Search the Community

22 Apr 2023 Key Biscayne, Miami-Dade co. Florida; State Park I ascribed the entire main song to Northern Cardinal, but when I put it through Birdnet, it sugggested Baltimore and Orchard Orioles for the first 2-3 notes. 2023-04-22 10_19nled - Copy.wav

18 Apr 2022 Dry Tortugas Monroe co. FL Called dark morph Red-footed by guide. We thought immature Brown. Feet looked too yellowish to us, but reviewer gave it a pass. Thoughts? Interacting with adult Brown Booby Here is link to checklist with photos by others: https://ebird.org/checklist/S134306296

10 Dec 2021 Monroe/Collier co. FL; island (Pavilion Key) in Everglades NP

We have had a houseful of kids & grandkids over the holidays, so I am just getting this posted. Great trip to the Everglades. Hubby warned me there would be mangroves for miles. He wasn't kidding. We paddled a total of 48 miles over 5 days, and camped 4 nights. Our campsites included platforms ("chickees" they call them, although not technically correct) over the river, a riverside campsite at an abandoned homesite (the Watson Place*), and a beachside campsite on Pavilion Key. On our trip, we saw the usual (but still exciting) Florida wildlife: manatees, rays, sharks, gators, and dolphins, as well as birds. I didn't get my Mangrove Cuckoo, but I did see a late Yellow-billed Cuckoo and got my Lifer Worm-eating Warbler at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary (https://corkscrew.audubon.org/) and Lifer Great Cormorant at Myakka River SP ( https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/myakka-river-state-park) on the drive home. On our final paddle back to the launch site, just before we emerged into Chokoloskee Bay, a pair of dolphins entertained us, one of them displaying a series of 5 full breeches mere yards from our kayaks. Hubby said it was because he likely just escaped from Sea World. ? *Mr. Watson was quite a character--either a cold-blooded murderer, or a misunderstood victim. I had read a book about him many years ago--"Killing Mr. Watson" by Peter Matthiesson. I recommend reading it (or at least the Wiki plot) before trip to the western Everglades. It will familiarize you with many of the places, families, and historical events of the area. https://ebird.org/tripreport/27838

12 Dec 2021 Sarasota co. FL--2nd from left

06 Dec 2021 Collier co. FL; cypress swamp

Good Afternoon, I was in central Florida at Kissimmee prairie area on 11/15 a place known to be home of the endemic Florida Grasshopper Sparrow and migrating grasshopper sparrows usually arriving in late November and encountered 4 sparrows in a thicket at once - the first group of single bird photos I believe are Swamp Sparrow and Savannah Sparrow respectively, the following sets of pictures of two birds on a dead bush look to me to be two different sparrows and I'm interested in the professional advice on the board. Don't want to overwhelm you with pics that are taken from video but I put I think enough to help out. The top bird flashed yellow on the wings in the last photo and is a Grasshopper Sparrow of some kind the bottom bird is different in a number of ways, notably very strong white eye ring and there does appear to be difference in beak size and colorations. Am I looking at two different kinds of grasshopper sparrows? Thanks in advance

Sorry in advance for the terrible photos, but this little warbler is really bugging me. I was kayaking today in central Florida through a creek, and I saw this Warbler in a mixed flock of a hooded warbler, 2 redstarts, a parula, a black-and-white, and a worm-eating warbler. Canada Warblers are very rare in Florida, so this would be unprecedented, but I really thought I saw a black "necklace" on this warbler, as well as a clean yellow belly with dark gray wings and back. Unfortunately, all my photos turned out awful, but in the first photo you can see a hint of its necklace. I'm assuming its probably just a magnolia, as they are expected now, but that "necklace" is bugging me! If anyone could help, it would be greatly appreciated, as a Canada Warble would be a life bird for me.

21 Jun 2021 Pinellas co. FL These 2 raptors was were alternately soaring nicely together, and fighting with each other. The larger hawk was a Red-tailed, but we couldn't ID the smaller one. What is the smaller one?

19 Jun 2021 Pinellas co., FL; woodland & lakeside hiking trails though large public park with varied habitat. One of the trails terminates at an elevated platform that overlooks a large freshwater marsh. As we arrived at said platform, a bird flushed and flew low across the water to hide among the vegetation on the far side. We had only a glimpse but it appeared about the size of a Least Bittern or Green Heron, but had rather stubby, triangular, buffy-colored wings. Thoughts?

21 Jun 2021 Pinellas co. FL Lakeside hiking trail through varied habitat including scrub, savannah, oak/pine woods. Definite, usual Blue Jay call at end of recording. I am interested in IDing the two other calls that occur earlier in the recording (marked with single and double yellow dots). These sounds may likely also be Blue Jays. 20210621_130143 - Copyed.wav

20 Jun 2021 Pinellas co. FL 1. American Black Duck--male & female 2. Gray Kingbird 3. Western Willet

19 Jun 2021 Wakulla co. FL This pic was taken just before dawn, so lighting was poor. At the time, I thought the bird outlines I was seeing were those of 2 White Ibis, but now think the one to the right is a Wood Stork. Do these 2 species often forage together?

11 Apr 2021 Escambia co. FL Learning my raptors in flight.

This bird literally perched in front of me this morning defying me to not film it out on the mid-south Florida marsh. It struck me immediately as odd as it was nearly all dark and the environmental light was good, fair and even so these untouched video frame captures are pretty accurate. I've filmed song sparrows, savannah sparrows and such etc. in Florida and North Carolina. Odd that the dark brown streaks come up from a nearly black or extreme dark brown solid belly and undertail area. I'm sure the experts here will nail it right away. Its song was nothing spectacular, but not like a song or savannah. Thanks in Advance

Greetings, I have a difficult one today. For new year's I traveled to Miami and found a lot of parrots. However, Psittacara parrots tend to look really similar... The eBird reviewer counted all of these as correct, but I just wanted to verify If I got these species correct. Starting with easiest to most difficult. 1. Red Masked Parakeet: The almost completely covers the face. 2. White-Eyed Parakeet: Note the distinct eyerings, and complete lack of red on face. You cannot see it here, but they had a red+yellow mark under the wing. 3. Mitred Parakeet: The most common Psittacara. Red extends below eye, but is not as extensive as the red masked parakeet. Also note red under the wing. 4. Green Parakeet: Note lack of eyering. This individual looks just like the one on the eBird species profile: https://ebird.org/species/grnpar 5. Scarlet Fronted Parakeet (Bird on Right): Note large size compared to nearby parrot. Red is restricted to forecrown, and seems to lack red under the wing. 6. Crimson Fronted Parakeet (Bird on left): Note smaller size than nearby Scarlet-Fronted(?) Parakeet. Red is restricted to forecrown. ------------ Those were the ones I was pretty sure of, now here are some unknowns: Unknown 1: Crimson Fronted Parakeet? Note the red doesn't reach the eye, and there is a hint of yellow under the wing. Unknown 2: Mitred Parakeet? Unknown 3: Scarlet-Fronted Parakeet? There seems to be no red under the wing, and red doesn't go below eye. ------- Thanks for the help everyone! These parakeets are super tricky! I am anxious to see if I got the identifications correct or not.

Are these juvenile seagulls or a different species?

Hello, Today I saw this extra pale looking red-tailed hawk in Central Florida. Is it a Krider's? The thing that is throwing me off is the belly-band, which kirder's usually lack. It kind of looks like a juvenile borealis too. Sorry for quality, it was taking before sunrise.

Hello, a.) Today when at Ponce Inlet Florida, I saw this gull flyover (see the first 2 pictures). Recently, a first winter heerman's gull has been seen around these parts, and I was wondering if this was him. He was flying with 2 ring billed gulls and was around a similar size, but looked way darker, without any streaking. Here is a picture of someone's past eBird checklist which contains the bird for comparison. https://ebird.org/checklist/S76906583 b.) This duck was mixed with a flock of black scoters moving south (See last 2 photos). I'm pretty sure its a female lesser scaup, but I just wanted to see if I was correct. Sorry for the bad quality photos! Very curious about the gull

Hello, I saw this Warbler at Cape Canaveral, Florida. At first I thought this was a plain-old yellow-throated Warbler, but someone said it may be the rare subspecies, Setophaga dominica albilora. What do you guys think? The lores look pretty white to me (but I see a faint faint bit of yellow near the beak), but I not sure I want to submit it to eBird and iNaturalist before I run it through here. Thanks!

Gulf Co FL Sept 2018 Legs seem really dark

A warm summer morning on August 27, 2018 at 7:10am I was walking the dog prior to heading into the office. As I turned a corner I heard a woodpecker so I grabbed my phone to snap a photo. I did manage to get a few but the lighting was wrong and the dog impatient so I left without a good photo. It was a silhouette and I forgot about it and never looked it up. (1st photo below) Fast forward 2 years to July 30, 2020 at 9:33am. I was walking the dog and turned the corner to very load bird calls and find a woodpecker on a light pole just 3 houses further down than the one 2 years prior. Again I grabbed my photo and got a few photos before the dog got too impatient. I’ve lived in this house for 4 years and have seen this bird only twice almost in the same place similar date and time. When I took the photos this year I remembered the silhouettes from 2 years ago and looked them up. I was surprised when I compared them, what are the odds? IMG_2928.MOV

In a remote area of the Kissimmee Preserve State Park I was actually keeping an eye out for Florida Grasshopper Sparrows which are native there and while filming a Meadowlark I spotted these birds nearby. The birds are catching the first direct sun of the day so the light may be a little tricky with the true coloring and the screen grabs from the video not so great and to my non-expert eyes inconclusive as to ID. The most noteworthy thing in the sharp morning light in real time was the bright clean breasts and cream stripe in the center of the head weak white eye ring. Quality is probably not good enough to see any small yellow area. Thanks BB

Tuesday morning (Nov 17) I was walking the dog at 10am in Largo Fl ( on the gulf coast). We have the Gulf of Mexico on one side 10 miles away and Tampa Bay on the other also 10 miles away. I saw a large flock of birds in the distance the struck me as strange int their behavior. Several neighbors outside at the same time took videos of them. There were several things that were unusual. First the shear number of birds. We have many birds in the area including some Canadian Geese which pass overhead but never a flock of this size. It’s difficult from the photos to know their size but from zooming in and 1st hand sightings of the flock they were large. My first thought was they were sea gulls but I’ve never sea gull float like this. There flight reminded me of a murmuration of starlings. The birds were white with black onset their wings. On top they were white with black wing tips. In coloration they appeared to be terns but not in body shape. I assume they are just a common water bird, I just have never seen such a large flock so far from the water. They may have been migrating but their flight was north north west towards the gulf not in a southerly direction