Friday December 2021
An active year with a lot of travel. Birders need to travel to seek out interesting birds in interesting places. Always on the watch for anything new or rare. My travels took from Biloxi, Mississippi all the south to the Dry Tortugas. Saw a few good birds and some lifers too. Went after interesting flora and fauna as well. Doing the all-naturalist thing.
A few of my lifers this year included
- Scaly-breasted Minia at Lucky Hammock
- Bahama Mockingbird at Spanish River Park
- Black Noddy at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas
- Brown Creeper at Roche-A-Cri State Park in Wisconsin
- Yellow-green Vireo at Biscayne National Park
- Sabine's Gull in the Gulf of Mexico off Fort Myers Beach
Dipped on a few birds as well. Just missed the lapwing longspur that visited the Venice Airport for a few days. But there were many good finds too, like in the Keys with a Cuban Pewee, Antillean Nighthawk, Purple Sandpiper, American Flamingo, Brown Noddies and White-crowned Pigeons. Or on my trip to Mississippi to look for the rarest subspecies of Sandhill Crane - the Mississippi Sandhill Crane. Or to Wisconsin and Illinois for Whooping Cranes and Trumpeter Swans. St Marks NWR is aways a great stop with another American Flamingo, numerous species of wintering waterfowl. Lake Apopka and Merrit Island NWR were also great venues for waterfowl. Locally we a great looks at a Grove-billed Ani and an Ash-throated Flycatcher at Festival Park in Cape Coral, were Florida Scrub Jays and Burrowing Owls are found.
In 2022, I don't expect to get around as much as this year, but I'm still setting goals and making plans.
| Zebra Longwing |
2021 Year List and Gallery (299)
1 Red-shouldered Hawk
| A young, Red-shouldered Hawk Everglades National Park January 2021 |
| Piping Plover Bunche Beach, Lee County, Florida March 2021 |
| Short-billed Dowitcher Fort DeSoto Park, St Petersburg, Florida February 2021 |
| Short-billed Dowitcher Bunche Beach, Lee County, Florida January 2021 |
| Pied-billed Grebe Babcock-Webb Wildlife Manage Area, Charlotte County, Florida January 2021 |
| Yellow-bellied Sapsucker dining on Dahoon Holly berries Six-mile Cypress Slough Preserve, Fort Myers, Florida January 2021 |
| Anhinga Lakes Park - Fort Myers, Florida February 2021 |
| Anhinga Wakodahatchee Wetlands, Wellington, Florida February 2021 |
| Cattle Egret Harns Marsh, Leigh Acres, Florida January 2021 |
| Cattle Egret riding on the back of a steer Hendry County, Florida February 2021 |
| Mississippi Sandhill Crane - Rarest sub-species of Sandhill Crane Vancleave, Mississippi May 2021 |
| Gray Catbird Caloosahatchee Creeks Preserve - Lee County, Florida October 2021 |
| Gray Catbird Lucky Hammock, Florida City, Florida January 2021 |
| Great Crested Flycatcher Blue Hole - National Key Deer Refuge, Big Pine Key, Florida January 2021 |
| Pileated Woodpecker Rotary Park - Cape Coral, Florida October 2021 |
| Pileated Woodpecker Sanibel Lighthouse, Florida March 2021 |
| Brown-headed Cowbird My Yard February 2021 |
| Brown-headed Cowbird Sem-Chi Rice Mill, Palm Beach County March 2021 |
| A female Painted Bunting at the visitor center bird feeders at the Merritt Island WMR January 2021 |
| Black-and White Warbler Caloosahatchee Creeks Preserve, Lee County, Florida October 2021 |
| Purple Gallinule Babcock-Webb WMA, Charlotte County, Florida January 2021 |
| Bald Eagles Pine Island, Lee County, Florida April 2021 |
| Bald Eagle Festival Park, Cape Coral, Florida January 2021 |
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| Grove-billed Ani Festival Park, Cape Coral, Florida January 2021 |
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| Lesser Yellowlegs Ollies Pond, Port Charlotte, Florida |
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| Lesser Yellowlegs Ollies Pond, Port Charlotte, Florida |
| Fulvous Whistling-duck Lake Apopka, Florida January 2021 |
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| Redhead St Marks NWR, Florida - January 2021 |
| Redhead St Marks NWR, Florida - January 2021 |
| Redhead St Marks NWR, Florida - January 2021 |
| Red-breasted Merganser Fort De Soto Park, Pinellas County, Florida January 2021 |
| Cedar Waxwing Rotary Park, Cape Coral, Florida April 2021 |
| Cedar Waxwing My Yard, Florida March 2021 |
| Brown-headed Nuthatch Babcock-Webb WMA, Charlotte County, Florida April 2021 |
| Brown-headed Nuthatch Babcock-Webb WMA, Charlotte County, Florida April 2021 |
| Yellow-crowned Night-heron Ding Darling NWR, Sanibel Island, Florida January 2021 |
| Northern Rough-winged Swallow Port Mayaca Locks, Okeechobee, Florida February 2021 |
| Great Horn Owlets about a week old Fort DeSoto Park, Pinellas County, Florida February 2021 |
| American Oystercatchers Fort DeSoto Park, Pinellas County, Florida February 2021 |
| Neotropic Cormorant Wakodahatchee Wetlands, Delray Beach, Florida February 2021 |
210 Shiny Cowbird
| Female Shiny Cowbird Sem-Chi Rice Mill, Palm Beach County, Florida March 2021 |
| Male Shiny Cowbird Sem-Chi Rice Mill, Palm Beach County, Florida March 2021 |
| Yellow-headed Blackbird At the Sem-Chi Rice Mill, Palm Beach County, Florida April 2021 |
| Hooded Warbler Ft Jefferson, Dry Tortugas National Park May 2021 |
| Hooded Warbler Pinecraft Park, Sarasota, Florida April 2021 |
| Common Hill Myna nesting at Nesting at Mathesson Hammock Park Coral Gables, Florida May 2021 |
| Common Hill Myna nesting at Nesting at Mathesson Hammock Park Coral Gables, Florida May 2021 |
| Red-masked Parakeet Nesting at Mathesson Hammock Park Coral Gables, Florida May 2021 |
| Orange-wing Parrot Nesting at Mathesson Hammock Park Coral Gables, Florida May 2021 |
| Stilt Sandpiper Everglades Ag Area, Palm Beach County August 2021 |
| Black-throated Blue Warbler Rotary Park - Cape Coral, Florida October 2021 |
| Large Congregation of Common Terns Gulf of Mexico off Fort Myers Beach, Florida October 9, 2021 |
296 Tropical Kingbird
| Tropical Kingbird Belle Glade, Florida December 2021 |
297 Vermilion Flycatcher
| Vermilion Flycatcher Belle Glade, Florida December 2021 |



