IslandWalk Birds, 2022-2023 Season

My overall birdwatching strategy for IslandWalk is posted here. I have made that post kind of the home page for my Birdwatching in IslandWalk project, and will update it whenever I do a new post on IW Birding.

My 1st ever "IW state of the birds" post was for the 2021-2022 season. My 2nd was for 2020-2021 season. I am cloning this post from that post. The 2021-2022 post contains discussions of things I found interesting about a lot of the species - 10 years worth.

I manually entered this data in this spreadsheet.

I will be reporting for all observed species the following 4 datapoints:

1. % of days seen;
2. total birds counted;
3. average;
4. max.

Here's the link to the IslandWalk hotspot at eBird.org.

Each bird name listed below is linked to its IslandWalk activity page in eBird.org. So click on the name, you will get a picture & all the data eBird has on that bird in IslandWalk.

Updates for the 2022-2023 season: I am spending more time in IslandWalk this year: 9 months vs 5 months (trying to score music gigs). I included counts for May: 7 lists! They didn't seem that different from March/April. That made a total of 26 bird lists. The passerine bird counts, like the mockingbird, go way up around March 1, which I would guess is the start of mating season when they become much more vocal. So I think they are still exhibiting mating season behavior through May.

I was in KY June 5 - July 11. I have started counting birds again since I have returned. The #s look different than the in-season #s. So I will not include them in the 2023-2023 Season report. I may do a separate off-season report. But, the in-season #s have a few different periods:

• December & January when the migrating diving ducks are here: ring-necked duck, hooded merganser, lesser scaup. The pie-billed grebe mostly leave by April 1, but it seems like there is always 1 straggler who doesn't get the memo.
• The palm warblers leave by April 1 as well.
• Cormorants seem to be mostly gone by April 1. The Cormorant Menace I was keeping an eye on was a non-event, yay! After a blip last season, #s are back to prior years.

Swimmers

I guess all are dabbling "ducks"? "Dabbling" === "stick your bill down in the water & swish it around & eat what you get from that" - as opposed to diving ducks.

• mottled duck: % days 100; tot 565; avg 21.7; max 53.
• muscovy duck: % days 96; tot 171; avg 6.8; max 20. These #s are way down, I suspect they are trapping & removing these as was discussed before COVID.
• common gallinule: % days 100; tot 382; avg 14.7; max 13. After 1st being counted in IW by me 2020-04-02, their #s continue to grow. Sometimes they seem to be overtaking the mottled ducks.
• american coot: % days 12; tot 3; avg 1.0; max 1. NEW! They look pretty identical to the gallinule, but their bill is white.

Divers

• pie-billed grebe: % days 73; tot 59; avg 3.1; max 7.
• hooded merganser: % days 12; tot 8; avg 2.7; max 4.
• lesser scaup: % days 0.
• ring-necked duck: % days 4; tot 4; avg 4.0; max 4. Back for the 1st time in a few years.
• double-crested cormorant: % days 81; tot 100; avg 4.8; max 12. I'm relieved that the Cormorant Menace was a non-event.
• anhinga: % days 85; tot 51; avg 2.3; max 7.
• brown pelican: % days 46; tot 36; avg 3.0; max 9. Numbers up a little. For a while there were 3 fishing on Lake #9 for the entertainment of the people on the stationary bikes in the weight room.
• belted kingfisher: % days 27; tot 9; avg 1.3; max 2.

Waders

• great egret: % days 100; tot 148; avg 5.7; max 12. This seems to be our most numerous wader, replacing the snowy egret or the tricolored heron. There could be selection effect involved - you can ID a great egret 200 yards up the lake.
• great blue heron: % days 62; tot 31; avg 1.9; max 5.
• snowy egret: % days 100; tot 126; avg 4.8; max 21.
• cattle egret: % days 0.
• tricolored heron: % days 96; tot 115; avg 4.6; max 8.
• little blue heron: % days 96; tot 73; avg 2.9; max 6. Their #s are up, used to only occasionally see 1.
• green heron: % days 50; tot 25; avg 1.5; max 5. 1st counted in IW by Eric Thom 2017-02-20, I am now seeing 1-2 fairly consistently.
• wood stork: % days 15; tot 6; avg 1.5; max 2.
• white ibis: % days 85; tot 170; avg 7.7; max 19.
• glossy ibis: % days 65; tot 45; avg 2.6; max 21. Normally far fewer of these than white ibis, but 1 day there was a flock of 21 of them?!?!? When they are onesy they commonly hang out with the white ibis.
• limpkin: % days 63; tot 28; avg 1.8; max 4. More common this season than prior.

Beach Birds

• killdeer: % days 27; tot 7; avg 1.0; max 1.
• black skimmer: % days 0.

Raptors

• osprey: % days 46; tot 15; avg 1.3; max 3.
• bald eagle: % days 0.
• cooper's hawk: % days 0.
• red-shouldered hawk: % days 4; tot 1; avg 1.0; max 1.
• broad-winged hawk: % days 0.
• swallow-tailed kite: % days 0.
• loggerhead shrike: % days 88; tot 104; avg 4.5; max 11. Shrike numbers seem to be trending up. We had a pair nest in the Clusia bush behind our cage.
• black vulture: % days 8; tot 10; avg 5.0; max 8.
• turkey vulture: % days 23; tot 23; avg 3.8; max 11.

Corvids

• fish crow: % days 100; tot 331; avg 12.7; max 23.
• blue jay: % days 96; tot 241; avg 9.6; max 19.

Perching Birds (Passerines)

• mourning dove: % days 100; tot 186; avg 7.2; max 16.
• eurasian collared dove: % days 65; tot 54; avg 3.2; max 8.
• common ground dove: % days 0.
• rock pigeon: % days 4; tot 1; avg 1.0; max 1. NEW! 1 plain old pigeon, white with black splotches, at the west end of Lake #9.
• common grackle: % days 96; tot 968; avg 38.7; max 70.
• boat-tailed grackle: % days 81; tot 97; avg 4.6; max 11. I think I have started counting more boat-tailed because of 2 secondary ID methods: size and foraging on the lake shore. The sure-fire IDs for this bird are the "shoop-shoop-shoop-shoop" call and the brown color of the females.
• red-winged blackbird: % days 19; tot 6; avg 1.2; max 2.
• european starling: % days 50; tot 148; avg 11.4; max 70. It doesn't seem like you see these that often. They are sometimes in a mixed flock with grackles and crows; there are sometimes a whole bunch of them together in 1 flock.
• northern mockingbird: % days 100; tot 917; avg 35.3; max 67.
• brown thrasher: % days 35; tot 23; avg 2.5; max 5. I seemed to be seeing these on a more regular basis.
• northern cardinal: % days 46; tot 12; avg 1.0; max 1.
• red-bellied woodpecker: % days 96, tot 203, avg 8.1, max 17.
• pileated woodpecker: % days 8; tot 2; avg 1.0; max 1.
• downy woodpecker: % days 4; tot 1; avg 1.0; max 1.
• northern flicker: % days 0.
• palm warbler: % days 54; tot 315; avg 22.5; max 36.
• black-and-white warbler: % days 0.
• yellow-throated warbler: % days 0.
• prairie warbler: % days 0.
• blue-gray gnatcatcher: % days 4; tot 1; avg 1.0; max 1.
• gray catbird: % days 4; tot 1; avg 1.0; max 1. NEW! I don't remember the details but I think I felt pretty good about the ID.