Date: 8/17/26 11:02 am From: Shirley Farrell via groups.io <shirfarr...> Subject: Re: [ALbirds] New DIBS Hotspots
We are visiting these sites during a field trip at the AOS Fall meeting
weakend.
Shirley
On Mon, Aug 17, 2026 at 10:34 AM Ken Hare via groups.io <kmhare46=
<knology.net...> wrote:
> Larry, I’ll put together a post for our Facebook site using your text. If
> anyone has a good photo from either site, please email it to me. Posts with
> your photos draw more attention. - Ken H.
>
> On Aug 16, 2026, at 9:51 AM, Cynthia Freeman via groups.io
> <Cynthiafreeman633...> wrote:
>
> 
> Thanks for the info Larry. I’m ready for fall migration!
>
> Cynthia
>
>
> Cynthia L Freeman
>
> On Sun, Aug 16, 2026 at 9:28 AM Lawrence Gardella via groups.io
> <lfgardella...> wrote:
>
>> There ate two more hotspots on Dauphin Island, each a part of the DIBS
>> project to obtain land and easements to protect habitat for migrants. One
>> is on Gen. Gorgas and the other at Longfellow Place. At Gorgas you can
>> check our Mt a nice stretch of woods from the street. At Longfellow you
>> can bird from the street and walk a set of trails.
>>
>> When you come to the island, be sure to check them out and make an eBird
>> list for each. You may well have birded one of the sites before. If you
>> created a personal site, you can always go to Manage My Locations and
>> change to the appropriate Hotspot.
>>
>> Good birding,
>>
>> Larry Gardella
>> Daphne
>>
>>
>
>
Date: 8/16/26 6:52 pm From: Damien J. Simbeck via groups.io <tnbarredowl...> Subject: [ALbirds] Wheeler Dam roost
I tried to lead an AOS field trip at Wheeler Dam this past Tuesday. I arrived at 3:30, scanned the towers and island (didn't see the Neotropic Cormorant, but did have a Great Blue x Great Egret hybrid on the rocks at the base of the first tower). I set up my tent just past the inlet and started watching for birds. I had a maximum of 26 Black Terns feeding below the dam. They stayed mostly along the barge channel on the north side, but some did venture closer for decent views. A Common Loon swam by a few times, then came shore in the inlet to roost for the evening (close photos using just my phone). Around 5:30, a group of about 1000 Purple Martins flew around. I thought they might roost on the transmission lines as they have in the past, but they left after about 15 minutes. By 6:00, I had few herons/egrets flying in and no other birders joined me. I decided to head home and come back another time. Regina and I decided to eat dinner there this evening, but we didn't arrive until nearly 7:00. There were a lot of birds already on the island and the Neotropic Cormorant was on his usual perch on the first island. The Great Blue x Great Egret was on the rocks at the inlet. We enjoyed dinner and started counting/estimating birds coming to roost. Here's my totals for about 50 minutes of watching, I only viewed birds flying in from the west, so more birds likely came in from the southeast (Lawrence County) or the northeast (east Lauderdale/Limestone Counties). I still saw good numbers, despite most of the sinkhole ponds are dry this year. I always wonder where all the Little Blue Herons come from.
Black-crowned Night-Heron 6Little Blue Heron 168 (only 6 adults)Snowy Egret 6Western Cattle Egret 704Great Egret 164Great Blue Heron 56Great Blue x Great Egret 1
I may try again Tuesday or Wednesday evening (starting around 6:00). I'll send another email if I do.
Damien Simbeck
Killen AL
Sent from my (non-Apple) phone. You can teach an old dog new tricks!
Date: 8/16/26 7:51 am From: Cynthia Freeman via groups.io <Cynthiafreeman633...> Subject: Re: [ALbirds] New DIBS Hotspots
Thanks for the info Larry. I’m ready for fall migration!
Cynthia
Cynthia L Freeman
On Sun, Aug 16, 2026 at 9:28 AM Lawrence Gardella via groups.io <lfgardella=
<gmail.com...> wrote:
> There ate two more hotspots on Dauphin Island, each a part of the DIBS
> project to obtain land and easements to protect habitat for migrants. One
> is on Gen. Gorgas and the other at Longfellow Place. At Gorgas you can
> check our Mt a nice stretch of woods from the street. At Longfellow you
> can bird from the street and walk a set of trails.
>
> When you come to the island, be sure to check them out and make an eBird
> list for each. You may well have birded one of the sites before. If you
> created a personal site, you can always go to Manage My Locations and
> change to the appropriate Hotspot.
>
> Good birding,
>
> Larry Gardella
> Daphne
>
>
>
Date: 8/16/26 7:28 am From: Lawrence Gardella via groups.io <lfgardella...> Subject: [ALbirds] New DIBS Hotspots
There ate two more hotspots on Dauphin Island, each a part of the DIBS project to obtain land and easements to protect habitat for migrants. One is on Gen. Gorgas and the other at Longfellow Place. At Gorgas you can check our Mt a nice stretch of woods from the street. At Longfellow you can bird from the street and walk a set of trails.
When you come to the island, be sure to check them out and make an eBird list for each. You may well have birded one of the sites before. If you created a personal site, you can always go to Manage My Locations and change to the appropriate Hotspot.
Date: 8/11/26 4:34 am From: Greg D. Jackson via groups.io <g_d_jackson...> Subject: [ALbirds] Special AOS events this week
AL Birders:
Just a heads-up about a couple of special AOS events this week:
Today, Aug. 11, anytime 3:30 - 8:00 p.m.: Heron roost fly-in watch at
Wheeler Dam. Damien Simbeck will host a laid-back watch and tally of large
numbers of herons, egrets, and possibly other large waders on the south bank
of the Tennessee River at Wheeler Dam late this afternoon. He posted about
it in this forum last week, just a reminder.
Saturday, Aug. 15, 7:00 p.m. - dark: Chimney Swift roost watch at Tallassee
High School (Elmore County): Eric Soehren will conduct a Chimney Swift watch
and count as these "flying cigars" return to roost for the evening. This
will be another relaxed event and a good chance to observe a "swiftnado"
while learning about these amazing birds.
Both of these AOS events are open to anyone of all ages. Bring a folding
chair, some drinks, binoculars, and relax while observing these roost
spectacles and learning from two of our most experienced birders. For
further details, go to the AOS Local Field Trips calendar via this link:
Date: 8/6/26 1:29 pm From: Lawrence Gardella via groups.io <lfgardella...> Subject: [ALbirds] Tracking Golden-cheeked Warbler Migration
I sent an email to Jane Kunberger, one of the authors of the article entitled " Miniaturized light-level geolocators provide novel insight into the migration ecology of an endangered songbird" to let her know about Franklin Chalk finding the Golden-cheeked Warbler and several people getting to see it.
She responded:
Thank you so much for sending! It's always exciting when someone spots a golden-cheeked during migration. I'll share the information with the team.
Date: 8/4/26 5:13 pm From: Damien J. Simbeck via groups.io <tnbarredowl...> Subject: [ALbirds] Wheeler Dam roost count
Next Tuesday evening, August 11, I will be leading an AOS trip to Wheeler Dam to count the herons and egrets coming to roost on the island. This trip is open to everyone, not just AOS members. We'll set up in the gravel area at the downstream side if the inlet (boat ramp parking lot) from 4:00 to 8:00ish. Come for all or part of the evening. Bring a comfortable chair, snacks and drinks. Several thousand birds usually fly in each evening. We'll also get to enjoy a nice sunset if the weather cooperates. I plan to get to the fishing area (pier) around 3:30 to get a count/estimate of birds already on the island. Join me for that too, if you want.
Damien Simbeck
Killen AL
Sent from my (non-Apple) phone. You can teach an old dog new tricks!
Date: 8/4/26 12:53 pm From: Yaukey, Peter via groups.io <pyaukey...> Subject: Re: [ALbirds] Golden-cheeked Warb
AL Birders:
This is such an exciting sighting! Congrats to Franklin Chalk!
And its timing is beautiful: last summer there was discussion about shocking geolocator paper that claimed a substantial slice of the Goldencheek population, appeared to move east from central Texas on fall migration, traversing the northern Gulf states before turning south. This despite LA, MS, and AL apparently having no records (but Tampa having some, three I think).
There was some skepticism based on the difficulty of using solar cues (the basis for geolocator data in the paper) for determining latitude near the equinox when most GCWA migrate. Mr. Chalk's record finally provides a supporting record of this crazy idea.
I have pasted the discussion from the Louisiana listserve (LA Bird) below for those interested.
Peter Yaukey
LABirders:
I read a (to me) shocking geolocator paper yesterday that reported that many Golden-cheeked Warblers travel far east from their nesting areas before turning south in fall, many apparently traversing Louisiana. The paper states that 20% of the birds in the study sample migrated across the Gulf in fall, including some going as far east as peninsular Florida. Here are the tracks of the c. 12 (of their total of 61 migrants tracked w geolocators) that went transgulf or through Florida.
[cid:f305e7cc-cdff-4caf-93c5-90673801fc2e]
They had another map that gives stopover points. One of these is on the Chandeleurs. Has the LBRC considered whether a geolocator observation could constitute a first state record? The lead authors of the study are actually at LSU- perhaps they could provide information on the amount of precision in that stopover observation or the flyover tracks?
This is crazy!
[cid:802f4ed2-662d-4260-a94a-50c01f28982b]
[cid:25a18524-ab35-4de1-b9af-eda207161405]
Peter H. Yaukey, Ph.D.
Departmental Chair and Professor of Biology
Department of Biological and Physical Sciences
University of Holy Cross
4123 Woodland Drive
New Orleans, LA 70131
504-398-2312 Direct
504-394-7744 Main
[cid:91D4B89B-2D58-4695-9437-0B7014880A72]
________________________________
From: <ALbirds...> <ALbirds...> on behalf of Lawrence Gardella via groups.io <lfgardella...>
Sent: Monday, August 3, 2026 9:59 PM
To: <ALbirds...> <ALbirds...>
Subject: [ALbirds] Golden-cheeked Warb
You don't often get email from <lfgardella...> Learn why this is important<https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification> As ma y of you all have heard, Franklin Chalk found a Golden-cheeked Warbler at Fort Morgan this morning, and the bird wss positively identified this afternoon on the basis of the great photographs Franklin took.
Several of us dropped everything and made it down to Ft. Morgan. The bird spent a lot of time in a tree just down the main path in the stables area from the Sargebt bench. A cedar?
I thank the people who were looking at it when I arrived, those who made the ID, and Franklin.
Date: 8/3/26 7:59 pm From: Lawrence Gardella via groups.io <lfgardella...> Subject: [ALbirds] Golden-cheeked Warb
As ma y of you all have heard, Franklin Chalk found a Golden-cheeked Warbler at Fort Morgan this morning, and the bird wss positively identified this afternoon on the basis of the great photographs Franklin took.
Several of us dropped everything and made it down to Ft. Morgan. The bird spent a lot of time in a tree just down the main path in the stables area from the Sargebt bench. A cedar?
I thank the people who were looking at it when I arrived, those who made the ID, and Franklin.
Date: 7/31/26 2:25 pm From: Yaukey, Peter via groups.io <pyaukey...> Subject: [ALbirds] Intermediate Birding Zoom Course starting up Sun Aug 9
MissBirders:
I will be teaching Intermediate Birding for the Orleans Audubon Society, fully on zoom, from 7-9pm on five consecutive Sunday evenings starting Aug 9. The course will cover LA-MS-AL-and northern FL. Recordings of each session will be posted to YouTube for enrollees to review as desired.
Folks who have already taken Intermediate Birding can register again for half price. You don't need to have taken Beginning Birding to enroll.
Flier and outline of topics (for the four courses in the sequence) are attached!
