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AOS Spring Meeting 2000 - Review

Joan Siegwald wrote up the fall AOS meeting as follows:

No one expected this spring's AOS meeting to live up to the memory of last year's "warbler extravaganza," but the weekend succeeded in creating a different set of wonderful memories. Friday's birding started out slow, but the winds soon changed, and birding improved dramatically. By the time we gathered for Friday night's meeting, Scarlet and Summer Tanagers, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and Red-eyed Vireos were arriving in large numbers.

Friday evening's post-luck "snacks" presented the usual variety of delicious treats, and the evening's slide presentations were outstanding.

Saturday's birding continued Friday afternoon's trend, with tanagers, grosbeaks and vireos present in increasing numbers. Indigo Buntings, White-eyed and Yellow-throated Vireos, Blue Grosbeaks and Orchard and Baltimore Orioles put in an appearance. Veery and Wood Thrush were also seen in many areas. Although the entire island was covered with birds, the Audubon Sanctuary, especially the banding area, was the "hotspot" of the weekend with large numbers of tanagers, grosbeaks, vireos, warblers and thrushes. Cedar Waxwings and Eastern Kingbirds joined grosbeaks, tanagers and orioles in the mulberry tree behind the Shell Mounds; many people set up chairs there and watched the activity for hours.

Saturday morning featured four AOS-sponsored field trips. Greg Jackson's trip to the Mobile Delta focused on birding by ear; highlights of this trip were Swainson's Warbler, Bachman's Sparrow, and Mississippi and Swallow-tailed Kites. Allen Tubbs's "Dauuphin Island in Depth" trip visited the Pelican Point jetties, the Audubon Sanctuary and the Shell Mounds; in addition to tanagers, grosbeaks and vireos, other birds of interest included American Oystercatcher, Ruddy Turnstone, American Redstart and Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Prothonotary, Yellow, Hooded and Worm-eating Warblers. Ed Case led a trip to the Bayou la Batre ponds, and Steve McConnell headed up the "Dauphin Island Dash" trip.

Saturday evening's banquet by Seafood Galley was outstanding, as usual. Our featured speaker, Dr. Jim Rising, presented an informative talk on geographic variation and subspecies of sparrows and gave us helpful pointers on sparrow identification in the field.

Birding continued to be good Sunday morning. Birds seen on Saturday continued to be present in good numbers, and the number and variety of warblers increased throughout the day. Chestnut-sided and Blackburnian Warblers were highlights of he day for many. Audubon Sanctuary and the Shell Mounds continued to be active, and the airport featured Sora, Clapper and Virginia Rails, as well as a variety of colorful migrants on the grasses and bushes and a cooperative Clay-colored Sparrow. [I could add: in honor of our speaker, Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrows sat in the open for great views and graced us with their griddle-sizzle song.]

Other birs of interest seen during the weekend included Bobolink, Dickcissel, Shiny Cowbird, Vaux's Swift, Black-whiskered Vireo, Common Yellowthroat, Painted Buntin and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. A Reddish Egret with a fluorescent pink bill and bright blue legs provided entertainment at the airport ponds for most of the weekend, and Black-crowned Night-herons were seen in many of the trees near the airport. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds were also frequently seen over the weekend.

In addition to the outstanding and memorable birding, this spring's AOS meeting was notable for having the largest number of out-of-state registrations in the society's history.