10,000 Birds

MAY 2, 2014

It is also a good description of the birding in southernmost Florida. Sure, Miami and the Florida Keys do not boast any endemics ( ‘Cape Sable’ Seaside Sparrow is close) at the species level. Many visitors who come through Orlando or Tampa see maybe eight or ten species on a winter trip.

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Florida Miami United States Stray 172

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2013

The current situation with exotic bird species in Florida is in a state of flux, particularly southeast Florida where the bulk of exotic bird diversity in the United States resides — and much of it “uncountable.” Egyptian Goose, looking for handouts at Kendall-Baptist Hospital, by Carlos Sanchez.

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Florida Miami Bolivia Parrots 196

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 8, 2015

Within one week, I saw Bufflehead over 1,200 miles apart, first in Maine, and then along the Florida Panhandle. For my post this week, I wanted to take a moment to marvel at the impressive range of this super cool species. My Bufflehead sightings underscore how flexible some of these species can be in their habitat preference.

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Florida Alaska Cuba United States 106

10,000 Birds

MARCH 17, 2022

For the past few years, they’ve been mere acquaintances, passing through North Florida on their way to who knows where. They migrate north through the Western United States, breeding in pockets all the way up through Canada. No matter how many times I see them, this particular species remains breathtaking.

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Pelicans United States Canada Arizona 229

10,000 Birds

MAY 20, 2023

Pelee National Park – Ohio Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge – Texas These locations offer a variety of habitats including marshes, wetlands, forests, coastal areas, and deserts, attracting numerous bird species throughout the year. Please note that the availability of specific bird species may vary depending on the season.

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United States Michigan Texas Virginia 162

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 18, 2012

Cloud, Florida, Doug, with whom I had been birding all day long, found a Yellow-throated Warbler foraging behind us. The Yellow-throated Warbler is a wood-warbler that breeds almost exclusively in the southeastern United States. They winter in Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America.

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Florida New York City Dominica United States 172

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 4, 2021

The Purple Swamphen now is considered a superspecies, with each of its six races are designated full species – and in the strange world of birding, a superspecies is rather less than a species, not more. This is despite the most likely African origin of the species. Swamphen yes, but Grey-headed? Again: Grey-headed?

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China Florida Kenya India 259

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 18, 2014

Fish and Wildlife Service has listed the “Rufa” population of Red Knot ( Calidris canutus rufa ) as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The other sub-species, Calidris canutus roselaari , migrates along the Pacific Coast and breeds in Alaska and the Wrangel Island in Russia. Photo: Ron Knight.

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Endangered Species Protection Delaware Species 160

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2011

home about advertise archives birds conservation contact galleries links reviews subscribe Browse: Home / Birds / The plovers of Estero Lagoon, Florida The plovers of Estero Lagoon, Florida By James • March 8, 2011 • 1 comment Tweet Share For as long as I can remember I’ve been fascinated by shorebirds.

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Florida South Africa 2011 Africa 190

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2014

Sure, we also have Common Myna and Boat-tailed Grackle which would be pretty special to most who do not live in Florida. Gray Kingbird perched on a Gumbo Limbo Tree, another typical West Indian species native to South Florida. By the end of September, the territorial birds that breed in the local parking lots are gone.

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Dominican Republic Miami Puerto Rico Florida 212

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2013

I always like to see the look of surprise on a visiting birder’s face when I tell them that the Prairie Warblers and Yellow Warblers in southern Florida are restricted to mangrove habitats. Everyone, I would like you to meet the ‘Florida’ Prairie Warbler ( S. Petersburg area on the west coast.

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Florida Breeders Miami Tampa 186

10,000 Birds

JULY 24, 2014

Miami, Florida has a reputation among the birding community for being overrun with exotic bird species. However, the typical birding experience for someone down here also includes a large menagerie of other species such as Orange-winged Parrot , Mitred Parakeet , Egyptian Goose and Nutmeg Mannikin. It is well-deserved.

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Miami Asia Florida Malaysia 199

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2014

I was happy to read that the wood stork ( Mycteria Americana ), a bird near and dear to me, was down-sited from the status of endangered to threatened species. Fish and Wildlife Service is down-listing the wood stork from endangered to threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). However, birds in the U.S. Photo: U.S.

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North Carolina Bald Eagle South Carolina Florida 196

10,000 Birds

JUNE 4, 2013

Broward County has one of the highest densities of Burrowing Owls in Florida. The Florida sub-species of Burrowing Owl is now classified as a threatened species in Florida and it is one of the rarest sub-species of Burrowing Owls. This is unfortunately an all too common problem for these owls in Florida.

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Owls Florida Raised Coyotes 236

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 11, 2015

I have now officially moved to the Emerald Coast of Florida, a beautiful region on the Florida Panhandle. I am within one of Florida’s sub-tropical zones, and my birding experiences have expanded, with life birds galore. The largest of the three species was the Ruddy Turnstone , in between its breeding and non-breeding plumage.

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Florida Birds Mice Breeding 157

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 25, 2021

A lot of birds take a shorter trip to Florida and the Caribbean, many spend the winter in southern Mexico, and some species even fly all the way to southern Amazonia (this drink is for you Veerys). This tail bobber is a common species of mangroves and any other wet spot in the lowlands. Cloud Forest near San Ramon.

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Costa Rica Kentucky Louisiana Species 229

10,000 Birds

APRIL 10, 2015

In February of 2013, I wrote a piece outlining my thoughts on which exotic bird species should be added to the American Bird Association (ABA) checklist. My number one choice at the time was Egyptian Goose ( Alopochen aegyptiacus ), an adaptable sheldgoose from Africa that was rapidly becoming established in peninsular Florida.

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Los Angeles Miami San Francisco Florida 154

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 30, 2014

There’s a new proposal before the American Ornithologists’ Union’s North American Classification Committee to split Painted Bunting into two species (yay! — maybe, more later) and to name the new species “Eastern Painted Bunting” and “Western Painted Bunting” (no!).

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Mississippi Mexico Alabama North Carolina 270

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2015

The invasive Burmese Python ( Python molurus ) is well established in the Florida Everglade. Another species of Python, the African Python ( Python sebae ) has established a small population in the 2,877-acre Bird Drive Area (BDA) in South Florida. Photo Credit: Invasive and Exotic Species of North America (www.invasive.org).

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Pythons Florida Mammals Reptiles 181

10,000 Birds

MARCH 29, 2016

The magnificent, adorable, and dangerous breeding season for both shorebirds and seabirds along the Florida Panhandle. I saw the first sign of the impending breeding season on the beach at Deer Lake State Park. Soon, these ropes and signs will be on nearly all the breeding beaches, plus a few bridges and rooftops to boot.

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Florida Eggs Deer Protection 100

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 25, 2013

Over the last weekend, I was at Lake Kissimmee in Florida, observing Snail Kites at an area kites were not present or rare just a few years ago. The threat of extinction of such iconic Florida bird prompted State and Federal agencies to find solutions to stop and reverse the declining trend. Kites now nest there and are fairly common.

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Florida South America Eggs Bolivia 220

10,000 Birds

APRIL 19, 2013

He now wakes up to the choruses of Northern Cardinals and Northern Mockingbirds in sunny Vero Beach, Florida. This photo could have been taken in Florida’s Treasure Coast during the winter months or in South America during the same period. And by similar, I mean the species and abundance of shorebirds and gulls.

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Chile Peru South America Florida 190

10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2022

This spurred her to pursue a career in environmental education and wildlife nature tourism as a park ranger in Texas and as the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail Coordinator with Florida Fish and Wildlife. About half of all breeding Wandering Albatross nest on the Prince Edward Islands. and seabirders.

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South Africa Mice Albatross Africa 263

10,000 Birds

APRIL 29, 2014

Despite our near constant doom-and-gloom prognostications we still manage to see wood-warblers, though most of April is spent looking at the several species that are early arrivals, mostly species that winter in the southeastern United States and therefore can get back to we northeasterns rather quickly.

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New York United States New York City Breeding 222

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 25, 2015

Plus, there was once a time when I couldn’t tell a tern from a gull, let alone differentiate between species. I’ve seen Forster’s Terns and Common Terns , but one particular species was fast becoming a nemesis bird: the Black Tern. Black Tern in Breeding Plumage. Black Tern in Non-Breeding Plumage.

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Breeding South America Florida Protection 160

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2016

While on a tour of Rookery Bay near the Florida Everglades, I was reminded of this lovely personality trait once more. Unlike many other estuaries in this part of Florida, Rookery Bay is protected by the Estuarine Research Reserve system, and remains almost entirely undeveloped.

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Florida Mexico Protection Pelicans 142

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 13, 2012

Nonetheless, this bird is one of the most interesting species in the avifauna of southeast Florida for many reasons — an interesting biology that parallels that of several pigeon species in the Old World Tropics as well as its limited distribution in the state.

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Florida Miami Bahamas Mexico 161

10,000 Birds

JULY 11, 2017

My friend Savanna and I rose at dawn, gulped down coffee and then hit the best birding hotspots on Cedar Key, wracking up hundreds of summer species before lunchtime. Many species had left for breeding in more northerly climates, and those that remained hid out in cool spots until saner temperatures reigned in the morning and evening.

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Florida Wildlife Fish Game 137

10,000 Birds

MARCH 8, 2016

I love when my parents come to visit me in Florida. Though barely 20 acres, the park serves as permanent, breeding, or migratory habitat for nearly 200 birds species, as well as Osprey nests and a Great Blue Heron rookery. Given this, I am always happy to see them in Florida and across their range.

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Florida Mammals 2010 Mexico 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 8, 2015

The Brown Pelican and the Peruvian Pelican are closely related and once were considered the same species. Brown Pelicans in non-breeding plumage. Both are the only Pelican in their non-overlapping breeding grounds. Peruvian Pelican in non-breeding plumage. Brown Pelican in Breeding Plumage.

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Pelicans North America Peru Fish 157

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2014

Other species have certainly expanded their ranges, but never in such a rapid and global scale. For reasons that are not quite clear, this species underwent a massive range expansion. In the east, this species can be found along the east coast of Africa, the Nile Valley,and into parts of the middle east and India and southeast Asia.

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Cattle South Korea Suriname Seychelles 170

10,000 Birds

MAY 10, 2020

As the cold fronts begin to sweep through the northern states ushering in a wave of seasonal change and color, South Florida becomes a gathering place for migratory birds far and wide across the country. Black-bellied Plover is a common migrant in South Florida, occurring at both inland and coastal sites.

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Florida Miami Birds Falcons 255

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 20, 2012

The brilliant orange coloration and rich, haunting song of the Spot-breasted Oriole ( Icterus pectoralis ) makes this species one of my favorite permanent residents in southeastern Florida, even though it is an introduced exotic. How can an introduced species be a favorite among birders?

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Miami Costa Rica Florida 2005 174

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

Pelagic birding off the Atlantic coast of Florida can be a frustrating experience, usually involving long waits of up to an hour or more interspersed with brief flurries of activity — a far cry from pelagic birding off of coasts blessed with cold water currents and nutrient rich upwelling such as California, southeast Australia, and Peru.

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Florida United States Fish 2005 164

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 11, 2014

This is perhaps the best place in Florida to find a rare gull for the state and though I had no luck picking a vagrant California Gull out of the teeming hordes I did enjoy myself as much as I did back in 2012. But my failure to find a rare species doesn’t mean that I saw nothing of note.

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Florida Panama Wildlife 2014 193

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 9, 2018

When I arrived at the Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance office in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, a high-tempo, tap-tap-tapping immediately arrested my attention. Bird territories vary in size depending on the bird species and available resources.

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Florida Groups Breeding Species 120

10,000 Birds

MAY 21, 2013

On a recent filming trip to Emeralda Marsh in Lake County Florida we managed to film and photograph a suspected hybrid between a Tricolored Heron and a Snowy Egret. Hybrids between separate species are rare. Suspected hybrids between heron species, whilst extremely rare, have been documented for some time.

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Florida Arizona Cattle California 172