GOS Fall Meeting
Jekyll Island, Georgia
October 11-13, 2019
Keynote Speaker – Kenn Kaufman, Spring Migration
Friday Speaker – Diana Churchill, Common Birds of the Low Country
Bird List Compiled by Ellen Miller - 180 species
The fall meeting on Jekyll Island over the Columbus Day holiday weekend was a great success. It was hot, muggy, and buggy, but conditions didn’t deter ~135 attendees from getting to the field for a great weekend of birding. We hosted trips all along the southern Georgia coast, and I want to thank Adam Betuel, Kris Bisgard, Diana Churchill, Nathan Farnau, Malcolm Hodges, Gene Keferl, Tim Keyes, Ed Maioriello, Evan Pittman, Bob Sattelmeyer, Dan Vickers, and Gene Wilkinson for serving as field trip leaders. Thanks also to 1st Vice President Ellen Miller for coordinating the field trips and recruiting speakers and to 2nd Vice President Ed Maioriello for securing our venue and coordinating the “Flockings” and banquet. A checklist of species seen/heard can be found on page 5 of this newsletter.
The Friday night presentation was delivered by Diana Churchill, a Low Country-birding celebrity. Diana has been publishing birding articles in the Savannah Morning News for years and subsequently published two books, Birder’s Eye View and Birder’s Eye View II, which are a compilation of her articles, organized by season. Diana’s talk focused on common habitats found in the Low Country and the birds associated with them. Her presentation included “Who am I?” quizzes with audio and images to help the audience associate the sounds with the species.
Kenn Kaufman was the Saturday keynote speaker. Kenn’s topic was the wondrous spectacle of spring migration, most of which goes undetected by humans unless geographical features concentrate migrants. Kenn used the Magee Marsh Wildlife Area in Ohio as an example of an area that concentrates migrants in great numbers. Northward-bound nocturnal migrants must make a decision in the near-dawn hours as they approach the southern shore of Lake Erie: do they continue across the lake on an empty belly and risk getting caught in inclement weather, or do they descend to rest and forage in preparation for the next leg of their journey, simultaneously making Magee Marsh the “Warbler Capital of the World”? Kenn also read some lovely passages from his latest book, A Season on the Wind; Inside the World of Spring Migration. Kenn’s passion for his subject, wry wit, and beautiful photographs of warblers, waterfowl, shorebirds, and flycatchers completely enthralled me and the rest of the audience.
Bird List:
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Plain Chachalaca
Wild Turkey
Pied-billed Grebe
Wood Stork
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
American Bittern
Least Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-heron
Yellow-crowned Night-heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Clapper Rail
King Rail
Virginia Rail
Sora
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Black-bellied Plover
Wilson’s Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Piping Plover
Snowy Plover
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Whimbrel
Long-billed Curlew
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Red Knot
Sanderling
Dunlin
Least Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson’s Snipe
Bonaparte’s Gull
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Caspian Tern
Forster’s Tern
Royal Tern
Sandwich Tern
Black Skimmer
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Common Ground-Dove
American Oystercatcher
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Great Horned Owl
Barred Owl
Nightjar sp.
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Acadian Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Great Crested Flycatcher
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Brown-head Nuthatch
House Wren
Sedge Wren
Marsh Wren
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Veery
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Swainson’s Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Black-and-white Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
American Redstart
Cape May Warbler
Northern Parula
Magnolia Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-throated Warbler
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler
Wilson’s Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Clay-colored Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Nelson’s Sparrow
Seaside Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Summer Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Painted Bunting
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch