Along the coastal areas of Sarasota are several small nature preserves and parks that provide shelter for some different birds. This past spring brought a couple of new birds for me and my good friend Art Nadelman. One of the birds was a tropical kingbird. It is a member of the flycatcher family. It’s rare to find a tropical kingbird east of Texas. Their normal range is South and Central America. During their migration, they are usually found only in the far southern parts of Texas, Arizona and sometimes California. There has been a tropical kingbird coming to this area for the past few years and some speculate that it may be the same bird.
Another bird that was new to us this year was a Philadelphia vireo. Again, these birds typically don’t come to Florida. Instead, their migration routes normally take them from the lower Canadian provinces through the middle of the US along the Mississippi river region to Central America.
I’ve included a couple of links below to learn more about the vireo and the tropical kingbird.
- https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Tropical_Kingbird/overview
- https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Philadelphia_vireo
A few more pictures from this journey are featured below. For a larger selection of photos, go to the galleries listed.
