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?

Feral 178

Feral Florida Ducks Texas 178

10,000 Birds

MARCH 27, 2014

Florida is known as the Sunshine State. It is also known for the 500 exotic species of animals and plants that now call the Sunshine State home. Exotic species are animals that did not historically occur in Florida. Most were introduced, meaning they were brought to Florida by humans.

Florida 203

Florida Ducks New Zealand Feral 203

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. Photo by US Fish and Wildlife. Sooties, noddies, and where to find them. That last bit of knowledge was shared by a pilot with a gift for understatement. Masked Booby.

Florida 132

Florida Marine Life Turtles Humane 132

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. A Black-and-white Warbler.

Florida 100

Florida South America Birds Woodpeckers 100

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 29, 2014

That will be the opening day of the 18th Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival in Titusville, Florida. Florida is a great place to bird in January because in addition to the year-round species there are a host of birds that winter in the relatively balmy climate that Florida has in winter.

2015 196

2015 Wildlife Florida Honduras 196

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2024

She enjoys seeing all species of birds, but her favorites are hummingbirds. Back in March, in Southwestern Florida, my husband (non-birder and good sport) and I drove to Big Cypress National Preserve. I don’t like to encourage wildlife to beg for food and I decided to ignore it. We traveled along Alligator Alley.

Alligators 173

Alligators Woodpeckers Turkey Florida 173

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 22, 2014

For birders visiting Florida there are several different types of habitat that must be visited. When I am at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, I try to get to Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area in order to see the aforementioned species and also Brown-headed Nuthatch , which for this New Yorker is a pretty cool bird to see.

Wildlife 186

Wildlife Sparrows Woodpeckers Florida 186

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2015

Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe today announced as part of Great Outdoors Month the agency is proposing to expand fishing and hunting opportunities on 21 refuges throughout the National Wildlife Refuge System. National wildlife refuges provide premier outdoor recreational opportunities across the Nation.

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Fish Wildlife Hunting Louisiana 143

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. 10,000 Birds is a Scrub Jay-level sponsor of the 15th Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. …

Florida 171

Florida New York City Dominica United States 171

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

Please use the complete common name of each species and indicate which image correlates to each of your answers when you put them in the comments. You all know the drill. There are three images of birds or parts of birds below and your job is to figure out what they are. The winner gets nothing but pride and the losers get nothing but shame.

Florida 156

Florida Wildlife Species Birds 156

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 6, 2011

I can’t wait to explore outer space at the 15th Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival from 25-30 January 2012! I don’t get to go to outer space as part of the 15th Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival ? Joining a Florida pelagic trip! Visiting Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

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Wildlife Florida 2012 Birds 173

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2014

I can’t wait to be in Florida! The 18th Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival is less than a month away and while we don’t have snow down yet here in New York City I am pretty sick of cold weather and could use some warmth and Florida sunshine! John’s National Wildlife Refuge” trip.

Wildlife 157

Wildlife Bald Eagle 2015 New York City 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.

Florida 187

Florida South Africa 2011 Africa 187

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. My birder’s brain struggled mightily to reconcile the odd shapes in the sky with any known species, but their call brought it all back.

Florida 145

Florida Tail Banding Ohio Ducks 145

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 8, 2017

Marks National Wildlife Refuge just after dawn. Marks Wildlife Refuge. The Brown Pelicans , Double-crested Cormorants , and Laughing Gulls were some consolation, but even while I snorkeled around beautiful soft corals and schools of fish I still had the plethora of bird species in the back of my mind. Scallop success!

Wildlife 100

Wildlife Florida Pelicans Fish 100

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 16, 2012

Many of these refuges and associated Conservation Areas, which have the potential to protect more than 1 million acres of vital wildlife habitat, have been forged through creative partnerships with sportsmen, conservation groups and private landowners. And some members of Congress want to cut funding dramatically 2.

Wildlife 197

Wildlife Hunters Ducks Hunting 197

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 14, 2021

As of mid-November 2021, the Collaborative had submitted more than 4,200 checklists (up from 1,700 in 2018) and has observed 691 species in the United States (up from 618). Thus, there are now seven states with 200+ observed species. The state with the largest increase was Arizona , with 139 species added.

West Virginia 195

West Virginia United States Puerto Rico Minnesota 195

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 19, 2012

On Saturday, 28 January, while I was at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, Doug Gochfeld and I made our way to central Florida for most of a day’s birding, looking for the specialty species of that region. One target species down, though barely, and one to go! Truly amazing, no?

Wildlife 160

Wildlife North Carolina Woodpeckers Florida 160

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 18, 2014

Fish and Wildlife Service has listed the “Rufa” population of Red Knot ( Calidris canutus rufa ) as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The other sub-species, Calidris canutus roselaari , migrates along the Pacific Coast and breeds in Alaska and the Wrangel Island in Russia. Birds in Delaware Bay.

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Endangered Species Protection Delaware Species 160

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 16, 2020

In a rare afternoon to myself, I had driven across the Florida/Georgia border to pick up a few things in a nearby town (curbside + social distancing), and discovered a historic estate, open to the public, along the road on my way back. During cold winters, the hunters retreated to the south, intent on quail and other game species.

Georgia 242

Georgia Mules Connecticut Florida 242

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2012

Platalea ajaja is a marvelous bird and I was delighted to make its acquaintance - for only the second time in my life – at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge’s Black Point Drive when I was attending the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival in January.

Wildlife 177

Wildlife New Jersey South America United States 177

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 11, 2016

The best place I could come up with that was within a short drive of my in-laws’ place in Yorba Linda was the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in nearby Irvine, only a quick twenty-minute drive away. San Joaquin is renowned among wildlife photographers for the up close opportunities with shorebirds and ducks.

Sanctuary 101

Sanctuary Wildlife California Ducks 101

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 28, 2019

In addition to spotting exciting new species in Florida, including the rare Snail Kite, travel across the country brought me into contact with birds in Oregon, California, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Alabama, and more. Marks National Wildlife Refuge replenished by naturalist spirit, but remained all I could manage.

Bald Eagle 145

Bald Eagle Alabama Kansas Wisconsin 145

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 19, 2015

In less than forty-eight hours I will helping guide a field trip to Viera Wetlands at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. Like the White Ibis above, Florida’s big wading birds are so cooperative, so beautiful, and and so willing to be photographed that it is a digiscoper’s dream. I can’t wait!

Florida 165

Florida 2015 Wildlife Species 165

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I challenge that false notion and welcome those to visit Anhinga Trail in late winter and see one of the great wildlife spectacles of Florida. Regardless, it is still freshwater wetland birding in Florida at its best.

Wildlife 128

Wildlife Alligators Miami Florida 128

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2021

“This beautiful and singular bird, although a constant resident in the southern extremities of the peninsula of Florida, seldom extends its journeys in an eastern direction beyond the State of North Carolina. I picked up a few bottles and we were off on our way home to Albany.

New York 263

New York South Carolina North Carolina Massachusetts 263

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2014

I was happy to read that the wood stork ( Mycteria Americana ), a bird near and dear to me, was down-sited from the status of endangered to threatened species. Fish and Wildlife Service is down-listing the wood stork from endangered to threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). As a biologist working for the U.S.

North Carolina 194

North Carolina Bald Eagle South Carolina Florida 194

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 27, 2015

This year was my third year helping to lead trips at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. Like my two previous visits I spent one day that I didn’t have to lead any field trips doing a run through central Florida looking for some of the specialty species of the region. That number has continued to shrink.

Cattle 194

Cattle Bald Eagle Florida Endangered Species 194

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. Marion has a fascinating history with invasive species.

South Africa 263

South Africa Mice Albatross Africa 263

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 27, 2014

I write this shortly after getting home from Florida, my four-year old just fell asleep, and I am soon to follow him to dream-land. Though, considering how many good birds I saw at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival , you could say that I just left dream-land behind for the cold and snow-covered northeast.

Florida 157

Florida Alligators Wildlife Species 157

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 23, 2019

During the decade, I submitted 1,219 checklists and observed 555 bird species, all in the U.S. After an initial period when all species are new, the lifers begin to follow a pattern. Thus, I can pinpoint my first pelagic trip, as it added 13 new species. Birding trips to Florida , New Mexico , and Texas are obvious too.

Puerto Rico 145

Puerto Rico Virgin Islands Michigan Washington 145

10,000 Birds

APRIL 13, 2021

Nationally, most birdwatching occurred in California (9%), followed by New York (6%), Texas (5%), Pennsylvania (5%), Florida (5%), and Ohio (4%). The results: “The most important attributes in the choice of birdwatching trips were: (1) travel distance; (2) chance to see rare or unusual bird species; and (3) the naturalness of the area.

Minnesota 264

Minnesota Pennsylvania Ohio United States 264

10,000 Birds

JULY 11, 2017

My friend Savanna and I rose at dawn, gulped down coffee and then hit the best birding hotspots on Cedar Key, wracking up hundreds of summer species before lunchtime. Many species had left for breeding in more northerly climates, and those that remained hid out in cool spots until saner temperatures reigned in the morning and evening.

Florida 134

Florida Wildlife Fish Game 134

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. I remember my first months of birding; the excitement when discovering a new species, the challenge of recognizing field marks in my Sibley guide, the novel way I began to look at the world. ” I wondered.

Florida 100

Florida Fish Turkey 2013 100

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 11, 2014

While at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival I could not resist making the drive north to Daytona Beach one day to witness the awesome gull fly-in from the dump to the beach. But my failure to find a rare species doesn’t mean that I saw nothing of note.

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Florida Panama Wildlife 2014 190

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2016

Sandhill Cranes , ancient and currently abundant – the most abundant species of crane in the world – are nevertheless almost miraculous to me every time I see them. The five subspecies – Greater, Lesser, Mississippi, Florida, Cuban – show the genetic marks of what the species has had to do to survive.

California Condor 156

California Condor Mississippi Florida Montana 156

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2015

The invasive Burmese Python ( Python molurus ) is well established in the Florida Everglade. Another species of Python, the African Python ( Python sebae ) has established a small population in the 2,877-acre Bird Drive Area (BDA) in South Florida. Photo Credit: Invasive and Exotic Species of North America (www.invasive.org).

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Pythons Florida Mammals Reptiles 180