To say the year so far has been anything short of remarkable would be an understatement. Never would I have previously considered states like Louisiana, Mississippi, or Alabama to be states with fantastic birding – though obviously that was a misconception as the second half of Week Three and all of Week Four proved beyond doubt. In Week Five, however, I would head to a state that didn’t have anything to prove in terms of my perception of it: Florida. My dad has long said that Florida is one of his favorite places to bird, and as such I went into the state with high expectations. Those expectations were exceeded.
Before heading to Florida, however, I kicked off Week Five with wrapping up Alabama. Before leaving Dauphin Island I made one last stop at the oceanic saltmarsh that runs alongside the road to access the Dauphin Island Airport, where I tried for Seaside Sparrow and Nelson’s Sparrow, dipping on the latter but getting a very brief, unsatisfactory-but-identifiable look at my Lifer Seaside Sparrow. Also at the airport I had the pleasure of seeing several Clapper Rails out-and-about, plus hearing several more calling from farther in the marsh.
From there I departed Dauphin Island to make my way towards Florida, first making a stop at a spot that Andrew Haffenden had put me in touch with: the feeders of Eva and Michael in Foley, Alabama. Immediately upon my arrival I was blown away as within minutes I had several Rufous Hummingbird, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, two Painted Bunting, an Indigo Bunting, a Summer Tanager, and a Dickcissel. Soon after a Black-chinned Hummingbird made an appearance, as well as a fairly large group of Baltimore Oriole with a Bullock’s Oriole mixed in and a large flock of locally-naturalized Scaly-breasted Munia. I don’t believe I have ever seen such a productive feeder, and I was truly blown away. Unfortunately Eva and Michael were out during the hour and a half I spent there, and so eventually I had to move on despite really wanting to meet the couple who maintained such an impressive setup.
After crossing over from Alabama, I entered Florida on the afternoon of the 7th and made my way towards the remarkable St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. At St. Marks I saw a large number of birds, including massive numbers of a large variety of ducks, shorebirds, and herons. I was unsuccessful, though, in locating my primary target for the stop: a lingering American Flamingo. I searched extensively for the bird but with the sun setting time was against me, and eventually I gave up and started to move on, driving a few hours south and then settling in for the night.
I started Tuesday morning with a visit to Fort De Soto, an island park along coast near Tampa. Unfortunately much of the park was closed due to some remaining storm damage from the area’s most recent hurricane, but birding at the park was still great, with large number of Osprey, tons of ducks, and quite a few shorebirds – plus, good numbers my Lifer Nanday’s Parakeet. Also on the island I had quite a few warblers, including Palm Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, and Prairie Warbler. As I was departing the island I spotted another Lifer – a pair of Monk Parakeet.
From there I headed father south towards a spot called “The Celery Fields”. While the name doesn’t sound like much, The Celery Fields are home to an incredible nature center with a fantastic feeder setup and a pair of incredible boardwalks into the marsh. In the parking area there was a martin box that was occupied by just over a dozen recently-arrived Purple Martin. Also in the parking lot were dozens of Nanday Parakeet and a Northern Mockingbird that I watched do flawless impressions of six different species, the most fascinating of which to me were Mourning Dove and Ring-billed Gull. I finally made my way over to the north boardwalk, and while there spotted two new Lifers: Purple Gallinule and Gray-headed Swamphen.
Once I left the Celery Fields I headed towards Oscar Scherer State Park, where I immediately headed towards the Florida Scrub-Jay Trail to search for the bird that gave the trail its name. It took a bit of looking, but eventually I heard a couple of the jays making a ruckus, and before I knew it a Florida Scrub-Jay nearly flew into my head on its way to land to a scrubby bush just about two feet from me. There it sat, seemingly totally unbothered by my presence as I repositioned myself so it was in great lighting and took several photos. Eventually I was satisfied and moved on, and for pretty much the entire rest of my walk I heard the group calling.
From there I headed farther inland and made my next stop at Torry Island, where after a short wait I spotted another Lifer – Snail Kite. From there I continued east towards my destination for the night, the house of Gavin Awerbuch, a family friend and birder who I know from back in Michigan. I had three more stops before Gavin’s house, though, as I tried at the nearby Winn-Dixie Plaza to pick one of the resident Common Myna and then made my way to the Sem-Chi Rice Mill, where I birded from the road in hopes of spotting a Shiny Cowbird, but unfortunately I didn’t manage to spot any. Finally I made one last stop at the Peaceful Waters Sanctuary where I got fantastic looks at a Wood Stork and a few Limpkin, and then I headed to Gavin’s to spend the night.
On the night of the 28th Gavin and I discussed where we would go birding over the next two days, and settled on a trip to Miami on the 29th. The next morning we arose early in an attempt to beat the busy Miami traffic – it probably wasn’t as bad as it would have been had we waited another hour or two, but HOLY CRAP how do people do this drive EVERY SINGLE DAY!? Eventually we made it through the mobs of people and kicked off our day with a stop at the Brewer Park parakeet roost, where it didn’t take long for us to pick up a a group of Orange-winged Amazon, few Chestnut-fronted Macaw, and a lone Red-masked Parakeet – all Lifers for me. From there we continued on to Tropical Park, where we quickly spotted an Egyptian Goose and soon after a bunch more Red-masked Parakeets as well as a flock of Mitred Parakeet.
Next we stopped at King’s Creek Village in search of Red-whiskered Bulbul, though unfortunately in 40 minutes of searching we weren’t able to spot any of the resident naturalized bird. From there we made our way towards Ron Ehmann Park, spotting a duo of Indian Peafowl along the way and a pair of Yellow-chevroned Parakeet once we arrived. Our next stop was at Pine Woods Park, a park that seemed like little more than a patch where the mowed grass in the clearing left for the overhead utility lines. Despite the unconvincing looks, the park proved fruitful as we picked up a soaring Short-tailed Hawk, a pair of Scaly-breasted Munia as well as a heard-only Red-Whiskered Bulbul. We were unable to get the Bulbul to pop up high enough in the vegetation for us to see it over the fence that blocked our view, unfortunately, and we were unable to pick up any of the park’s regularly-reported Spot-breasted Oriole.
Our next stop looked even less impressive than Pine Woods, but the Fountainebleau Trail also showed that first impressions aren’t everything as Gavin spotted a White-crowned Pigeon and a few minutes later we got our eyes on a pair of Spot-breasted Orioles. Also while at the park I got a call back from Larry Manfredi, inviting Gavin and I to head to his feeders. Larry’s house is without doubt the most reliable spot in America for Shiny Cowbird, and it didn’t take long after we arrived to pick up one, then two, and eventually eleven of the typically rare bird. Also at Larry’s place was a Bronzed Cowbird and a few Painted Bunting.
After leaving Larry’s place Gavin and I made a quick stop at the Homestead Airport to unsuccessfully try for Burrowing Owl, after which we raced back up north to Oleta River State Park. We arrived just after 5pm and immediately were greeted with the ill-boding news that the park closed at 5:30 and we would need to be out by then. This limited time window didn’t give us long to track down our target, but fortunately we didn’t need much time as within a few minutes of arriving near the park’s Pelican Pavilion Gavin spotted the bird, a Yellow-headed Caracara that has been handing around the park for quite a while. We got good looks at the bird before it eventually relocated a few times near us and then flew out of sight.
This concluded a phenomenal day of birding, during which I had picked up 13 “Lifers”. If you’re wondering why I put quotation marks around Lifers, its because a few of them are, well… questionable. South Florida in general and Miami in particular is home to a large number of naturalized, naturalizing, and exotic birds. Many of them, such as the Red-masked Parakeets and Spot-breasted Oriole, are at this point widely accepted as fully naturalized, wild-breeding birds. Some others, however, like the Yellow-chevroned and Mitred Parakeet, are considered “provisional”. This ultimately means that either the origins of these birds is still in question or they haven’t yet shown that they have a self-sustaining population established. Either way, most people consider the birds to be “countable”, but it is a bit of a touchy subject among a notable chunk of the birding population. Personally I have no problems counting some of the provisionals, such as the parakeets, but the idea that the Indian Peafowl we saw wandering down the street along the edge of a grassy patch of Miami are “countable” seems… dubious to me. It’s absolutely one of those “your list, your rules” situations, of course, and ultimately the birds are on my Life List, albeit with a sentimental (and literal on eBird) asterisk.
The next morning Gavin and I headed north towards the renowned Merritt Island, where we started our day at the Port Canaveral Park. There we met Avery Chan, and together spent the next two hours searching for a lingering Glaucous Gull, finally spotting the bird just as we were about to leave.
The three of us then headed towards the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge itself, spotting loads of Osprey and American Kestrel perched on wires and poles along the way. Eventually we reached the Haulover Canal Area, where almost immediately we spotted our second target of the day’s chasing, a pair of American Flamingo. These birds arrived way back during Hurricane Idalia in the summer of 2023 and have been in the area ever since, mostly hanging out around this specific spot. They were pretty far out, though according to Avery they were closer than they usually stand out in the water.
Our final chase of the day wouldn’t be as fruitful as the first two, however. After a bit of confusion as to where to enter we finally made it into the Cocoa Landfill, where a Black-headed Gull had recently been found by visitors during the Space Coast Birding Festival. There were tons of birds at the landfill, including hundreds each of Lesser Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Ring-billed Gull, White Ibis, Wood Stork, Turkey Vulture, Fish Crow, and European Starling as well as over twelve-thousand Laughing Gulls. We picked through the gulls as best we could, but after about an hour and a half we gave up on finding the Black-headed Gull and made our way out from the facility.
From there Gavin and I parted ways with Avery and headed back towards his house, making one last stop at the Boynton Beach Inlet Park, where I hoped to spot my Lifer Magnificent Frigatebird. I figured this was a little bit of a longshot, as while frigatebirds aren’t especially rare they aren’t particularly common either, so I was pleasantly surprised when immediately upon walking out to the pier we spotted one soaring over the ocean.
On January 31st I left Gavin’s house early in the morning to begin to bird my way towards the Orlando area, stopping at the Green Cay Wetlands to start the day. Green Cay was an impressively birdy spot, hosting a load of warblers including Ovenbird, American Redstart, Northern Parula, Yellow-throated Warbler, and the bird whose likeness I used to make this blog’s logo – a Black-throated Blue Warbler. The Wetlands also hosted a regularly-seen-roosting Chuck-will’s-widow, but unfortunately I was not able to track the nightjar down. After departing the wetlands I worked my way north towards Jonathan Dickinson State Park, where while the birding wasn’t especially noteworthy I did get looks at another few Florida Scrub-Jay, which I think might be my favorite jay I have ever seen based on my limited interactions with them.
My final (full) stop of the day was at Fort Pierce Inlet State Park, where immediately upon arriving I spotted five Magnificent Frigatebird just about twenty feet over the parking lot! Soon after parking I spotted another pair and a group of four Frigatebird, giving me exceptional looks at eleven of a bird which had just been a Lifer the day before! I then headed down to the beach, where as I scanned the water I spotted another Frigatebird, then another, and another, and another. A long line of them were strung across the horizon, which I counted three times to come up with a comfortable tally of 35, giving me a whopping 46 total (these 35 plus the 11 close ones)! After spending a bit more time lake watching I called it a day and made my way towards St Cloud where I would be spending the night at the house of Alex and Mary Marine, two Florida Grasshopper Sparrow researchers, and then spend the next day birding with Alex. Before calling the curtain close on January, though, I made one last quick stop at the Fort Drum Marsh Conservation Area to pick up Barred Owl.
The next morning Alex and I departed early enough to reach the Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area before dawn – and as the day began we immediately heard a plethora of birds burst into their morning songs. It didn’t take long to build up an impressive list as first Eastern Screech-Owl and Great Horned Owl called, and as the sun started to come up they were replaced by Eastern Towhee, Bachman’s Sparrow, White-eyed Vireo, Carolina Wren, Black-and-white Warbler, and at least a dozen more species. After a bit of time listening to the cacophony of song we drove a short distance back up the road to stakeout the established Red-cockaded Woodpecker nest, and after a brief wait (during which we heard Red-headed Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and Downy Woodpecker) the Red-cockaded Woodpecker family group finally woke up and then provided us with fantastic views. As we left the spot we were graced with the presence of an extremely cooperative Bachman’s Sparrow which sat teed up just feet off of the road and didn’t seem bothered by us driving up right alongside it.
We spent the rest of the day continuing to explore Osceola County, with incredibly productive stops at Peavine Trail (where we heard at least seven King Rail!), Lake Marian Helen Drive Marina & Boat Ramp (where we picked up a continuing Cape May Warbler that Alex had found the previous week), Joe Overstreet Road, Lake Cypress Road, Twin Oaks Conservation Area (where we picked up Snail Kite and TWO wintering Ash-throated Flycatchers plus 62 other species!), and Brownie Wise Park (where we picked up a wintering Vermilion Flycatcher). I had an incredible time birding with Alex around his local patch, and we had one of my best days of the year as we totaled 112 species.
The next morning I headed to the north side of the Orlando area into Seminole county, where I met back up with Avery Chan at his house for another day of chasing. Before leaving his house we watched as at least 3000 American Robins streamed overhead, flowing in a constant river that stretched across the sky for at least five minutes. Once we were satisfied with the spectacle we made our way to Central Winds Park where we were joined by Alexandra Barath in our pursuit of a 10th state record Western Flycatcher that had been found on Friday. Alex and Avery are the President and Vice President of the UCF Knighthawks Birding Club, and are both very clearly exceptional and exceptionally knowledgeable birders, and over the course of the next nearly-three hours we chatted and searched for the bird, eventually being rewarded for our patience as the bird showed up in the tree it had been favoring over the previous couple days.
Avery and I then parted ways with Alex as we headed to a nearby neighborhood where we spent an hour attempting to track down a continuing Western Tanager, which we weren’t able to track down but instead picked up a different Tanager as a female Summer Tanager made a couple of brief appearances. Our next stop was a dip into Volusia County at the Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge, which wasn’t especially birdy due the time of day but still rewarded us with Marsh Wren, Sedge Wren, and 31 other species. We made two more quick stops at the Moores Station Soccer Fields and a nearby floodle, where we picked up a few new birds including American Pipit, Wilson’s Snipe, and both Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs. This wrapped up my time birding in Week Five, but before continuing north towards the Jacksonville area I graciously accepted the offer to eat dinner with Avery and his family.
While I still had one more day of birding in Florida yet to go, I can say with absolution that in Week Five alone Florida lived up the hype. Next week I will wrap up Florida with a day of birding in the Jacksonville region where I would meet a local birder named Jessica Dyszel before continuing on to Georgia, where I will spend two days along the coast before heading to the Athens area to spend a few days birding with locals including Phillip Salzinger and Patrick Maurice.
Happy Birding!
eBird Trip Summary:
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Follow me on my journey to see 100 species in every Lower-48 State during 2025, experience some of the incredible places and events in American birding, and meet and bird with as many local birders as possible along the way.
Posts will be made every Wednesday (I will try to have them out by 5pm, but situationally they might be a bit later) and will cover the previous Monday through Sunday. Additional posts will be made periodically with no set schedule.
