Just found out that there is a CBA field trip to Dauphin Island tomorrow
(Saturday, September 17).  We are meeting at the Shell Mounds at 8:00 a.m.

Hope you can join us!

Joan Siegwald
Mobile, Alabama

The Coastal Birding Association (CBA) will have field trips to Dauphin Island
tomorrow (September 24)and next Saturday (October 1).  Meet at the Shell Mounds
at 8:00 a.m.

Alabama Coastal BirdFest is October 6-8.  See
http://www.alabamacoastalbirdfest.com/ for additional details.

The Alabama Ornithological Society (AOS) fall meeting will be October 14-16 on
Dauphin Island.  This is a joint meeting with Florida Ornithological Society
(FOS).  Go to http://www.aosbirds.org/meetings.php for more information.

Joan Siegwald
Mobile, Alabama

Here is the CBA field trip schedule for the rest of 2011 -- contact me if you
have questions.

Joan Siegwald
Mobile, Alabama


October 29 - Dauphin Island:  Meet at the Shell Mounds at 8:00 a.m.

November 19 - Baldwin County (Fairhope Falls, etc.):  Meet at Fairhope Pier/Rose
Garden at 8:00 a.m.

December 10 - Mobile Causeway:  Meet at 5 Rivers Delta Hall (middle building in
three-building complex near the end of the road) at 8:00 a.m.

December 17 - Dauphin Island CBC:  More details later

I've posted some photos of the birds that I saw at Fort Morgan this past
Saturday:  http://www.lcomer.com/index.php?action=gallery&gallery=1&page=1  and
http://www.lcomer.com/index.php?action=gallery&gallery=11&page=1.  I'll be
posting more as I identify them.  Please let me know if the i.d. is incorrect. 
Thanks!

Photos so far:
Cooper's Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk
Merlin
Bald Eagle
Black-throated Green Warbler
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Gray Catbird
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Palm Warbler
Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Brown Creeper
Swamp Sparrow
Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Hi All,

I was visiting family in Baldwin County and my brother and I had a lovely time
at the Bon Secour National Wildlife refuge last Friday morning. I had not been
there since the new trail linking the Pine Beach and Jeff Friend areas was
opened.

We saw:

Brown Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
American Kestrel
Semipalmated Plover
Mourning Dove
Red Bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker (yay! We got a good long look at it both flying and on a
tree)
Eastern Wood PeeWee (I think--it was very small)
Unidentified Flycatcher Species
Fish Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Brown Headed Nuthatch
House Wren
Sedge Wren (I think)
Ruby Crowned Kinglet
Blue Gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Hermit Thrush
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Yellow Rumped Warbler
Pine Warbler
Swamp Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Purple or House Finch

Apologies for the uncertainties - my birding skills are intermediate, and I
mostly bird in AZ. There were hundreds of sparrows so I'm sure I missed a number
of species.

I especially enjoyed the woodpeckers. There were more than I have ever seen. We
saw two downies and two red bellies in the same tree at the same time!

BTW, does anyone know about Christmas Bird Counts at Bon Secour or Weeks Bay? I
will be back for the week between Christmas and New Year and would love to
volunteer.

Best,

Susan
(now back in AZ watching the curve billed thrashers, abert's towhees, and gila
woodpeckers in my yard)

Here is Coastal Birding Association's spring field trip schedule.

Joan Siegwald
Mobile, Alabama


CBA FIELD TRIPS
JANUARY TO MAY 2012

February 4:  Point aux Pines/Grand Bay Savannah: Easy walk in a new burn area
for sparrows and later watch blackbirds come to roost. Meet at 3:00 pm at the
Hardee's on Hwy 188 in Bayou le Batre. (Bring boots just in case it's wet.)  Eat
later at one of our favorite spots! NOTE THIS IS AN AFTERNOON TRIP.  Leader: 
Howard Horne (251-605-2829)

Mid February is tentative.  We are working on a trip to the Seaman Road Sewage
Lagoons in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.  More information will follow.

March 24: Dauphin Island for early migrants. Meet at the Shell Mound parking lot
at 8:00 am. Bird there and elsewhere on the island, depending……    Leader: Sarah
Whitfield: 344-8158

April 7: Dauphin Island for migrants. Meet at the Shell Mounds parking lot at
8:00 am. Bring bug spray.  Bird the island.   Leaders: Sarah Whitfield
(344-8158) and John Stowers (Jstowers@... or 334-399-4498)

April 21-22: AOS Weekend. Check the AOS website
(http://www.aosbirds.org/index.php) for details.

May 12:  Mobile Delta, Highway 225 in Baldwin County. Meet at 8:00 am at the
Kangaroo gas station at the intersection of I-65 and Hwy 225, Exit 31.  Note the
gas station has had several names but it is the only one at this exit. We will
bird various boat launches and other areas for breeding birds, sparrows, and
Mississippi and Swallow-tailed Kites. Plan to eat at our favorite place!  
Leader Bill Summerour

Costalbirds members:

At the request of some members, I have changed the settings on the message board
so thst I must review ALL post BEFORE they appear on the board. I guess as
moderator of the group I am now acting as "Big Brother". Bummer!!

This should eliminate the spam that was way off topic (personal enhancement,
etc.) The problem with this solution is my getting into the habit of checking
this site several times a day to review all pending post. This means that legit
post will take a while longer to appear. Hopefully, not too much longer.

We will try this for now and see how it goes. If anyone else would like to step
up to assist (I assume there is some way to allow a co-monitor to help review
pending post) please let me know.

Tom Siegwald

Hi all,

Roger Clay and I checked the BBWD nesting boxes on Blakeley Island last
Friday, 15 Jun, and found a whistling duck, no doubt on eggs, in one of
the boxes!  There was nothing in the other seven boxes except ants, mud
daubers and wasps.  The ants are a problem that will need to be
addressed as soon as possible.  We also saw 16 BBWDs on pond no. 5
South, so maybe more of them will find their way over to pond no. 4
where the boxes are.

Pond no. 5 South was bone dry last month but right now is filled with
water from the recent heavy rains and flooded out into the vegetation,
too deep for shorebirds but good for whistling ducks and waders, at
least for a while.  This morning there were dark ibises, Mottled Ducks,
the usual waders, a few stilts, Laughing Gulls, and terns coming and
going from 5 South.  There was nothing on pond no. 2 at the south end of
the Mudlakes except a pair of moorhens and a stilt or two.  There was
one drake Blue-winged Teal, Mottled Ducks, and stilts on no. 4.

If you visit the Mudlakes go prepared for lots of mosquitoes.

Bill

Hi all,

Two BBWDs were seen by David Plumb today, 19 Jun, on a small pond on the
north side of Bay Road in south Baldwin. Also today, David saw two more
on a pond behind his house near Benton Road, and eight to 12 in a
flooded field on the west side of Nall Road.  Yesterday,18 Jun, 14 were
counted by Howard Horne at the Mud Lakes on Blakeley Island.  Sixteen
were seen at this same location by Roger Clay and myself on the 15th.
Also on the 15th, as reported earlier, a pair was found nesting in one
of the boxes at the Mud Lakes.

Bill

Hi all,

Roger Clay and I checked the Blakeley Island Mud Lakes last Monday, 25
Jun, and counted a total of 31 adult BBWDs including a single bird with
a brood of nine recently hatched ducklings on Pond No.1 (photos), a pair
with a brood of nine or ten small ducklings on Pond No. 2 (photos), and
the bird on eggs in one of the boxes on Pond No. 4.  So far we have no
photos of the latter for fear of disturbing the incubating bird, but we
have a camera set up which takes a picture every 12 seconds which we
hope will get a photos of one of the adults coming or going from the box
or the ducklings when they leave the box.

Yesterday, 27 Jun, we counted 24 adult whistlers on Pond No. 1 and saw
the pair with the brood on Pond No. 2.  Also seen on the 25th and 27th :
Mottled Ducks, Blue-winged Teal, one N. Shoveler, Great Blue Herons,
Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, three Glossy Ibis, Common Moorhens, Killdeer
(and nest with four eggs), Black-necked Stilts, and a large gathering of
Laughing Gulls, Caspian and Royal Terns, and Black Skimmers on Pond No. 1.

According to Wayne Slaughter,  Port Authority Environmental Technician
who oversees the Mud Lakes, Pond No. 1 (which I incorrectly referred to
in my last update as 5S) is scheduled to be dredged "as soon as
possible".  He wasn't sure exactly when this might be, but probably as
soon as the lake is dry enough. The high water following the heavy rains
of a few weeks ago is rapidly evaporating. The dredged lake bed will be
filled with sediment from the Mobile River shipping channel.

We removed two of the boxes from Pond No. 4 which now has extensive mud
flats and big cracks in the sediment which are death traps for ducklings
and are relocating them on  ponds in south Baldwin where the chances are
better for them being used.

The next check of the boxes will be in about a week or ten days.

Bill

All,

This morning Kathy Hicks and I located a calling Inca Dove at the
residence of Sparky and Loraine Bodary on Benton Road in south Baldwin.
    From the intersection of CRs 12 and 49 three miles south of Magnolia
Springs, go west on CR 12 for one mile.  Take a left (south) onto Benton
Road.  The Bodary residence is the first house on the left (east side of
the road).  Mr. Bodary said he first noticed the dove calling about a
month ago.  It often calls from the blackgum tree to the right (south
side) of the garage and the live oaks to the right (south side) of the
drive.  While we were there it moved about calling from just south of CR
12 to the next house south of the Bodary's.

With a little patience, this should be a fairly reliable bird.  We were
there for about two hours and it called about every half hour or so,
each calling bout lasting a few to ten minutes or more, long enough to
give you time to home in on it. Other doves are common in the area
including ground doves.

Mr Bodary said birders are welcome but requested we call first
(965-3714). A good approach would be to pull into the drive, park near
the house, and start listing and looking.  It should eventually turn up
calling somewhere in the area.  While you're waiting keep a close eye on
the blackgum by the garage and the live oaks by the drive. It frequented
both places while we were there.  However, we first found it calling
high in the pines on the north side of the house.

Last Monday I heard a bird calling from the same area that Howard first
heard an Inca calling a week or so ago.  I also heard what sounded like
a possible Inca calling from the direction of Benton Road, in the  same
place we found it today.  But I never heard two birds calling at the
same time, only one.  It's probably the same bird, but keep an ear open
for the possibility of another bird in the area.  The distance  between
the two locations is a little over 500 yards (as measured from Google
Earth).

Kathy and I both documented the sighting with photos. I took the photo
of the bird calling, with its esophagus inflated, and Kathy the one in
the magnolia.

Good luck if you give it a try.

Bill