GOS Fall Meeting
Jekyll Island, GA
6-9 October 2023
Keynote Speaker: Scott K. Robinson, University of Florida
Friday Night Speaker: Diane Klement, University of Georgia
Approximately 84 attendees participated in our Fall Meeting activities which included interesting and entertaining presentations on Friday and Saturday, the banquet and field trips. For the weekend, participants found 165 species (see list below) on field trips to Altamaha Sound, Altamaha WMA, Altama Plantation WMA, Andrews Island Causeway and Disposal Site, Cannon’s Point, Clayhole Swamp WMA, Cumberland Island, Glennville Wastewater Treatment Facility, Harris Neck NWR, Jekyll Island (banding station, hot spots, welcome center), St. Catherines Island and Sapelo Island. As always, thanks to our field trip leaders (Adam Betuel, Kris Bisgard, Larry Carlile, Malcolm Hodges, Gene Keferl, Tim Keyes, Ed Maioriello, Pete Moore, J.P. Moss, Evan Pittman, Bob Sattelmeyer, Eliot VanOtteren and Dan Vickers).
Our Friday speaker, Diane Klement, is a M.S. student in the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia and a recipient of a H. Branch Howe Graduate Student Research Grant from GOS. In her Friday evening presentation, “Painting the Bunting: Linking Birds to Plant Communities Through Fine-Scale Space Use”, Diane shared experiences and observations from her field research with Painted Buntings on Little Saint Simons Island.
Scott Robinson, Ordway Professor of Conservation Biology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, gave the Saturday Keynote address. His talk, “Mixing Birding and Science: A Personal Journey”, covered his lifelong interest in birding and ornithology. Dr. Robinson’s early research career began in the tropical forests of eastern Peru. While working there in 1982, he and Ted Parker set a World Big Day record of 331 species. Currently, he and his graduate students are working on a variety of research projects, primarily in the tropics. He shared several interesting examples of this research examining the diversity, behavior and ecology of tropical birds.
Bird List (165 species):
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
American Wigeon
Mottled Duck
Green-winged Teal
Ruddy Duck
Wild Turkey
Pied-billed Grebe
Eared Grebe
Rock Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Common Ground Dove
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Chimney Swift
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Clapper Rail
Sora
Common Gallinule
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
American Oystercatcher
Black-bellied Plover
Wilson's Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Piping Plover
Killdeer
Whimbrel
Long-billed Curlew
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Red Knot
Sanderling
Dunlin
Least Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Snipe
Wilson's Phalarope
Spotted Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Caspian Tern
Common Tern
Forster's Tern
Royal Tern
Sandwich Tern
Black Skimmer
Wood Stork
Anhinga
Double-crested Cormorant
American White Pelican
Brown Pelican
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
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Bald Eagle
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Eastern Screech-Owl
Great Horned Owl
Barred Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Acadian Flycatcher
Eastern Phoebe
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Philadelphia Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Loggerhead Shrike
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Carolina Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Carolina Wren
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
Northern Mockingbird
Eastern Bluebird
Veery
House Finch
Seaside Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Yellow-breasted Chat
Bobolink
Eastern Meadowlark
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Golden-winged Warbler
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
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Summer Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Blue Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Painted Bunting