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 157

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 206

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. Active feeders, they move across the surface in tightly-packed groups, heads dipping beneath the water over and over and over in search of fish. I’ve made some new friends in 2022.

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Pelicans United States Canada Arizona 249

Critter News

JANUARY 9, 2012

An Alachua County Circuit Court judge has ordered the University of Florida to provide an animal rights activist with records on primates involved in research. Camille Marino of Wildwood, who founded the group Negotiation is Over, received the records last week. Full article in the Gainesville Sun.

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Primates Florida Animal Research Campaign 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 28, 2014

The colorful Purple Swamphen ( Porphyrio porphyrio ) lives in wetlands from Portugal and Senegal all the way east to New Zealand and the Samoan Islands, and a feral population is now well established in Florida. There are numerous subspecies in this group; if split, they could be called Australasian Swamphen , Porphyrio melanotus.

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Papua New Guinea Philippines New Zealand Florida 202

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2019

Birding trips to Florida , New Mexico , and Texas are obvious too. For me, there was the Limpkin in Loxahatchee NWR in Florida, the Atlantic Puffin at Petit Manan NWR in Maine, the Falcated Duck at Colusa NWR in California. Texas and Florida round out the Top 5. Thomas ) was good for 26 lifers. GPS-tracked miles.

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Puerto Rico Virgin Islands Michigan Washington 157

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

So what’s so special about seeing the resident re-introduced Whooping Cranes in Florida? Moreover, the pair I saw was feeding from a livestock trough alongside a group of cattle. One of the last remaining Whooping Cranes in the non-migratory Florida flock. According to the ABA, they are not countable.

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Florida Buffalo Louisiana 2004 242

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 25, 2017

We felt awash in blues as our tour boat skirted the waves to anchor near a shallow sand flat off of Key West, Florida. I was on a workshop field trip, learning about marine protected areas as my group snorkeled on one of the area’s famous coral reefs. Mangrove island near Key West.

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Pelicans Sharks Florida Groups 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 6, 2021

However several of them, including 411 Wildlife Solutions in Florida, have agreed to be listed nationwide. Its Executive Director and co-founder is David Crawford and the majority of its work is performed by a talented and dedicated group of volunteers. Animal Help Now, a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization, was founded in Colorado in 2011.

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Wildlife Wildlife Rehabilitation Animal Raccoons 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2014

The wood stork was listed as endangered in 1984, because the Florida population was dropping at an approximate rate of 5 percent per year. Wood storks primarily breed in Central and South Florida. Historically, the Florida Everglades and the Big Cypress ecosystems supported large breeding colonies. Photo: U.S.

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North Carolina Bald Eagle South Carolina Florida 212

10,000 Birds

MAY 16, 2017

Over the weekend, a fellow naturalist friend of mine came to visit the Florida Panhandle from the Big Bend’s Cedar Key. ” She was referring to the Checklist of Florida’s Birds , put out by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. I love hanging out with new birders.

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Florida Fish 2013 Turkey 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 22, 2019

Linking the mainland of the Florida Panhandle to the barrier island of Navarre Beach, half the bridge structure slopes to the water as sandy edges and sea wall. A few miles from my home, a bridge rises gradually over the water of Santa Rosa Sound. Today, the seabirds also nest on the gravel rooftops of buildings.

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Protection Florida Eggs Hunting 113

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 12, 2017

Colt Creek was my 99th Florida State Park. for Florida’s State Parks, Trails, and Historic Sites that hit a crescendo for me when I pulled through the gates of the park. From the corner of the lake I discovered a grassy pathway to a smaller water body, adjacent to group camping areas and a smaller day-use area.

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Florida Alligators Birds Deer 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 19, 2016

I was in Jacksonville, Florida for a conference on Living Shorelines, a restoration technique for coastal areas throughout the Southeast. After leaving the group, I pulled into a boat launch with a great view of a marshy, mud flat area near the beach. Definitely worth another visit next time I’m on the east coast of Florida!

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Research Jacksonville Pelicans Belize 100

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 27, 2013

There are many wonderful things to see at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival , but the Florida Scrub-Jay is as close to a “must see bird” as you’re likely to find down here. Florida Scrub-Jays have extraordinarily specific habitat requirements, or at least it seems that way now.

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Sanctuary Florida Litter Wildlife 200

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. The young followed the parents around in small family groups well after they had fledged.

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Miami Costa Rica Florida 2005 180

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 26, 2016

federal government’s Operation Migration program, which has used ultralight aircraft to teach migration routes to the endangered cranes, has flown its last group of Whoopers from Wisconsin to Florida. Over 15 years, the program sought to boost the cranes’ numbers and enable them to someday flourish without intervention.

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Wisconsin Texas Florida Canada 102

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2014

We assembled at nine in the morning in a small parking lot outside the naval base in Key West, Florida. The weeks leading up to spring break had been a whirlwind, and the days before the trip mostly spent driving and exploring Florida. Banding is best done in teams split into three, potentially four groups. Brown Noddy.

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Birds Florida Groups Breeding 189

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). It involves an increasingly perilous trip but with instincts that demand survival, the only real choice is to stay with summer and fly south.

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Costa Rica Kentucky Louisiana Species 249

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2018

Norriego Point is a sandy, dune dominated peninsula between Destin Harbor and East Pass, which in turn connects the Gulf of Mexico to Northwest Florida’s Choctawhatchee Bay. I startled my very first White Ibis , which remains one of my favorite birds no matter how common they are in my new home state of Florida.

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Florida Birds Virginia Pelicans 103

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2013

“Out West” to most Floridians might mean California or Arizona or might even refer to the Gulf Coast of Florida. These two water management wetlands are amongst the very best birding and photography locations in south Florida. And this is where magic happens from time to time. If not THE best.

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North America Factory Alligators Trafficking 238

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2012

Southern Florida offers many unique wintering birds, but perhaps none more so then the sparrows that call different parts of Florida their winter homes. This year offered no change from the norm as a group of birders were able to find six male Eurasian Wigeons hanging out with a even larger group of Americans.

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Florida South Dakota Sparrows Wildlife 173

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

Though we could breath a sigh of relief outside the famous “cone of uncertainty,” it has been heartbreaking to watch the devastation wrought in South Florida, the flooding up and down the eastern seaboard and Gulf Coast, and now Maria’s wrath in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.

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Puerto Rico Bald Eagle Birds Florida 104

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2015

As I hopped in my car to head home, I pondered the Florida birds I had yet to see. I was about 90% sure I had seen a group of Gray Kingbirds at the Emerald Coast Visitor’s Center on Okaloosa Island. Some I had never even come close to, like the Reddish Egret , but others I had almost seen. How does one almost see something?

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Sea Turtles Dolphins Birds Turtles 159

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. ” Brown-headed Nuthatch family groups practice cooperative breeding, and the mating pair as well as their young from previous seasons can band together to fend off intruders.

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Florida Groups Breeding Species 124

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 7, 2023

People of all ages and backgrounds brighten the ride and the book as they welcome Dorian to their homes (his blog asked for shelter and people responded, he also used a biking home-share group and motels) and help him find elusive birds (although Dorian is mostly on his own, there are occasions when help is crucial).

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Birds Los Angeles Massachusetts New York City 234

10,000 Birds

MAY 12, 2016

As the sun set, whole groups took wing, flying low over the water and showing everyone how unique skimming feeding tactics earned them their name. The bridge may seem an odd place to nest, but last summer this was one of the most successful colonies on the Florida Panhandle.

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Eggs Florida Mexico Protection 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 22, 2016

In some places, so many Roseate Spoonbills joined the group that the sky appeared awash in pink. The experience really drove home to me how critical the Everglades are not only to Florida’s water, but also to its wildlife.

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Birds Turkey Florida Experience 133

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. So, I anxiously followed the “Flock to Marion 2022” Facebook group in anticipation for open cabins to come up for sale.

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South Africa Mice Albatross Africa 264

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 4, 2014

The small group was a good counterpart to the large, convivial ABA Safari group of 98 birders. That’s a lot, and the organizers of the safari did an excellent job of creating an environment that offered small group birding during the day and a birders party every night. And then there were the Flamingos.

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South Africa Africa Leopards Penguins 255

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 26, 2014

This may make it very popular amongst European birders who can relate, but it doesn’t make it much of a deal within such an illustrous group as the dabbling ducks. The Sunda Teal is a brown duck.

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New York City Los Angeles Timor Indonesia 165

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 9, 2016

Though not based on the Aruba populations, the movie portrayed a group of friends from Florida trying to save Burrowing Owl habitat from destruction. Burrowing Owls also gained greater recognition after a 2006 film, “ Hoot ,” was released.

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Prairie Dogs Tortoises Owls South America 102

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 1, 2014

Now I just have to figure out how to see one which, word is, is exactly what the group who went out into the marsh with Mike the next night got to experience. …. Trips Black Rail Florida rails Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival St. Johns NWR'

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Wildlife Philippines Florida Experience 183

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

White Ibis ( Eudocimus albus ) in Florida © David J. In addition to the spoonbills, which occur on every continent except Antarctica, this group contains the sacred ibises , the noisy East African Hadada Ibis , and the weird and wonderful Waldrapp. White-faced and Glossy ibises ( Plegadis chihi and P.

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Louisiana Mississippi America Pelicans 211

10,000 Birds

APRIL 4, 2017

Sure, I can see most of the birds in the Bahamas while living within Florida, but not in such stunning surroundings! As I walked, I noticed another group of peeps with different silhouettes, altered markings. .” The color blue dominated the senses, changing from a deeper hue during high tide to nearly silver at the lowest ebb.

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Bahamas South Carolina United States Florida 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2021

Birders seem to be a fairly modest group: “Respondents rated themselves as somewhat skilled in identifying birds. Nationally, most birdwatching occurred in California (9%), followed by New York (6%), Texas (5%), Pennsylvania (5%), Florida (5%), and Ohio (4%).

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Minnesota Research Pennsylvania Ohio 264

10,000 Birds

APRIL 18, 2017

Deep in a walking reverie, I was startled out of my daydream by a group of tiny terns perched at the edge of a sand embankment, looking over at me as I looked at them. In Florida, the Least Tern is a state-designated threatened species; the interior populations are federally endangered. Young Least Terns enjoying some shade.

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South America United States Protection Pelicans 104