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During my time in Florida I only saw two birds on nests, which is not terribly surprising considering that I was there at the end of January.  Most birds, after all, wait until spring. But when you see the two birds on nests that I spotted you will understand why I thought that two was [...]

On 26 January 2012, my first full day in Florida for the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, I had a mission for the evening. My mission was simple in theory – to see, or at least hear, a Black Rail.  But, in practice, the mission became much more difficult. Black Rails are among the most [...]

It took several days in Florida for the idea that I was pretty much surrounded by giant reptiles that could kill me to sink in to my brain. And, no, I am not referring to the Republican presidential candidates who were stumping through the state trying to gin up votes in the primary election which [...]

Amazingly, it was a visiting birder from New York who discovered Neotropic Cormorants breeding in the Wakodahatchee Wetlands.  Congratulations to Ardith Bondi for the great find!

Back when I was trying to figure out what I should do during my time at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival I was advised by Doug Gochfeld to check out “the Gull spectacle on the beach at Daytona Beach Shores.” Intrigued, I looked into it, and learned that enormous amounts of gulls feed [...]

We New Yorkers get excited about single American Avocets showing up in our state and when more than one avocet is around we can’t help but go take a look. Theoretically, we understand that sometimes Recurvirostra americana shows up in larger groups than that but we have a hard time visualizing such an occurrence. Having [...]

While Blue Jays, Northern Cardinals, and American Goldfinches will all show up at bird feeders here in the northeast and share their brilliant blue, red, and yellow visages, we have no bird at our feeders to compare to the Painted Bunting. While I have mentioned their technicolor dreamcoats before it never hurts to mention again that [...]

Limpkins are Apple Snail specialists.  That is, they eat snails of the genus Pomacea to the exclusion of all else, provided the snails are available. And while finding snails is not difficult for a long legged bird that is not afraid to wade into alligator-infested marshes it is difficult to extract the yummy snail meat [...]

By the time you read this blog post I will hopefully have checked my first lifer of the day off and be on to my second. Forgive the brevity of this post but, like with the last one, I really have neither the time nor the energy to do more at the moment. Space Coast [...]

I am having a wonderful time at the 15th Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival. Instead of going into the gory details at this moment, when I have been on the move constantly for three days straight and seeing lots of birds and birders and getting very little sleep, I figured I would just [...]

Does anyone have a field guide to the birds of the moon?  Of Mars?  Of anywhere in outer space?  I really wonder what kinds of birds live at such low gravity. They must be very odd indeed. I can’t wait to explore outer space at the 15th Annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival from [...]

Steve Walter is a New York nature photographer, birder, and long-time member of the New York City Butterfly Club.  Readers of 10,000 Birds who pay attention will remember him from when he showed Patrick and me some really cool damselflies out in Suffolk County.  This blog post is written by Steve and by writing it [...]

O beautiful for whistling ducks! a tropical delight! 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. Phoebe, Liam and I went down to work (and play) in January 2011 at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife [...]

There are a handful of sites in North America that can justifiably be considered must visits for birders.  It’s only a small surprise that a significant proportion of those sites are in Florida.  It’s no small bit ironic that between the sprawling developments and golf courses and theme parks of the general public’s perception of [...]

I was in Florida last week, the freakiest of the southeastern states.  Its peninsular shape, dipping so seductively into the neotropic Caribbean, suggest a haul of bizarre and fascinating birds found nowhere else on the continent.  All true of course.  But not only is Florida’s native birdlife pretty amazing, it also hosts strange exotics; species [...]

For as long as I can remember I’ve been fascinated by shorebirds. Growing up within an hour of one of the world’s premier shorebird destinations – West Coast National Park in South Africa – helped for sure. For me, there’s a few things that drive this fascination. Firstly, shorebirds present a significant ID challenge. Getting [...]

During a family holiday this week, my wife suggested that other road users and pedestrians may take my erratic driving and sudden stops as incompetence behind the wheel. I suspect that this may have been a veiled insult to my driving prowess, but since she will neither drive nor navigate while abroad and stubbornly refused to help identify the [...]

I ate escargot for the first time a few months ago. That I didn’t enjoy it probably had to do with the fact that Aderman, my videographer, ruined the experience by telling me that snails “are like snot in a shell”. I spared myself one of his too-detailed explanations by NOT asking how he came [...]

One of the highlights of any birding trip to Florida’s Space Coast is watching waders and waterfowl at Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands at Viera, better known as the Viera Wetlands. These wetlands, part of the Great Florida Birding Trail, are a model of sustainable land use. Considered an integral component of Brevard County’s water reuse [...]

One of the all-day avian extravaganzas offered each year at the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival scours central Florida for the best birds this area has to offer. Considering how spectacular many of these species are, I gleefully committed 11 hours to the odyssey. Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area protects lovely pine-palmetto habitat that [...]