I would like to make birders aware of a program, "Birding By Bike", by our birding friend, Benny Yoder, at the upcoming "Shreve Spring Migration Sensation", this Saturday March 17th. He will discuss his 2017 Big Year By Bicycle, birding the twelve county Bobolink Area. His program is scheduled from 12:15PM to 1:00PM. Benny, at eighteen years of age, is in my mind, one of the most accomplished and knowledgeable young birders I have ever had the pleasure of birding with. His talent of being able to identify and know nearly every bird by ear we have ever encountered together, is amazing. Benny has already began to develop an impressive LIFELIST, including outside of Ohio, as can be seen in a posting to The BRDBRAINS LISTSERV of his recent visit to see us in Florida. If you come to see Benny's presentation, I am sure afterward, he would be happy to tell you more about his exciting exploits. Oh by the way, our best bird together was a Curlew Sandpiper in breeding plumage a couple of years ago, in northwest Ohio.


Bob Lane / Pinellas County, Florida & Mahoning County, Ohio


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Subject: A Week Long Florida Gulf Coast Birding Tour



It is amazing the amount of bird species that can be found in February within a two hour maximum drive from Pinellas County, with a little daily planning. During the past weeks, 02/06/18 thru 02/14/18, we had the opportunity to show an eighteen year old Amish birding friend from Northeast Ohio some of the birds of the area, each day departing from our place near Old Tampa Bay in eastern Clearwater. Benny Yoder, our guest, already an accomplished birder, during 2017, did a "Big Year By Bicycle" in a twelve county Amish region referred to as "The Bobolink Area" in Ohio. A record 276 species were found traveling over 6000 miles. To celebrate his feat, he asked to come and see us for his first visit to Florida. We told him to come on down. The limits of our day trips were "The Croom" in Hernando County to the north, Lake Apopka in Orange County to the east, and Oscar Scherer State Park in Sarasota County to the south. During his week long visit, Benny recorded 179 species, with 37 0f them being lifers. The ten adult Brown Boobies were the main highlight of our neighborhood, with their roost tower being less than four miles away. Some of Benny's specie highlights were: an on the water flock of 416 Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Mottled Duck, Magnificent Frigatebird, Northern Gannet, Anhinga, Tri-colored Heron, White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Snail Kite, Short-tailed Hawk, Swainson's Hawk, Clapper Rail, Purple Swamphen, Purple Gallinule, Limpkin, Whooping Crane, Snowy Plover, Wilson's Plover, Piping Plover, lots of American Oystercatchers, Whimbrel, lots of Marbled Godwits, Laughing Gull, Sandwich Tern, Royal Tern, lots of Black Skimmers, White-winged Dove, Common Ground-Dove, Burrowing Owl, Monk Parakeet, Nanday Parakeet, a beautiful male Rufous Hummingbird, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Crested Caracara, Vermilion Flycatcher, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Western Kingbird, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Florida Scrub-Jay, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Bachman's Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Saltmarsh Sparrow, Seaside Sparrow, and Painted Bunting, just to name a few! Benny came and went on a bus from Berlin, Ohio to Tampa and return. During the winter months, there are three bus trips a week from Ohio Amish Country to the destinations of Tampa and the Amish community of "Pinecraft" in Sarasota. What a fun time we had. The weather was perfect!


Bob and Denise Lane / Clearwater, Pinellas County

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