The guide sang out “LBB at 2 o’clock.”
Birders with binoculars swung them up tight to their eyeballs and looked off the right.
But no, not me, I am standing there clueless.
This was my first bird walk. I have no binoculars, no field guide, no idea what she just said.
Birds are identified on birding trails
Birders on Pepper Creek Trail
But everyone else knew what to do. Hands whipped field guides out of backpacks. Pages were turned. Discussion led to some disagreement. The LBB was not identified. Heads were shaken.
We moved on, walking down the Pepper Creek Trail at Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park.
This very first bird walk is described in chapter 19 in my book 50 Great Walks in Florida.
I quickly learned that birders stop at a flinch from a finch, a hint of a heron, the flash of a feather, even a single note of bird song is exciting and warrants attention.
To keep up, I acquired binoculars. Went on another bird walk, this one at the Guana River Site, Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve (whew!) in South Ponte Verda Beach near St. Augustine.
“LBB at 12 o’clock in the big bush” the guide announced.
I whipped my binoculars onto my eyeballs.
OMG
There’s a Little Brown Bird looking mighty huge in the optics! How exciting is this?
Looking for birds can be addictive
Very. Birding is addictive, whether you do it in your back yard by putting out feeders and water and providing shelter with trees and bushes like firebush, or whether you head out the door.
Getting started can be easy and not expensive. Free birding guides by state section and loaner optics are both possible.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission promotes a network of 515 sites in Florida called the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail
The birds may not know it, but Florida has a Birding Trail
The state is divided into sections with free birding guides to each section. State parks carry the free biding guides. The guides can also be downloaded from the Florida Birding Trail web site and are available on Kindle.
New birders will want to take the time to read “Bird Watching Basics”, a PDF in both English and Spanish on the Great Florida Birding Trail web site.
The Florida Birding Trail has nine gateway sites around the state, major repositories with lots of resources including a loaner optics program. So you don’t have to begin by buying your own binoculars. All the gateway sites are listed on their web site.
Birding is such a no brainer in Florida. It is cheap and easy – you can do it in your back yard or travel around – take it lightly or seriously with life lists of birds you have spotted.
Red breasted grosbeak visiting at my front yard
And bird economics are enormous. The Florida Birding Trail site says in 2011 wildlife veiwing generated $4.9 billion right into Florida’s economy. So here comes another no-brainer – save bird habitats as they generate big business.
Florida is a wildlife paradise, even with all the development degradation. Shorelines of rivers and salt water harbor wading birds, shorebirds and waterfowl. Migration of birds to Florida in the wintertime makes them truly snow birds.
Witness the popularity of J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel, where white pelicans camp out in the winter months and visitors line up on Wildlife Drive with long lenses. Volunteers set up viewing telescopes to bring the birds up close and personal.
Cormorant on Anhinga Amble, Everglades National Park
In Everglades National Park, the Anhinga Amble walk puts wading birds so close to you that long lenses are not necessary. The half-mile loop is elevated above the river of grass. Cormorants and anhingas dive for fish. Wood storks shuffle through the mud. Little green herons wait for prey. This is a truly exciting walk best done from October through April. The summer brings heat and mosquitoes. Anhinga Amble is chapter 46 in 50 Great Walks.
The St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park has become famous among birders for its wading bird rookery – a ring of old cypress and oak trees around a pond full of alligators. From March through June nesting activities brings photographers from all over the world to photograph herons, egrets, ibis, spoonbills and wood storks. Surprisingly, the birds gravitate to places with alligators, as somehow they know the gators give tree-climbing predators pause.
Birds of a feather flock together so naturally there are birding festivals throughout Florida. Looking ahead to next fall. The Florida Keys Birding and Wildlife Festival takes place Sept. 23-28 and the third annual Wings and Wildflowers Festival happens in Lake County on Oct. 3-5. These events are on the Great Florida Birding Trail site.
FLORIDA FACTOID
Warm Mineral Springs in North Port is open again! Closed for months due to contact dispute between the two owners – the city of North Port and Sarasota County, a new concession has the springs open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fees vary by age and residency. Bring your own lawn chairs. The water is wonderful. Thank goodness it is possible to go here again – one of my favorites.
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