Patience is a virtue: Gabe's Painted Buntings

I received an email from Jen Cenker last week about her son Gabriel who is a terrific young birder and Wings Over Florida participant. I had the pleasure of meeting them both at the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival. Gabe is working hard to earn his Scrub-jay level certificate and only needed another 12 species to do so. After spending time checking out all the vendors at Space Coast HQ Gabe and his Mom went to Merritt Island NWR to try and photograph a male Painted Bunting. After waiting patiently for quite some time he finally got a picture. Great job Gabe, looking forward to receiving your Scrub-jay application in the very near future.

male Painted Buntings at the Merritt Island NWR visitor center by Gabriel aged 9

SCBWF Day 1: Chain of Lakes Park

Had a chance to check out the Chain of Lakes Park this afternoon before the start of the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival (SCBWF) here in Titusville. What a great place to bird and watch wildlife. The park is located next door to Brevard Community College where the SCBWF is held every January (15 years and going strong!). We saw over 40 species in 2 hours including Loggerhead Shrike, Mottled Duck, Bufflehead, White Ibis, Bald Eagle, Savannah Sparrow, Glossy Ibis and Killdeer. There were lots of butterflies on the wing also (warm here this week!) including a Monarch, White Peacock and Florida White.


A 60 ft tower gives visitors amazing views of the surrounding area and its wildlife



Wood Stork lurking along the water's edge



Searching for frogs!



Amazing view from the tower



plenty of Mottled Ducks to see

  

Loggerhead Shrike - made in the USA

by Andy Wraithmell



County Listing - Careful it's addictive!

Why County Listing?

By Dave Simpson

An old friend of mine said that to get kids interested in birding you need to “keep score.” Indeed, most of us kept life lists from the start. While many of us appreciate birding on other levels, there is still nothing like the thrill of getting a life bird.

So what are you to do after years of birding? Having birded in Florida for 30 plus years, I don’t get many life birds. Even when listing at the state level, it is difficult to find anything new.

Enter county listing. Now, finding an Anhinga in Liberty County or an American Robin in Manatee County can be almost as thrilling as when you saw them as life birds. But is that all there is? Just getting new birds? I often wonder if I really like birding or if birding is a vehicle for my other interests. As a goal setter, county listing is ripe with opportunities. I like to travel and see new places. County listing fit in here. I was lucky enough to have a job that combined the two.

I worked for the Florida Park Service for more than 12 years, participating in land management and restoration. The job allowed me to visit many managed areas and to see what other agencies are doing with their little pieces of paradise. I picked up a lot of county birds this way.

County listing also teaches us about the distribution of birds throughout the state, spatially and temporally. This has been invaluable in my duties as a reviewer for eBird in Florida. I could say county listing snuck up on me, but I knew it was coming.

After running two consecutive Big Years in 2000 and 2001, I decided to take it easy and wait for the next obsession to find me. Inspired by Ron Smith’s attempts to break the Florida Big Day record for July, I took a half-hearted stab at it in 2002. I found only 119 species; the record was 130. Yet I knew then I would be back. That December, I stumbled upon 120 species at St. Mark’s National Wildlife Refuge by early afternoon, and finished up at Tall Timbers Research Station north of Tallahassee. Although I didn’t even find a House Sparrow that day, which I usually need, I set the record Big Day for December.

By 2003, I was rolling. I set my sights toward breaking every monthly record in 2003 then beating my own records in 2004. This was in keeping with breaking the Big Year record in 2000, then beating my own record in 2001. Those are stories for a different time.

One significant catalyst in this process was Bob Carroll’s County Listing website, www.flcountylisting.com. Bob’s faithful updates gave those afflicted by county listing the opportunity to see our standings change by the week. I managed to stay relatively aloof until 2006, but I could not hold out forever.

Starting your county lists after a lifetime of birding in Florida can be an eye-opening experience. It shone a light on the gaps in my field notes over the years. All those trips to the Panhandle during the Big Years, and all I had to show for it were notations of when I added a new Year Bird. Did I see a Blackburnian Warbler in Okaloosa, a Tennessee Warbler in Santa Rosa, or anything at all in Walton County? I don’t know! My initial lists, even lists to this day, are replete with holes that would have been filled had I been keeping better lists.

I have learned quite a bit about what is where in the state of Florida. Did you know that Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge is in Volusia County? I didn’t.

I have seen some unique features that I may never have seen if not for county listing. Have you ever heard of a dune lake? These freshwater lakes, perched atop the sandy dunes of the Gulf of Mexico are only found in a few places in the world. Two of them are located in Topsail Hill State Park in Walton County. This is now one of my favorite spots in the state. And to think, I never went there in the Big Years and Big Days.

Who would want to vacation in Union or Gilchrist Counties? County listers would. They are rewarded with such places as Palestine Lake, Lake Butler, and Chastain-Seay Park (Union) and Hart Springs Park, Waters Lake, and Fort White Mitigation Bank (Gilchrist). De Soto County is one of our most rural counties. There are no wildlife refuges, wildlife management areas, state forests, water conservation areas, and only a couple of parks along the Peace River. Yet, I got 101 species of birds in one day in De Soto County even while spending 4-5 hours in neighboring Hardee and Manatee Counties.

There are many interesting facets to county listing in Florida. So many adventure stories to be told, so many interesting quirks of avian distribution, so many neighboring counties that have completely different sets of birds. I hope you will give county listing a try and see more of Florida!

David was born and raised in Brevard County and has been leading birding tours in Florida for over 25 years. He is currently a bird tour guide for Florida Nature Tours and is without a doubt the most fanatical lister in the state. He has seen at least 125 species in all 67 Florida counties, a true testament to his unrelenting tenacity, and an illustration of his vast experience of Florida’s birds.

Made in Florida, USA

          One of the beautiful aspects of birding in Florida is that you don’t often have to go far from home to have an amazing birding adventure.  One such place lies in the heart of Sebastian, a once sleepy town whose welcome sign reads “Home of Pelican Island, friendly people and six grouches.”   It could easily be said that birding was “monumented” in Sebastian, with the creation of the first National Wildlife Refuge, Pelican Island.  One of its biggest birding success stories lies not within the National Wildlife Refuge, but west of the Indian River Lagoon, on a rare and imperiled ecosystem, called xeric scrub.  This land, made of ancient dunes, is high and dry, with snow-white sandy soils and an ecosystem that has adapted over thousands of years to withstand the lack of moisture and nutrient poor soils.  Due to its value for residential development, few scrub habitats remain intact, and the ones that are left have become pine forests due to wildfire suppression. 

In the early 1980’s, as the sleepy Sebastian town began to boom with development, the USFWS recognized that impacts were threatening the local population of Federally Threatened Florida scrub-jays.  A Habitat Conservation Plan was created by Indian River County, the City of Sebastian and USFWS to protect valuable scrub habitat, manage for the protected birds and allow development.  Nearly 11 years after the plan was approved and management began on select parcels, totaling about 600 acres, the birds are thriving and are doing better than anyone may have ever thought possible. 

The core parcel for management is quite literally a hop-skip-and-a-jump from the center of town and directly adjacent to Sebastian’s City Hall.  407 acres are now open to the public at the North Sebastian Conservation Area with public access including parking, restrooms, boardwalks, benches and 10 miles of trails.  The most spectacular thing, however, is the response of the scrub-jays to the restoration that has taken place.  In only 11 years, the property has gone from 2 families of scrub-jays to 8, making this a huge success story for the local population of jays.

In the spring, the conservation area is beaming with activity from the scrub-jays.  Territorial skirmishes, sentinel’s calls to alert their family of predators, pair bonding and establishing nests creates a flurry of activity that any birder would be thrilled about.  Because the Florida scrub-jay has a most unique family dynamic where helpers stay with the parents for one to two years after fledging, the families can be anywhere from the single mating pair to 6-8 birds.  In the summer to early fall, the conservation area can seem almost chaotic with newly fledged birds and helpers exploring nearly every inch of the conservation area. 

The jays at the North Sebastian Conservation Area begin pair bonding in late January to early February, and begin building nests in the third and fourth weeks of February, making Valentine’s Day a dream come true for the avid birder.  If you’re already an avid birder, you’ll fall in love with the birding opportunities in Sebastian, cross-my-heart!

by Beth Powell, Conservation Lands Manager, Indian River County 

Nature Viewing App launched today!

Download our new app today and carry the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail in your pocket. This exciting new app has it all!

Identify the birds, butterflies and flowering plants seen along the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Viewing Trail and throughout Florida. Designed with non-experts in mind, this tool is perfect for young or novice nature lovers, visitors to Florida and more seasoned explorers. Child-friendly icons lead the user to beautiful color photographs and basic descriptions of each species.

This Nature Viewing application was developed by the Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida IFAS Department of Entomology and Nematology and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, with support from grants from the Florida Wildflower Foundation and Florida Museum Associates.

FEATURES

• Search for 200 birds by name or filter by color, size, shape and season.

• Search for 106 butterflies by name or filter by color, size and family. Compare to similar species and learn about their larval host plants.

• Search for 247 flowering plants by name or filter by color, size, flower type, flower arrangement and plant form. Learn about some of Florida’s most notorious invasive plants.

• A list of the 491 sites along the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Viewing Trail; search nearby sites by current location or any city in Florida. Find the sites on a map.

• Learn about Florida’s unique habitats and current conservation concerns.

• Bookmark favorite species and sites.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THIS AWESOME FREE APP TODAY!

The Bog Pumper!

One of my favorite birds to observe during the winter is one of our most secretive, the American Bittern. This cryptically colored marsh bird can be found in suitable habitat throughout Florida during winter; typically between November and March.
Yesterday, while counting shorebirds at St Marks NWR I noticed one walking along the edge of a reedy channel. Never one to waste a photo opportunity, I crept towards him and raised my camera. The bittern, now aware of my presence, froze and began to mimic the swaying reeds, which it was amongst, by moving from side to side. It was an awesome experience watching this beautiful bird trying to conceal itself. After getting a couple of pictures I backed away and the bittern went back to business, searching for a tasty frog or fish along the channel.


by assuming this erect posture and swaying from side to side the American Bittern fools would be predators like Bobcats into thinking it's a reed stalk blowing in the wind.

American Bitterns are big birds with a wingspan of 3.5 feet. They range across much of North America, choosing to spend their summers in the northern half of the continent and their winters in the south, including Mexico and the Caribbean. They can be found throughout Florida in marshes and wetlands. When used to people walking by, American Bitterns will forage in the open or at least where they are visible. Birding trail sites such as Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, St Marks NWR, the Anhinga Trail in Everglades National Park, Wakodahatchee Wetlands, Blackpoint Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island NWR and Viera Wetlands are just a small sample of sites where I have had amazing encounters with this cool bird.

seconds after I took this bittern shot at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary it grabbed a frog! It happened so quick I missed getting a picture!

So next time you visit one of Florida's many beautiful wetlands, search along the edges of reedbeds for the secretive Bog Pumper, a fascinating bird!

Andy Wraithmell

Every Bird Counts

I had the pleasure of taking part in 2 Christmas Bird Counts over the New Year weekend; the Tallahassee count, which took place on New Year's Day, and the Jackson County count, which took place the day after on January 2nd. For the Tallahassee count I counted in section 4, and had a really good day. During the 10 hours we were in the field, our team of four intrepid birders counted a total of 1,076 birds of 76 species including Brown Creeper, Virginia Rail, and 2 Golden-crowned Kinglets. Yellow-rumped Warbler (249) and Ruby-crowned Kinglet (141) were the two most abundant species in our section.



This Blue-headed Vireo was one of 6 we counted on the Tallahassee CBC



Ruby-crowned Kinglet was the second most numerous species we counted

The Jackson County count is always a great experience and this seasons count lived up to expectations. The number of actual birds we counted was below average, but the 20mph winds and cold temps certainly had an effect on our effort. Jackson County has also been experiencing a prolonged drought so there was very little standing water throughout much of the count circle. My team of 3 ended up counting 11,987 birds of 56 species. Red-winged Blackbird (10,230) was easily our most numerous species. Highlights included 7 Horned Larks, Grasshopper Sparrow, Golden-crowned Kinglet, and 221 American Pipits.

Jackson County is the best county in Florida to see Horned Larks. A total of 22 were counted during this years CBC.

If you want more information on what species were seen in Florida during this years Christmas Bird Count season, click on the following link.

http://birds.audubon.org/data-research

Andy Wraithmell