June Challenge 2015

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Wekiva River

I just completed my fourth June Challenge.  For those of you who are not familiar, June Challenge is a friendly competition here in Florida.  The gist is this: pick a county in Florida and find as many bird species in that county in Florida during the month of June--they must be seen (heard only doesn't count).  My totals have risen every year:

• 2012     81 (80/1) Species
• 2013     96 (95/1) Species
• 2014     105 (104/1) Species
• 2015     114 (112/2) Species

The main number is the total species followed by the ABA countable and ABA uncountable species in parentheses.

Greater Yellowlegs and Black-necked Stilt
St. Johns River

Short-billed Dowitchers
St. Johns River

Semipalmated Sandpiper
St. Johns River

When I began my June Challenge this year, I seriously questioned whether it was going to be possible to beat my 2014 total, but in the beginning of this year I found a great new place for shorebirds along the St. John's River, and in early June I snagged several species I've never seen in Seminole County in June before (Semipalmated Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Greater Yelllowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Long-billed Dowitcher, Short-billed Dowitcher).  I even saw a Brown Pelican, which has always eluded me in June before. Those 7 species pretty much account for increase in my total.  I missed one bird for the second year in a row, Prothonotary Warbler.  They breed along the Wekiva River, and I kayaked the river twice looking for them, but I was never confident I saw one (I did see a small yellow bird fly across the river, but given my red-green colorblindness, I decided not to trust my eyes).  Oh well, that just gives me room to improve next year.

Bachman's Sparrow
Lower Wekiva River Preserve

Roseate Spoonbills
C. S. Lee Park

Here's my list of birds in Seminole County this June. I put an asterisk by species I've never seen in June in Seminole Co. before::

Countable Species

1. Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 
2. Muscovy Duck 
3. Wood Duck 
4. Mallard mutt 
5. Mottled Duck 
6. Blue-winged Teal 
7. Northern Bobwhite 
8. Wild Turkey 
9. Pied-billed Grebe 
10. Wood Stork 
11. Double-crested Cormorant 
12. Anhinga 
13. American White Pelican 
14. Brown Pelican * 
15. Least Bittern 
16. Great Blue Heron 
17. Great Egret 
18. Snowy Egret 
19. Little Blue Heron 
20. Tricolored Heron 
21. Cattle Egret 
22. Green Heron 
23. Black-crowned Night-Heron 
24. Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 
25. White Ibis 
26. Glossy Ibis 
27. Roseate Spoonbill 
28. Black Vulture 
29. Turkey Vulture 
30. Osprey 
31. Swallow-tailed Kite 
32. Cooper's Hawk 
33. Bald Eagle 
34. Red-shouldered Hawk 
35. Short-tailed Hawk 
36. Red-tailed Hawk 
37. Purple Gallinule 
38. Common Gallinule 
39. American Coot 
40. Limpkin 
41. Sandhill Crane 
42. Black-necked Stilt 
43. Killdeer 
44. Greater Yellowlegs * 
45. Lesser Yellowlegs * 
46. Least Sandpiper * 
47. Semipalmated Sandpiper * 
48. Short-billed Dowitcher * 
49. Long-billed Dowitcher * 
50. Laughing Gull 
51. Ring-billed Gull 
52. Least Tern 
53. Rock Pigeon 
54. Eurasian Collared-Dove 
55. Common Ground-Dove 
56. White-winged Dove 
57. Mourning Dove 
58. Yellow-billed Cuckoo 
59. Eastern Screech-Owl 
60. Great Horned Owl 
61. Barred Owl 
62. Common Nighthawk 
63. Chuck-will's-widow 
64. Chimney Swift 
65. Ruby-throated Hummingbird 
66. Red-headed Woodpecker * 
67. Red-bellied Woodpecker 
68. Downy Woodpecker 
69. Northern Flicker 
70. Pileated Woodpecker 
71. Crested Caracara 
72. American Kestrel 
73. Monk Parakeet 
74. Acadian Flycatcher 
75. Great Crested Flycatcher 
76. Loggerhead Shrike 
77. White-eyed Vireo 
78. Yellow-throated Vireo 
79. Red-eyed Vireo 
80. Blue Jay 
81. American Crow 
82. Fish Crow 
83. Northern Rough-winged Swallow * 
84. Purple Martin 
85. Tree Swallow 
86. Barn Swallow 
87. Carolina Chickadee 
88. Tufted Titmouse 
89. Brown-headed Nuthatch 
90. Carolina Wren 
91. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 
92. Eastern Bluebird 
93. Brown Thrasher 
94. Northern Mockingbird 
95. European Starling 
96. Common Yellowthroat 
97. Northern Parula 
98. Pine Warbler 
99. Eastern Towhee 
100. Bachman's Sparrow 
101. Summer Tanager 
102. Northern Cardinal 
103. Blue Grosbeak 
104. Indigo Bunting 
105. Red-winged Blackbird 
106. Eastern Meadowlark 
107. Common Grackle 
108. Boat-tailed Grackle 
109. Brown-headed Cowbird 
110. House Finch 
111. American Goldfinch *
112. House Sparrow 

Uncountable Species

1. Helmeted Guineafowl 
2. Indian Peafowl *

Northern Rough-Winged Swallow
Sanford Marina

American Goldfinch
Friend's Feeder