Florida Suncoast Birding: Year Review

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Year Review - 2018

December 31st

2018 has come to an end and a new year is on the calendar.

We measure the year with a calendar and we measure quantity by counting. And we use these two measurements to create our bird lists.

My annual list for 2018 came too 277 species, all seen in Florida. No travel outside of Florida this past year and had a big reduction in birding field trips in general.

Did make my first pelagic trip out of Cape Canaveral since 2014. The weather and the seas were rough, but we did get a mixed bag of success observing many of the expected species ( high count on Wilson's Storm-petrels) , but dipped on other expected species like arctic terns and jaegers. A couple of pilot whales were seen and the Marine Center personnel returned a couple of wayward hawksbill turtles to the floating Sargassum beds. A pair on common eiders were seen at the dock

In January I made my annual trip to Northern Florida and the Panhandle. Had some great observations and ran into Dave and Tammy McQuade up in Gainesville. We would bird together for the next couple of days. Got Lifers in Sprague's Pipit in Apalachicola and White-face Ibis at St Markers. Other good finds included a Ruff in Gainesville and Winter Wrens at Caverns State Park. A pair of Whooping Cranes in Lake Wales. Lots of great waterfowl sightings as well, such as the Snow Geese and Ross' Geese in Tallahassee.

Another highlight was the arrival of Upland Sandpipers making a stop over in Cape Coral in April.

2018 Bird List and Gallery

1 Blue-winged Teal

2 Mottled Duck

A Mottled x Mallard hybrid.
True Mottled Ducks are becoming genetically affected by these hybridizations

3 Ring-necked Duck

4 Hooded Merganser

5 Pied-billed Grebe

6 Wood Stork

7 Double-Crested Cormorant

8 Anhinga

9 Great Blue Heron

10 Great Egret

11 Snowy Egret

The Franklin Locks, Alva, Florida - Dec 2018

Sweetwater Wetlands, Gainesville, Florida - January 2018

12 Little Blue Heron

13 Tricolored Heron

14 Cattle Egret

15 Black-Crowned Night-Heron

16 White Ibis

17 Glossy Ibis

18 Black Vulture

19 Turkey Vulture

20 Osprey

21 Bald Eagle

22 Red-Shouldered Hawk

23 Gray-Headed Swamphen

24 Common Gallinule

Lake Apopka - May 2018

25 American Coot

26 Limpkin

27 Sandhill Crane

28 Killdeer

29 Greater Yellowlegs

30 Mourning Dove

31 Belted Kingfisher

32 Red-Bellied Woodpecker

33 Pileated Woodpecker

34 American Kestrel

35 Eastern Phoebe

36 Great Crested Flycatcher

37 Blue Jay

38 Fish Crow

39 House Wren

40 American Robin

41 Gray Catbird

42 Northern Mockingbird

43 Palm Warbler

44 Savannah Sparrow

45 Red-winged Blackbird

46 Common Grackle

47 Boat-tailed Grackle

48 White-Winged Dove

49 Northern Cardinal

50 Indigo Bunting

51 Painted Bunting

52 American Goldfinch

53 House Sparrow

54 Crested Caracara

55 Muscovy Duck

56 Black-Bellied Whistling Duck

57 Northern Shoveler

58 Northern Harrier

59 Snail Kite

60 Purple Gallinule

61 Wilson's Snipe

62 Eurasian Collared Dove

63 Common Ground-Dove

64 Loggerhead Shrike

Seen near Ava Maria, Collier County on a cold January morning

65 Tree Swallow

66 Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher

67 Yellow-Rumped Warbler

68 Green Heron

69 Green-Winged Teal

70 Lesser Scaup

Seen at Ding Darling NWR, Sanibel Island

71 Red-Breasted Merganser

A pair of Red Breasted Mergansers were seen diving for prey
along the shoreline on Ft Myers Beach -
6 March 2018

72 Willet

73 Lesser Yellowlegs

74 Ring-billed Gull

75 American Crow

An American Crow seen at Everglades National Park

76 Rock Pigeon

77 Short-tailed Hawk

78 Red-tailed Hawk

79 Common Yellowthroat

80 Brown Pelican

81 Laughing Gull

82 Royal Gull

83 Surf Scoter

84 Common Loon

85 Yellow-Crowned Night-Heron

86 Black-Bellied Plover

87 Wilson's Plover

Piping Plover seen in March at Bunche Beach Preserve

88 Piping Plover

89 Sanderling

90 Ruddy Turnstone

91 Dunlin

92 Least Sandpiper

93 Western Sandpiper

94 Spotted Sandpiper

95 Herring Gull

96 European Starling

97 Black-Necked Stilt

98 American Avocet

99 Long-billed Dowitcher

100 Eastern Meadowlark

101 Greater Scaup

102 American Oystercatcher

103 Brown-headed Cowbird

Florida Scrub Jay seen at Oscar Scherer State Park

104 Burrowing Owl

105 Florida Scrub Jay

Florida Scrub Jay seen in Lehigh Acres

106 Monk Parakeet

107 Tufted Titmouse

106 Eastern Bluebird

109 Stilt Sandpiper

110 American Bittern

111 Carolina Chickadee

112 Ruby-crowned Kinglet

113 Chipping Sparrow

114 Eastern Towhee

115 Bufflehead

116 Ruddy Duck

117 Horned Grebe

118 Cooper's Hawk

This Cooper's Hawk landed on the boardwalk railing
at Sweetwater Wetlands in Gainesville

119 Sora

120 Ruff

A female Ruff, a Eurasian species, seen at Sweetwater Wetlands in Gainesville

121 Forster's Tern

122 White-throated Sparrow

123 Swamp Sparrow

124 Snow Goose

125 Ross's Goose

Rare to Florida, Ross's Geese , in the company of Snow Geese, seen near Tallahassee

126 Wood Duck

Wood Ducks seen at Six-mile Cypress Slough Preserve

127 Canvasback

A Canvasback Duck seen at St Marks NWR in January

A Redhead Duck seen at St Marks NWR in January

128 Redhead

129 Barred Owl

One of a nesting pair of Barred Owls at Six-mile Cypress Slough Preserve - March

130 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

131 Northern Flicker

132 Cedar Waxwing

133 American Wigeon

134 Mallard

135 Northern Pintail

136 Common Goldeneye

Common Goldeneye seen at St Marks NWR

137 American White Pelican

138 Downy Woodpecker

139 White-eyed Vireo

140 Blue-headed Vireo

141 Brown-headed Nuthatch

142 Sedge Wren

143 Carolina Wren

144 Rusty Blackbird

Rusty Blackbird observed at St Marks NWR

145 White-faced Ibis

146 Rosette Spoonbill

147 Canada Goose

148 Sprague's Pipit

149 Red-headed Woodpecker

Red-headed Woodpecker see at Florida Caverns State Park in January

150 Hermit Thrush

151 Winter Wren

152 Golden-crowned Kinglet

153 Black-and-White Warbler

154 Orange-crowned Warbler

155 Black Skimmer

156 Fulvous Whistling Duck

157 Vermilion Flycatcher

158 Ash-throated Flycatcher

159 Reddish Egret

A radio monitored White-morphed Reddish Egret,
a Bunche Beach resident,
making a meal of a needle fish

160 Semipalmated Plover

161 Merlin

162 White-crowned Sparrow

163 Northern Gannet

164 Glaucous Gull

165 Great Black-backed Gull

Greater Black-backed Gull seen on Ft Myers Beach

166 Sandwich Tern

167 Whooping Crane

168 Pine Warbler

169 Yellow-throated Warbler

170 Great Horned Owl

171 Red-cockaded Woodpecker

172 Prairie Warbler

173 Bachman's Sparrow

174 Nanday Parakeet

175 Snowy Plover

Snowy Plover seen on Ft Myers Beach

176 Peregrine Falcon

Peregrine Falcon consuming its kill

177 Lesser Black-backed Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull seen on Ft Myers Beach

178 Black-throated Green Warbler

179 Baltimore Oriole

180 Red Knot

181 Giant Wood-rail

An escapee on Sanibel Island

182 Northern Parula

183 Marbled Godwit

184 Short-billed Dowitcher

Seen on Bunche Beach in May

185 White-winged Scoter

186 Saltmarsh Sparrow

187 Least Bittern

188 Northern Bobwhite

189 Grasshopper Sparrow

190 Scissor tailed Flycatcher

191 Swainson's Hawk

192 Broadwinged Hawk

193 Barn Owl

194 Ruby-throated Hummingbird

195 Common Myna

196 Tropical Kingbird

Tropical Kingbird seen at Lucky Hammock

197 Magnificent Frigatebird

198 Brown Thrasher

199 Swallow-tailed Kite

200 Purple Martin

201 Bronzed Cowbird

202 Blue Grosbeak

203 Caspian Tern

204 Chucks-Will-Widow

205 Lincoln's Sparrow

206 Whip-poor-Will

207 Bonaparte's Gull

208 Northern Waterthrush

209 King Rail

210 Eastern Screech Owl

211 Barn Swallow

212 Louisiana Waterthrush

213 Yellow-breasted Chat

214 Ovenbird

215 Common Tern

216 Yellow-throated Vireo

217 Wild Turkey

218 Hooded Warbler

219 Gray Kingbird

220 Red-eyed Vireo

221 Solitary Sandpiper

Seen at Six-mile Cypress Slough Preserve in April

222 Yellow-billed Cuckoo

223 Black-billed Cuckoo

224 Eastern Kingbird

225 Summer Tanager

226 Prothonotary Warbler

227 Tennessee Warbler

228 Yellow Warbler

229 Orchard Oriole

230 American Redstart

231 Veery

232 Upland Sandpiper

233 Rose-breasted Grosbeck

234 Scarlet Tanager

235 Wood Thrush

236 Swainson's Thrush

237 Least Tern

238 Common Nighthawk

239 Hairy Woodpecker

240 Blackpoll Warbler

241 Black-throated Blue Warbler

242 Bobolink

243 Semipalmated Sandpiper

244 House Crow

245 Cape May Warbler

246 Worm-eating Warbler

247 Chimney Swift

248 Northern Rough-winged Swallow

249 Magnolia Warbler

250 Black-capped Petrel

251 Wilson's Storm-Petrel

252 Audubon's Shearwater

253 Sooty Tern

254 Bridled Tern

255 Black Tern