA programs, including those in the U.S., check the National Audubon Society's Important Bird Area program web site at:

https://www.audubon.org/important-bird-areas

USFWS POLICY UPDATES

Last month, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service released some proposed updates to four planning policies for the National Wildlife Refuge System and opened a 30-day public comment period. The four planning policies that the Service is proposing to update are: Refuge Planning Overview (602 FW 1), Land Protection Planning (602 FW 2), Comprehensive Conservation Planning (602 FW 3), and Step-down Planning (602 FW 4).

This sounds complicated, but the proposed policy updates include landscape conservation plans and consideration of climate change and other human-sourced elements into refuge management. They are also intended to enhance visitor engagement and recreation access by providing for the reorganization of plans that guide management of the Refuge System (i.e., Comprehensive Conservation Plans and Step-down Plans). Finally, the updates should provide clarity regarding Service coordination with states, Tribes, Alaska Native Corporations, Alaska Native Organizations, and the Native Hawaiian Community, as well as other partners.

The proposed policy updates appeared in the Federal Register, starting here:

http://www.regulations.gov

Interested parties should insert under “Docket Number” the following:

FWS-HQ-NWRS-2023-0024

The USFWS will be accepting comments through 16 October.

“STELLA” PERSISTENCE AND DOLLAR$

Devoted readers of the Birding Community E-bulletin will recall that we have been following the Steller’s Sea-Eagle – “Stella” - that has crossed the continent and delighted hundreds – if not thousands – of birders since 2021.  Indeed, for 2022 alone, we reported on it three times, and this year already in the March, June, and July issues.

Well, Stella continues to be seen and photographed near Trinity, Newfoundland, sometimes even perched atop an old Bald Eagle nest.

Last month, a report was published on the economic impact of Stella’s time in the winter of 2020–2021 when the sea-eagle spent nearly a month on the New England coast as thousands of people travelled to see it. The report is the result of an online survey of individuals who went to see the sea-eagle to estimate the “individual and collective non-consumptive use value” of this vagrant raptor.

The researchers estimated that between 2,115 and 2,645 individuals travelled to see the sea-eagle between December 2021 and January 2022. This generated a total expenditure of between $380,604 and $476,626, or between $584,373 and $731,809 when accounting for travel time. Also, based on the travelers’ willingness to pay, researchers estimated a non-consumptive use consumer surplus of between $139,036 and $174,114.

You can check it out: "The Steller's Sea-Eagle in North America: An economic assessment of birdwatchers travelling to see a vagrant raptor” in People and Nature, a journal of the British Ecological Society, written by Brent S. Pease, Neil A. Gilbert, William R. Casola, and Kofi Akamani.

Read it here:

https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pan3.10527

and also summarized here:

https://phys.org/news/2023-09-stella-steller-sea-eagle-economic.html

LAST WORD

Finally, if you have friends or co-workers who might wish to receive the free monthly Birding Community E-bulletin, you might forward this issue to them and suggest that they sign up via this link:

https://bit.ly/35Xd3hO