Florida Shorebird Spectacular

We were in Florida again this winter and the shorebirding was particularly good. Here are some photo highlights...

We had a sweep of the four regularly occurring North American "small belted plovers". Here are photos of three of them (quiz: what's the fourth?)

Wilson's Plover

Snowy Plover

Piping Plover

Willets were plentiful along the coastline and posed nicely for the camera.

Willet

We took a tourist boat to Anclote Key Preserve State Park; an offshore gulf coast barrier island only accessible by water. These barrier islands are important habitations for wintering shorebirds. While there, Hannah discovered a previously unreported Long-billed Curlew; North America's largest sandpiper which regularly but sparsely occurs in winter on the Florida Gulf Coast. We received some "eyebrows raised" emails from the local eBird police for submitting this one ("what you saw was almost certainly a Whimbrel"). Luckily I had the photo evidence.

Long-billed Curlew

While roaming the beach at Howard Park in northern Pinellas County, we startled a pair of American Oystercatchers that were sleeping in the tidal wrack line.

American Oystercatcher

Notice the peculiar shape of the pupil in the bird above. The dark "fleck" which occurs in both American and Black Oystercatchers (and less prominently in other taxa) is thought by some researchers to be a sex-linked trait indicative of a female bird.*

* Reference: Guzzetti, B.M., Talbot, S.L., Tessler, D.F., Gill, V.A., and Murphy, E.C. 2008. Secrets in the eyes of Black Oystercatchers: a new sexing technique. Journal Of Field Ornithology 79 (2): 215-223.

Sanderling Sings the Blues

I have been hearing bits and pieces about a decline in the population of Sanderlings and decided to search the internet for some authority on the subject.

Sanderling

Here is what I found. The report does indeed signal population declines. I kind of like this photo because it depicts a Sanderling in the process of molting from the warm, brown tones of its breeding plumage to the cool, grey tones of its non-breeding feathers. I took this photo last weekend at Turkey Point.

BBS 68-902

Bobolink

I have been assigned to Breeding Bird Survey Route 68-902 for the past five years, so I thought I would post a brief synopsis of the results over that time period.

Date range	June 4 – June 27
Cumulative species total	79
Average # of species	56.4
Maximum # of species	62
Minimum # of species	52
# of species recorded exactly once	14
# of species recorded in all years	34
Noteworthy species unrecorded	SSHA, BAEA, AMKE, MAWR

The 40 km route commences in south Cambridge and zigzags down the Grand River to Paris where it terminates. After five years, I have decided to retire from this route so it is available next year if anyone wants to take it over. For more information about the Breeding Bird Survey and its almost 50 year history check this link. To search for vacant BBS routes check here.

The Wren House and a New Yard Herp

House Wren

When I installed a bird house on our fence this spring, I thought it would be merely ornamental. To my surprize, a House Wren has occupied it and he appears to have a mate. Since House Wrens are known to build multiple dummy nests, I am not totally sure whether there is an actual nest inside, but the behaviour of the birds suggests that it might. I guess there is one easy way to find out (i.e. open up the box) but we don't want to disturb it if in fact there are eggs/nestlings inside. We will just have to pay attention and see what emerges.

Dekay's Brownsnake (Storia dekayi)

Hannah was seeing a Brownsnake in the garden a few mornings in a row, which is a new snake for our yard bringing the total number of snake species to two.

Above is a distribution map from the Ontario Reptile and Amphibian Atlas, showing that Dekay's Brownsnake is unevenly distributed within southern Ontario.

A Jamaican Lep

I was only able to get one decent photo of a butterfly in Jamaica.

Malachite (Siproeta stelenes)

I would have liked to get a photograph of the Jamaican Giant Swallowtail (the largest swallowtail butterfly in the Americas) but it is extremely rare. 

A Pair of Jamaican Near-Endemics

Jamaica has 28 endemic bird species, but several more are range restricted to only one or a few other Caribbean islands.

Vervain Hummingbird

For example, Vervain Hummingbird (Mellisuga minima) is range restricted to Jamaica and the island of Hispaniola (Haiti & the Dominican Republic). Vervain Hummingbird has the distinction of being the second smallest bird in the world, being only slightly larger than its sister species the Bee Hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae), a Cuban endemic.

Another Jamaican near-endemic is the Jamaican Oriole (Icterus leucopteryx).

Jamaican Oriole

This one really ought to be considered a Jamaican endemic since the only other place it occurs is the island of San Andrés, a small (57 km2) Columbian possession 800 km southwest of Jamaica.

Jamaican Oriole (a.k.a. "Baird's Banana-bird") also formerly occurred on the island of Grand Cayman; the last known individual was collected as a specimen by ornithologist James Bond on March 6, 1930.

Jamaica, West Indies

Jamaica is not a major birding destination, but because of family connections as well as a life long involvement with visiting and at one point residing and working on the island, it is one of my personal favourites. 

Streamertail (Jamaican endemic)

Studies of island biogeography have revealed that the more distant an island is away from its nearest neighbour, the fewer species will inhabit it and the greater will be its rate of endemism.  Jamaica illustrates this theory nicely: according to the Clements Checklist, a modest 327 bird species have been recorded in Jamaica of which 28 occur nowhere else in the world. That is an endemism rate of almost 10%.

Jamaican Woodpecker (Jamaican endemic)

With a land mass of a mere 11,000 km² that is a high rate of endemism indeed. Consider that the Province of Ontario, which has a land mass of 100 times that of Jamaica has a bird endemism rate of 0%.

Sad Flycatcher (Jamaican endemic)

The pattern is similar across the islands of the Caribbean; a modest number of bird species to be encountered, but with comparatively high precinctivity.

Jamaican Crow (Jamaican endemic)

In addition to the large proportion of species that are unique to one particular island nation, there are a large number of regional endemics, native to only a few islands in the West Indies.

Arrowhead Warbler (Jamaican endemic)

Given the amount of time I have spent in Jamaica, you might think I would have seen all of the endemics by now, but alas I have not; Crested Quail-Dove, Jamaican Lizard-Cuckoo, Jamaican Pauraque (likely extinct), Jamaican Elaenia, Jamaican Vireo, Blue Mountain Vireo and Jamaican Blackbird have all eluded me so far. All the more reason for a return visit!

Jamaican Euphonia (Jamaican endemic)