GOS Winter Meeting
Tybee Island, Georgia
January 18-20, 2019
Keynote Speaker – Dr. Kyle Horton, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
GOS Friday Speaker – Malcolm Hodges - GOS Grants to TNC
Bird List Compiled by Ellen Miller - 161 species
This past January, GOS held its winter meeting on Tybee Island. The weather for the winter meeting was relatively mild, and all of the field trips commenced as planned except for one boat trip to Little Tybee Island that had to be cancelled due to very high winds. A compilation of species seen during the winter meeting can be found below. Thanks to Ed Maioriello for securing our venue and for making arrangements for the banquet after he learned at the last minute that the hotel kitchen was not in service! Ellen Miller did another fantastic job of planning field trips, recruiting field trip leaders, attracting two wonderful speakers, and compiling the species list. Malcolm Hodges spoke to us on Friday night and brought us up to date concerning several grants that The Nature Conservancy has received from GOS over that past few years. As a long-time firebug, I was particularly gratified to hear that Malcolm and his crews have been reintroducing fire into landscapes that have not been burned in a very long time. By the way, Malcolm is our new “From the Field” editor and is doing a fantastic job. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed out loud while reading a “From the Field” report, but with Malcolm at the helm, there is no shortage of belly laughs. Our keynote speaker was Dr. Kyle Horton from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Kyle studies bird migration using a combination of radar, acoustics, and citizen-science data to answer questions about avian migration strategies, population estimates, and how artificial light impacts bird migration. His presentation was fascinating and beautifully done. I’ve long been a fan of the Cornell Ornithology Lab’s BirdCast website, and Kyle’s work also informs these migration models. They are enthralling to follow on a daily basis during the spring and fall migrations.
Bird List:
Wood Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
Mottled Duck
Green-winged Teal
Canvasback
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Wild Turkey
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
King Rail
Clapper Rail
Virginia Rail
Sora
Common Gallinule
American Coot
American Avocet
American Oystercatcher
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Piping Plover
Killdeer
Whimbrel
Ruddy Turnstone
Red Knot
Stilt Sandpiper
Sanderling
Dunlin
Purple Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher
American Woodcock
Wilson’s Snipe
Spotted Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Bonaparte’s Gull
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Forster’s Tern
Royal Tern
Black Skimmer
Red-throated Loon
Common Loon
Wood Stork
Northern Gannet
Anhinga
Double-crested Cormorant
Brown Pelican
American Bittern
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Reddish Egret
Green Heron
Black-crowned Night-heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper’s Hawk
Bald Eagle
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Great Horned Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Red-cockaded Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
American Kestrel
Merlin
Eastern Phoebe
Western Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Tree Swallow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Sedge Wren
Winter Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
American Pipit
Cedar Waxwing
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Grasshopper Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Saltmarsh Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Henslow’s Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Eastern Meadowlark
Baltimore Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Rusty Blackbird
Brewer’s Blackbird
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
Northern Waterthrush
Black-and-white Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
American Redstart
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Northern Cardinal
House Sparrow