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Fall Kite Tales Fall 2016 Volume 8 Issue 2 Fall Exodus! Fall is an exciting time of year for birders and wildlife viewers. Millions of birds have finished nesting and are now heading south to their wintering grounds. Due to its geographical position many of these birds will visit Florida’s wonderful wild lands to shelter, rest and refuel before continuing on their long and arduous journey. For some species Florida will be their final stop and they will spend the next three to six months living amongst and around us. The only problem for birders at this time of year is deciding where to go birding! Coastal sites will be flush with ducks and shorebirds, our forests and hammocks will be visited by colorful songbirds, In this issue of Kite Tales we Have a great fall, enjoying all and our airways will be crossed highlight the White-crowned the wonderful wildlife viewing by hawks. Birds aren’t the only Pigeon and Birding Guru Andy opportunities Florida has to offer! critter that migrates at this time Wraithmell continues his series of year; spectacular numbers of on “How to do a Big Year.” We –Great Florida Birding Monarch butterflies cross the feature “One Sky Our Birds”, an and Wildlife Trail and panhandle on their way to their international partnership that Wildlife Viewing Staff wintering grounds in Mexico. highlights how we can all help to conserve migratory songbirds. Visit our Facebook page at Facebook.com/floridabirdingtrail FloridaBirdingTrail.com Kite Tales: The Great Florida Birding & Wildlife Trail Newsletter Fall 2016 Volume 8 Issue 2 Mister Lister! Many birders keep some sort of list…a Life, State, County, Patch, Year, Day or Yard list and some strive to add to those lists every waking hour. I keep them all and am very passionate about my yard list; I am always trying to add new species to it when I am home. This passion has provoked me to think about and implement new ways to attract more birds into my half acre backyard refuge. I have put up feeders, nest boxes, planted bird friendly trees, shrubs and plants, created brush piles and a compost heap. This has paid dividends over the years and my yard list has grown to over 125 species. My small backyard refuge is often alive with bird song and chatter and I regularly see up to 20 species a day. seem that impressed but, after exciting moment came when a For many years, birders all over a few minutes he sat on the end male Cooper’s Hawk alighted Florida have been reporting of the mister and had a good old on the birdbath and sat for a exciting birds they have spotted soak. few minutes savoring the cool in their backyards. A recent I started to see Northern water on his feathers; this post on the Florida listserv Cardinals, Blue Jays, Tufted did not impress our songbird about using water misters Titmouse and Carolina community though. After a to attract birds mentioned Chickadees visiting the mister few minutes there was a mixed warblers, thrushes, tanagers on a regular basis. Moving the group of approximately 20 birds and hummingbirds that had mister so that it lay between a squawking and fussing at the been visiting the reporter’s water young magnolia and a gardenia hawk! He eventually left and mister. “We’re getting a mister”, I shrub tripled the number of birds everyone settled back down. declared to my wife and we set off visiting the water source! They I highly recommend this system for the home improvement store. were attracted to the wet leaves for all backyard birders, it has An hour later I was attaching a and rubbed their colorful bodies opened our yard to so many more short plastic hose to our outdoor with glee as well as drinking species that might not ordinarily spigot and fitted a new brass droplets that were hanging off visit. the leaf tips. Cerulean Warbler, mister to the other end. Within For more tips on how to attract minutes our new bird attracter Baltimore Oriole, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Brown- wildlife to your backyard refuge was spewing out a fine spray visit our website. of water and we watched with headed Nuthatch, Pine Warbler, baited breath from our dining Gray Catbird and Yellow- room. It was not long before breasted Chat have all visited. a fine male cardinal dropped I try to run the mister every in and investigated this new chance I get, because the results contraption. At first, he did not are often amazing. The most MyFWC.com 2 Kite Tales: The Great Florida Birding & Wildlife Trail Newsletter Fall 2016 Volume 8 Issue 2 Birding Guru Warblers. The art for this Kite Tales we featured beautiful certificate was created pine forest and hardwood Andy Wraithmell has been by Rafael Galvez. Once you reach hammocks. In this issue we will birding for over 30 years. This 50 species keep on adding new focus on tidal flats and tropical quarterly feature provides more birds to your 2016 list. Apply hardwood hammocks. tips on How to Do a Big Year by during the first week of January habitat and where to find White- Tidal Flats 2017 and we will send you your crowned Pigeons Big Year certificate with your While tidal flats, or mud flats, in Florida. name and your 2016 total printed lack vegetation and are home What on earth is a Big Year on it. mostly to invertebrates that you may ask? Basically, it’s live under the surface, they Habitat, habitat, habitat! an attempt to see as many provide very valuable habitat different species of birds as you Many of Florida’s native species for creatures living in the mud, can between January 1st and are easy to find. I am sure many including microorganisms, December 31st within a self- of you have seen a Northern worms, crabs, sand fleas, and designated geographic location Mockingbird. These birds are many others. These species (backyard, county, state, country generalists when it comes to provide food for coastal etc.). Sounds easy? How many picking a habitat, which is birds, fish, and mammals. different species of birds do you why you will find them in your Commercially important think you could see in a calendar backyard, at the local park, species like clams and shrimp year? Andy Bankert holds the coastal hammock, in wetlands, can be found near tidal flats, Florida state big year record; in scrub, pine forest….the list goes particularly along the Gulf Coast. 2007 he saw 367 species! Why on. However, some birds are Year-round Residents not challenge yourself to see as really picky about which habitats many different species in Florida they frequent. For example the Brown Pelican, Wood Stork, during 2016? If you see more Florida Scrub-Jay can only be Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, than 50 species you can apply found in scrub habitats and Tricolored Heron, Reddish for our NEW Big Year certificate Mangrove Cuckoos are only found Egret, Yellow-crowned Night depicting a pair of Blackburnian in mangroves. In the last issue of Heron, Roseate Spoonbill, FloridaBirdingTrail.com 3 Kite Tales: The Great Florida Birding & Wildlife Trail Newsletter Fall 2016 Volume 8 Issue 2 Osprey, American Oystercatcher, Winter residents tropical plants include strangler Laughing Gull, Royal Tern, and Peregrine Falcon, Merlin, fig, gumbo-limbo, ironwood, Black Skimmer. American Avocet, Black- and poisonwood. Live oak and Summer breeding residents bellied Plover, Semipalmated cabbage palm are also sometimes Plover, Greater Yellowlegs, found within this community. Black-necked Stilt, and Least Extremely rare plants, like Tern. Willet, Marbled Godwit, Ruddy Turnstone, Red Knot, Dunlin, lignum vitae, mahogany, thatch Spring and fall migrants Least Sandpiper, Western palms, and manchineel, may also be found in these hammocks in Peregrine Falcon, Merlin, Sandpiper, , Short-billed the Florida Keys. Birds abound American Avocet, Black-bellied Dowitcher, Long-billed Dowitcher, in this habitat, including the Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Mangrove Cuckoo and the White- Greater Yellowlegs, Willet, and Forster’s Tern. crowned Pigeon. Rare visitors Whimbrel, Marbled Godwit, from nearby Caribbean islands Ruddy Turnstone, Red Knot, Tropical Hardwood are often found in this habitat Stilt Sandpiper, Dunlin, Least Hammocks particularly between Miami Sandpiper, White-rumped and Key West. Species such as Sandpiper, Semipalmated This habitat occurs only in south Western Spindalis, Bahama Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Florida and are characterized by Mockingbird and La Sagra’s Short-billed Dowitcher, Long- trees and shrubs on the northern Flycatcher are found annually. billed Dowitcher, Gull-billed edge of a range that extends Other rarities such as Key West Tern, Caspian Tern, Black Tern southward into the Caribbean. Quail-Dove, Zenaida Dove and and Common Tern. These communities are rare along coastal uplands south of a Cuban Vireo have been recorded line from about Vero Beach on the recently. Atlantic coast to Sarasota on the Year round residents Gulf coast. This cold-intolerant Recommended Common Ground-dove, White- tropical community has very high crowned Pigeon, Mangrove Trail Sites - Tidal plant species diversity, sometimes Cuckoo (difficult to see in winter Flats containing over 35 species of months), Red-bellied Woodpecker, tropical trees and about 65 Blue Jay, Northern Mockingbird, Panhandle species of shrubs. Characteristic Bald Point State Park and St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. West Big Bend Wildlife Management Area: Hagen’s Cove, and Fort De Soto Park. East Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge: Biolab Road, and Huguenot Memorial Park. South Everglades National Park: Flamingo area, and Tigertail Beach on Marco Island. MyFWC.com 4 Kite Tales: The Great Florida Birding & Wildlife Trail Newsletter Fall 2016 Volume 8 Issue 2 Prairie Warbler, and Northern Cardinal.
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