10,000 Birds

JANUARY 13, 2014

Herons and raptors and rails and gulls and ducks and cranes and jays and owls and alligators are all awaiting me – and you – at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. I fly in to Orlando early Tuesday morning and I will immediately head west to Tampa in search of these two countable exotics.

Wildlife 184

Wildlife Tampa Alligators 2012 184

10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2014

“We had a call one morning about a snake and a hawk,” says Tom Sweets, the executive director and chief rescuer of the Key West Wildlife Center , located at the very tip of Florida. The snake was wrapped firmly around the hawk’s tail, neck, and wings, and had enough strength to immobilize the bird but not to kill him.

Reptiles 230

Reptiles Chickens Sea Turtles Wildlife Rehabilitation 230

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2014

On my first day in Florida for the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival I landed at Orlando International Airport at about 9 AM, deplaned, waited for my luggage, got my rental car, and drove west. That’s right, the salvation of my birding day relied upon me laying eyes on a Nanday Parakeet. Wait, west?

Florida 264

Florida Parrots Tampa 2004 264

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 13, 2021

Marks National Wildlife refuge in search of water birds – ducks and mergansers in particular. Parking in a nearby pull-off, I shouldered my own camera (though with a much smaller lens), and walked carefully towards them, both to maintain social distancing but also to avoid scaring the bird. Or, as it turned out, bird s.

Geese 187

Geese Florida Tampa New Mexico 187