10,000 Birds

JANUARY 6, 2015

I was birding one of my favorite places yesterday, Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Palm Beach County, Florida, and, as generally happens, people were asking me about the birds they were admiring. It works well in Florida , in which most species are allocated one page each and 20 species get two-page spreads. “Great Egret.”

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Colorado Florida Birds New Jersey 249

10,000 Birds

MARCH 19, 2012

Before January I had come across the very red birds of the western United States and the “normal” birds in the eastern part of the country but when I first laid eyes on the pale form of Florida I felt like I was seeing a whole new bird. The pale Red-shouldered Hawks of Florida are, to use just one word, beautiful.

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Florida United States Wildlife Birds 246

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 10, 2014

I was at the Blue Heron Wetlands in Titusville, Florida, during the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival hoping to connect with a Purple Gallinule that the field trip I co-led with Laura Erickson failed to find. The birds in Florida, on the other hand, are of domestic stock gone feral. And why is it still there?

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Feral Florida Ducks Texas 186

10,000 Birds

APRIL 14, 2015

Florida is one of America’s great avian hot spots, renowned for its impressive bird diversity. The official Florida checklist counts over 500 species, and thus Florida citizens had a wealth of State Bird candidates to choose from when they named the Florida state bird in 1927. The striking Snail Kite?

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Florida Legislature Arkansas Mississippi 168

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 13, 2014

But as of right now there is nowhere in the United States where a birder can see a chicken and count it on his or her list despite the fact that there is a well established and long lasting Feral Chicken population in the Florida Keys. It is time for the Florida Ornithological Society to allow for the counting of Feral Chickens.

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Chickens Florida Feral Species 210

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2014

The birding in Florida is so easy that a kid can do it. There are Double-crested Comorants , of course, but it’s not Florida unless you have Anhingas bellied up to the shoreline drying their wings like absurdly proportioned chickens. What sets Florida apart, besides the diversity, is the proximity.

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Florida Alligators Birds United States 169

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 8, 2018

My husband and I hooked up our boat to the trailer and set off to the Santa Rosa Sound in Florida’s Panhandle around 3 p.m., The post A Relaxing Big Day in Florida appeared first on 10,000 Birds. hitting the water just before 4 p.m. – a late start by any measure. That was just icing on the cake.

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Florida Alabama Kansas Pelicans 113

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 1, 2013

A friend of mine told me, she has been seeing small groups of Swallow-tailed Kites ( Elanoides furficatus ) in the general area; in south Florida. At one of the biggest migration roost in Florida, not far from where we live, kites begin to gather by mid June. Swallow-tailed Kite near the Lake Okeechobee roost in Florida.

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Florida Cuba Colombia 2004 246

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2015

Interestingly, they made their own way to the Florida panhandle, colonizing from the Texas population, but they were also introduced further south in Florida for some unknown reason. Mammals armadillos Florida Nine-banded Armadillo Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival' A quick Google search gave me the answer.

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Florida Coyotes Wildlife Mammals 173

10,000 Birds

JUNE 9, 2018

As the Caribbean’s emerald waters fell away below our seaplane, I had no idea what to expect from my visit to the Dry Tortugas, 70 miles west of Key West, Florida. Sooties, noddies, and where to find them.

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Florida Marine Life Turtles Humane 146

10,000 Birds

MARCH 27, 2014

Florida is known as the Sunshine State. Exotic species are animals that did not historically occur in Florida. Most were introduced, meaning they were brought to Florida by humans. However, captive-reared mallards are being unlawfully released by humans in large numbers in Florida.

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Florida Ducks New Zealand Feral 217

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2016

Florida Caverns State Park is known for one, quite obvious thing: the caverns. This fall, I stopped at Florida Caverns with two friends who had never visited before. This tiny species breeds north of Florida but returns to spend the winter here as well as in Central and South America.

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Florida South America Birds Woodpeckers 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 19, 2016

Take the Florida Scrub-Jay. Photo above by Louise Hunt, courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology) At just about 5,000 individuals, Florida’s only exclusive endemic is Endangered. And with the bird’s oak scrub habitat rapidly disappearing , scientists are searching for ways to preserve the species.

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Florida Research California Hunting 177

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2012

Razorbills ( Alca torda ) have invaded the coastal waters of Florida on an unprecedented scale this December of 2012. The impacts of such enormous hurricanes and their accompanying surge on marine ecosystems are not well studied or understood but it may be related to the unprecedented invasion of Razorbills in Florida.

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Florida Cuba 2012 Bahamas 229

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.”

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Florida Miami Bolivia Parrots 208

10,000 Birds

JULY 31, 2014

The end of July marks the end of the Least Tern’s ( Sterna antillarum ) nesting season in Florida. Young Least Terns , some still begging for food, begin to appear on Florida beaches and will soon continue their flight south eastern South America. But making it to a flying age in Florida is an accomplishment in itself.

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Florida Raccoons South America Eggs 170

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. Few birders realize how many warblers actually do winter in southernmost Florida — even long time birders within the state.

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Florida Miami United States Stray 172

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. They breed in Canada and Alaska, but in the summer they can be found across the United States, as far south as Florida, Cuba, and into Mexico, and as far north as the Pacific coast of Alaska and the Atlantic coast of Maine.

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Florida Alaska Cuba United States 109

10,000 Birds

JUNE 28, 2012

Back in January I finally completed the North American scrub jay trifecta – Western Scrub Jay , Island Scrub Jay , and Florida Scrub Jay. Florida Scrub Jays are having a hard time of it, what with habitat fragmentation, degradation, and eradication.

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Florida Wildlife California Birds 214

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 6, 2018

Three evenings a week, I trek exactly 51 minutes from my house or 97 minutes from my office (depending on the day) to the University of West Florida campus in Pensacola for graduate classes in strategic communications.

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Florida South America 2018 Mexico 101

AVMA News

JULY 3, 2023

The Alabama VMA (ALVMA) held its Emerald Coast Veterinary Conference from May 31-June 4 in Miramar Beach, Florida. The association presented awards and seated new officials.

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Alabama Florida 219

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 1, 2012

The southeast tip of the Florida peninsula is not well endowed with a wide variety of sparrows in winter like the rest of the southeastern United States. This is not the case in southern Florida, where a typical outing to such popular parks as A.D. Like Savannah Sparrow, the type specimen of Swamp Sparrow was collected in Georgia.

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Sparrows Florida Atlanta South Carolina 154

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 23, 2015

The ABA checklist committee has recently added the Egyptian Goose to the official ABA checklist, based on an established population in southeastern Florida. Others, like the Records Committee of the Florida Ornithological Society, are now hiring. Others, like the Records Committee of the Florida Ornithological Society, are now hiring.

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Florida Fur Lions Elephants 160

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. They winter in Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America. In between moments of staring at and trying to photograph distant Snail Kites at Kaliga Park on East Lake Toho in St.

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Florida New York City Dominica United States 177

AVMA News

FEBRUARY 7, 2023

Several new studies were unveiled at @the_NAVC Veterinary Meeting & Expo this January in Orlando, Florida, including research identifying 30 different bacterial groups in the fecal microbiome of domestic cats and a survey on dog owners’ awareness of osteoarthritis.

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Florida Cats Research Dogs 224

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 202

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 16, 2013

In 2012, for the third straight year, wading birds in south Florida had poor nesting success. Only 26,395 nests were started in 2012, a 39 percent decline compared to the decadal average. Most hard-hit were federally endangered Wood Storks , which saw all 820 nests fail or be abandoned.

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Florida 2012 Abandon Abandoning 153

10,000 Birds

APRIL 20, 2011

Even in the Brazilian Amazon, I’ve never seen this many whistling ducks together–there were sixty at a manmade lake behind the Brevard Community College near Titusville, Florida. I don’t get a lot of life birds in North America any more, but this confiding little gent offered himself up to the list: a Florida Scrub-Jay.

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Florida Tail Banding Ducks Ohio 145

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

A Miami native and resident, Carlos is perfectly situated to write about South Florida, which will be his beat, though it would not be the least bit surprising if he occasionally writes about birds and birding further afield. We would like everyone to give a warm welcome to the latest Beat Writer here on 10,000 Birds, Carlos Sanchez.

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Florida Puerto Rico Costa Rica Ecuador 159

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 19, 2021

Note: Erika works for Audubon Florida. The data are in: the nesting season proved successful for some species of Florida’s wading birds and… less so for others. Wood Storks in particular had a tough year in Southwest Florida; forced to nest late, an early rainy season wiped out many nests.

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2020 Florida Science Birds 240

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

Wait, you probably are already going to do that… Anyway, here are the images, all taken when I was in Florida at the end of January for the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival: Quiz Pic 1 Quiz Pic 2 Quiz Pic 3 Diabolical? Not diabolical enough? Too diabolical? Whatever your thoughts, good luck!

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Florida Wildlife Birds Species 157

10,000 Birds

APRIL 22, 2012

of Largo, Florida, is charged with animal cruelty. Jere Martin Patterson Jr. Patterson shot the bird multiple times with a BB gun, police said. Then he captured the injured bird, according to police, and killed it. The egret suffered “multiple fractures to the wing and neck area,” the report said.

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Florida Killing Animal Cruelty Cruelty 163

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2021

” my brother asked on a hot and muggy afternoon in North Florida. I can go back in my notebook to see when other species arrive, or which spend all year in my Florida region. “It “Sometimes, birders become lazy observers,” writes John Muir Law for the National Audubon Society (note: I work for Audubon Florida).

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Florida Birds Mississippi Laws 264

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 6, 2011

Thanks to a kindhearted man who found it, an able and willing wildlife rehabilitator named Linda Bowen who nursed it back to strength, a helpful pilot who got it to Florida, and a host of others, a White-tailed Tropicbird that was found on the ground and exhausted in Connecticut in the wake of Hurricane Irene will be released tomorrow.

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Florida Wildlife Rehabilitation Connecticut Wildlife 177

10,000 Birds

JUNE 16, 2021

Note: Erika is the Communications Director for Audubon Florida. A life bird for me, and another species for my Audubon Florida Birdathon checklist. 2021 marked the second year I participated in a Birdathon for Audubon Florida. A flash of orange streaked across my field of vision, landing at the top of a nearby tree.

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Florida 2020 Mexico Raised 156

Reddit Animals

APRIL 11, 2023

New England Reptile Distributers just released a video explaining a terrible incident involving the FWC (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission). In 2021, Florida banned reticulated pythons, forcing Coffee to find homes for the pythons outside of Florida. He had a total of 120 pythons he needed to rehome.

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Pythons illegal Florida Killing 40

10,000 Birds

MAY 25, 2020

Note: Erika is the Communications Director for Audubon Florida. At Audubon Florida, we opted to change a typical Birdathon to bring not only our staff together, but our whole Florida birding community. At the same time, our Audubon Florida community would bird for a week, still staying at home. The covid-19 alteration?

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Florida 2020 Shelters Species 188