Each spring and fall the migration brings an amazing variety of birds through the area. Like their human counterparts, several choose to make Florida their winter home. But many are only passing through on their way to more southern destinations.
One species that spends a brief period here is the bobolink. They are related to blackbirds and travel in large flocks. It’s not unusual to see 100-200 birds in a group. They are seed and insect eaters and most often can be found in open grassy areas where there are plenty of insects and seed pods present. The males are easily identified by their black and white bodies with a large buff colored patch on the back of their heads. We were fortunate to come upon a large group that made a brief stop at the Celery Fields in Sarasota last month.
Juvenile Male Bobolink Eating Ragweed Seeds
The links below provide more information about bobolinks.
An area in eastern Sarasota County that was once farmland, was purchased by Sarasota County in 1995 and eventually transformed into a park. The area was known for growing celery and is comprised of ditches and wetlands. Today it is a popular destination for birders, walkers, and runners. There is a manmade hill in the center of the park that provides a nice challenge for fitness enthusiasts. The Sarasota Audubon Society has a small nature center on site, and they offer tours and educational services through a network of volunteers.
Black-necked Stilt Chick Walking through the Water
But for us, the main attraction is the habitat. The park has a series of flooded marshes, lakes, creeks, and grasslands. The great habitat means a lot of birds. It’s also a hotspot during the spring and fall migrations and attracts not only the birds, but bird enthusiast from all around the world. There have been almost 250 bird species reported at the Celery Fields.
Great Egret Flies by to the Left in the Morning Sun
For more information about the Celery Fields, please visit the links below.
The spring migration was amazing this year. Each year is different depending on the weather patterns. One of the absolute best places to be when the birds come through is Fort De Soto Park in St. Petersburg. The park is located where Tampa Bay empties into the Gulf of America and is a destination for bird photographers from around the world.
The park has several types of habitats which means a lot of different bird species. There have been well over 300 species reported. The beaches are host to many types of shore birds. Other areas of the park feature hardwood hammocks that attract warblers, songbirds, and birds of prey. In the spring, the park explodes with migrating visitors. It seems like every trail and beach offers different opportunities. There are ample food options for the travelers like mulberry and fig trees. The new buds on sea grapes are a favorite of several birds. And there are the shore birds that prefer the foods the waters provide. Since most of the birds are approaching breeding season, many of the males are in their full colors.
White Ibis in Breeding Plumage Stands by a Fountain
This spring the weather played a big role in some great photography successes. We had several strong cold fronts move through the area at well-timed intervals to create what birders refer to as fallouts. This occurs when the birds are pressing against the very strong frontal headwinds and eventually must find a place to rest. Fortunately, there were plenty of trees that were full of fruit, so the birds were able to eat and rebuild their energy levels.
Summer Tanager Male Eating a Fig in the Tree
We visited the park four times over a week and each day provided different opportunities. I hadn’t seen a blue grosbeak in over 20 years. This year there was a group of 10 to 15 that stayed for several days feeding on grass seeds.
Blue Grosbeak Male Hopping through Grasses in the Sand
The most amazing incident occurred on a morning right after one of the strong fronts passed through. I noticed a group of photographers gathered in a small area snapping shots. When I walked over to investigate, there was a male scarlet tanager hopping around in the grass chasing bugs. He had no fear of us. He was exhausted from his travels and his only focus was refueling. I sat on the grass and at one point he hopped within 10 feet of me. It was incredible. While he was looking for bugs, a male indigo bunting joined him and began eating seeds from the ground cover. Such beautiful colors!
Scarlet Tanager Male on the Ground Eating a Large Bug
Hopefully next year will line up the same as this year and we’ll get another chance to experience an amazing migration.
The link below takes you to a nice piece about the park.
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.
Tropical Kingbird Perched on a Wire
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.
Philadelphia Vireo in the Tree Top Looking for a Meal
I’ve included a couple of links below to learn more about the vireo and the tropical kingbird.
For the past several years, we’ve had the opportunity to photograph a family of bald eagles in Lakewood Ranch. Their nest was incredibly accessible and gave us countless great shots. Unfortunately, hurricane Ian took out the nest and several surrounding trees last fall and the eagles moved on to another location.
But we have a lot of eagles in the area and one of our friends told us about another nest with even better accessibility! The nest happened to be hidden well off the main highway but was exposed after the area was cleared for a huge residential development. The nesting area was fenced off to protect the birds but allowed us the ability to photograph them from almost any angle.
The day we arrived, there were two healthy eaglets in the nest. One of them was beginning to stretch its’ wings in preparation to fledge the nest. The parents would leave and return with food throughout the morning. A few days later we learned that the restless bird had fallen out of the nest. A specialist was called in to return the eaglet back to his family so he wouldn’t starve. Fortunately, since the area was fenced, it was somewhat protected from predators. However, the efforts didn’t last long as the eaglet fell out of the nest again shortly after it was put back. Thankfully, both eaglets ultimately flew off with their parents.
Juvenile Bald Eagle Sits on a Fallen Branch Beneath the Nest
During one of the trips to see the eagles, we spotted a family of killdeers on an adjacent lot. It was fun to watch the interaction between the little chicks and their parents. The chicks were scattered around, and the parents followed closely keeping watch. If we got too close, the parents would go into their wounded bird routine to draw us away from their babies. Eventually, after following them for several minutes, all four of the chicks obeyed the calls from the female and crawled beneath her for protection.
Killdeer Chicks Come to Their Mom for Cover
A few more pictures from this journey are featured below. For a larger selection of photos, go to the galleries listed.
The past few years we have been fortunate to find several groups of hooded mergansers that picked this area as their winter home. They are small diving ducks that like to feed on little fish, snails, and water insects. When they find a good food source and get into a feeding frenzy, they will dive repeatedly until they are satisfied, or the food source disappears. They will surface only for a moment before diving again. During these periods, they can be a challenge to photograph.
Male Hooded Merganser Surfaces After Diving for Food
Male mergansers like to show off. Their bright white crown feathers are striking when fanned. They will often do water dances for the females and chase other males to show dominance. Unfortunately, they don’t stay here for long. They’re among the first group of ducks to leave in the spring, often by the first of March. But while they’re here, they are enjoyable to watch.
Hooded Merganser Male Rests on a Pond in the Sun
A few more pictures from this journey are featured below. For a larger selection of photos, go to the galleries listed.
Earlier this spring, my wife Pam and I got our cameras out and took a ride over by Orlando to find a rare bird that had been reported in the area. The bird is a Vermilion Flycatcher, and the males are beautiful. They are normally found in South America, Central America, Mexico, and the very southern part of the US. Those observed in Florida have likely migrated north for the winter. Most years there will only be a handful reported across all of Florida. This was a “lifer” bird for us.
Vermillion Flycatcher Perched in a Tree
Like other flycatchers, they are fun to watch feed as they take to the air from their perch to catch flying insects. They are quite acrobatic while on the chase.
A couple of weeks later, I went back to the same spot with my good friend and fellow photographer, Art Nadelman, and the flycatcher was still there. This was also a “lifer” bird for Art! Once again, he cooperated for us to get some more pictures.
For more information about these beautiful little birds, check out the link below.
The area has a new group of guests this year. In fact, these visitors are quite rare. A flock of Atala butterflies has found their way here from southeastern Florida. They were once feared to be extinct in Florida due to the elimination of their host plant. The butterflies only lay their eggs on the coontie plant.
Atala Butterfly Feeding on a Sweet Almond Bush
They are striking little butterflies with black wings highlighted in iridescent dark blue with brilliant teal spots and bright orange bodies. The caterpillars are bright orange with yellow bumps along their backs. Unfortunately, as with many types of caterpillars, they can do a lot of damage to the leaves of the host plant.
During our visit, we also decided to have a little fun with some honey bees. They were feeding on little purple Florida Pulsey flowers and were covered in pollen. We tested the limits of our camera to see if we could freeze their wings in flight. It took an astonishing 1/16000th of a second to capture details in their wings. Even at that speed, their wings were often still a little blurry.
Honey Bee Flying off from a Purple Florida Pulsey Flower
Attached is a great article for more good reading about the Atala butterflies.
Over the holidays, I joined my friend Art Nadelman for the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count. The event takes place across all North America and parts of South America. This was the 123rd Christmas Bird Count. We were assigned a specific area to record.
We started around 7:30 am and completed around 12:30 pm. We managed to see 1300 birds across 62 species! The most numerous birds were the robins that are migrating through the area now. We counted almost 500 and likely missed more. Many of them will stay here until early March before beginning their journey back north.
American Robin Landing in Brazilian Pepper Bushes
Attached is an article about the Audubon Bird Count.
This past Friday my good friend Art Nadelman and I got back out with our cameras again after a 3 month hiatus. Art’s arm has healed enough that he can carefully carry his equipment. We decided to visit the Celery Fields which is a favorite among local birders.
Over the course of a little more than 3 hours, we managed to see over 50 species of birds. We also had some good photo opportunities. One bird that is beginning to expand quickly across the region is the grey-headed swamphen. They’re related to coots and gallinules and have a lot of the beautiful blue colors of the male purple gallinule.
Grey-headed Swamphen Walking through the Marsh
An uncommon bird that has returned for the winter is the bronzed cowbird. You would normally think of a cowbird as a rather ugly, nuisance bird but the adult male is striking. Its jet-black body is highlighted with areas of light blue above the shoulder. But the real distinguishing feature is its red eyes.
Bronzed Cowbird Perched in a Shrub
It was great to get back out again. Expect to see the posts pick up as the northern birds return for the winter.
A few more pictures from this journey are featured below. For a larger selection of photos, go to the galleries listed.
It’s been 3 months since my last post and a lot has happened. September began with a bout of Covid for Pam and me. As soon as we started to feel better, Mother Nature sent us hurricane Ian. We spent the last week of September making preparations for the storm and then spent the first week of October cleaning up the debris. Thankfully our damage was minimal compared to those a few miles south, although we did receive over a foot of rain. Unfortunately for my photography buddy, Art Nadelman, he tore his bicep muscle tendon while cleaning up his yard and had to have surgery.
Ian delivered quite a blow to our birding activities. Many parks and preserves were flooded or sustained severe wind damage making them inaccessible. One of our favorite state parks is still closed. The bald eagles that we’ve watched and photographed for the past several years have been displaced. The tree with their nest blew down as well as all the trees surrounding their nest. This is a great loss for photographers because the nest was so accessible. We’ll be watching to see where they choose their next home and hope that we can get another great shooting spot.
If the hurricane wasn’t bad enough, we lost one of our 4-legged babies on October 13. Gabby, our beloved 12-year-old Bichon Frise was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer on October 7 and passed just 6 days later. Needless to say, it was a devastating loss.
Backyard birding has been the norm this fall. The good news is that our male painted bunting returned to our feeder in mid-October, and we’ve been fortunate to attract a pair of ruby-throated hummingbirds to a feeder since the end of September. Our winter waterfowl migrants are just beginning to arrive so it will be good to start getting out again.
One of our favorite all-around photography locations is Fort De Soto Park in Tierra Verde near St. Petersburg. For this visit we decided to target the shore birds. With 3 miles of beach, there are LOTS of shore birds. The park is located where Tampa Bay connects to the Gulf of America. In the spring and fall it is a stopover point for many migrating birds. The park is also a seasonal home for several migrants.
We picked a morning where the tide was out which creates a large area of tidal pools. The pools trap fish and little crustaceans that provide a feast for the birds. It turned out to be a very calm morning, so the pools made for great reflections.
American Oystercatcher Eats a Morsel
We were fortunate to capture shots of many different species such as American oystercatchers, roseate spoonbills, brown pelicans, gulls, plovers, marbled godwits, ruddy turnstones, willets, great egrets, snowy egrets, and a reddish egret chasing schools of small fish.
I’ve included a link for more information about Fort De Soto Park.
