Helping birds build nests in my yard

Inside view of the house wren's dummy nest. I love the wren-shaped hollow in the middle!

For the second spring in a row, a male house wren used my window birdhouse to hold one of the dummy nests he showed his mate. House wrens apparently make several dummy nests for the female to choose from. Just like last year, though, she chose a different location to actually lay her eggs. Phooey! So that started me wondering whether there was anything I could do to improve the chances she might actually use my birdhouse next year. Would she prefer a different location? Or should I make better materials available for the male to use?
 

Outside view of the nest. Both years, twigs or grass stems stuck out of the entrance. I'm not sure if this is typical for the species, or just my individual bird.

As I researched house wrens’ nest preferences, I realized I could also explore other neighborhood birds’ nesting requirements. If I added more possible nest sites to my yard, like birdhouses and large bushes, and provided appropriate nesting materials, maybe I could convince even more species to nest in or near my wild back yard!

Cornell Lab of Ornithology has lots of information on birds, from how to ID them to their habitat and life histories. I looked for the species I know visit my yard in the summertime, figuring they’d be my likeliest nesters.

Anyway, my backyard birds are either cavity nesters, or branch nesters. Birdhouses can attract cavity nesters, since they look close enough to the tree holes the birds normally use. On the other hand, birds that normally build their nest on open branches aren’t likely to use a bird house. But of course birds don’t always go by the book. An ornithologist friend of mine discovered a house wren pair that was raising their young not in a cavity nest, but in an open cup nest built on some branches! Weirdos.

In doing my research, I also found that www.Nestwatch.org has downloadable plans to make birdboxes for various species too. I’m definitely adding "building birdhouses" to my project list. Maybe something to work on this winter? Nestwatch also lists helpful features of good birdhouses to guide aspiring nest hosts like me.

Cavity Nesters

A lot of birds like to nest in the hollows of dead or dying trees. Whether they add materials to the cavity, or just use the soft decayed wood that’s already there, varies by species. These birds are one of the main reasons for leaving dead trees standing in your yard when possible, rather than cutting them all the way to the ground. But if you don't have any dead or hollow trees in your yard, birdhouses make a reasonable alternative!

·       Carolina Chickadee—moss, bark strips, and hair

·       Tufted Titmouse—leaves, moss, grasses, bark strips, soft fur and hair

·       White-breasted Nuthatch—fur, bark strips or shreds, grass, feathers

·       Downy Woodpecker—wood chips

·       Red-bellied Woodpecker—wood chips

·       House Wren—twigs, feathers, grasses, hair, snakeskin

·       Carolina Wren—bark strips, grasses, leaves, pine needles, hair, straw, feathers, shed snakeskin

·       

Branch Nesters

Other birds prefer to build nests on the branches of trees or shrubs, or even under the overhang of building eaves and bridges. While you wouldn’t build a birdhouse for these species, you can still provide materials for them to use. On winter hikes, I enjoy spotting the empty nests that had been hidden during the summer.

·       Northern Cardinal—branch fork in a shrub. Uses twigs, leaves, bark, grasses.

·       Blue Jay—branch fork in a tree. Uses twigs, grass.

·       Mourning Dove—branch, also frequently nests in gutters, eaves, flowerpots. Uses twigs, grass, and pine needles.

·       House Finch—tree branch, also structures like hanging flowerpots, vents, & streetlamps. Uses fine stems, leaves, twigs, and feathers.

·       Eastern Goldfinch—branches in a shrub. Uses spider silk, plant fibers, and fluff from seeds like dandelion and thistle.

·       Eastern Phoebe—under the overhang of building eaves or under bridges, especially near running water. Uses mud, moss, leaves, grass, and animal hair.

·       Northern Mockingbird—Shrubs. Uses twigs, grasses, rootlets, and leaves.

·       American Robin—horizontal tree branch, or on/under structures like eaves, gutters, and light fixtures. Uses twigs, grass, feathers, and mud.

You might have seen suggestions to provide bits of string and yarn or even dryer lint for nesting birds. When I was a kid, we often draped scraps of yarn on bushes outside, in hopes that birds would weave them into their nests. But it turns out string and lint aren't actually safe or useful for the birds. Dryer lint turns hard and crumbly once it’s gotten wet, rather than staying soft or helping hold the nest together. And even short bits of yarn can tangle around baby birds’ feet and toes. I don't want to hurt or endanger the baby birds in my yard, so I won't be using yard scraps for my nest material kits.

Some of the nest materials I listed are already available in my yard, like the drifts of dry leaves that collect in corners. Others I will tuck into clean, empty suet feeders to make little supply stations for inquisitive birds, as described here. I don't put out suet in the summertime, so the suet cages are available for use. Fat can go rancid in the Maryland heat, and softened fat could also foul a bird's feathers. So next spring, I'll stuff the cleaned cages with materials like bark strips, dry grasses, plant fluff and odd feathers. I have lots of milkweed plants in my yard, and plan to collect some of their seed fluff when the pods ripen this fall.

In the long term, I also want to add more shrubs and bushes to my property. I have a back yard that's mostly underutilized in terms of gardening-- it has a few trees that were already there when I moved in, but I haven't changed things very much beyond adding the log pile. The back is partly to mostly shady, so isn't conducive to most pollinator plantings. But birds don't need the sun quite as much as bees and butterflies and flowers do. So I might focus my back yard landscaping on bird habitat. Stay tuned! 

Do you have any birds nesting nearby this year? Have you discovered birds nesting in odd places? I'd love to hear about them in the comments!

The wren mostly used twigs this year, but also some tall grasses complete with seeds. Handy snacks, perhaps?

The Best Time To Hang a New Birdfeeder

No birds yet! The dropping level of seeds indicates the squirrels have visited, however.

A common frustration with wild bird feeding is how long it takes birds to notice (and visit) a new feeder. For those first several days, when the only attention you’ve attracted is from the neighborhood squirrels, it’s all too easy to wonder if the birds hold some grudge against you, or if you did something wrong.

In fact, this is totally normal. It can take a while for birds to even notice something new, and then longer before they feel safe venturing closer. Annoying, but typical. When I first put my back yard feeders up, mentioned in this post, it was almost three weeks before I saw many birds on them!

However, there is one trick you can use to get faster attention to a new feeder. The secret is low competition, great advertising, and honestly, a little bit of luck-- because the absolute best time to hang a new feeder is right after a snowstorm.

When fresh snow blankets the ground, the birds’ usual sources of food will be covered up as well. Without their favorite spots competing with your new feeders, the birds should be quicker to try something unfamiliar, to say nothing of desperate for something to eat.

Not much to eat here!

The snow also gives you a perfect opportunity to advertise your new feeder. First, pack down the snow under your feeder by stomping around, or smushing it down with something flat. (Otherwise the seed will just sink into the soft snow.) Once you have a nice dense layer, sprinkle plenty of black oil sunflower seeds on the packed snow. The dark seed contrasting with the white snow should catch the attention of birds searching for food, hopefully leading to your first feathered customers.

These days when I scatter seed after a snowfall, I have birds within minutes! 

You don't need a huge snowstorm for this method to work. Here the snow was only a couple inches deep.

To attract even more birds to your yard in the winter, you could also put out a heated birdbath. The birds' usual water sources are likely frozen or covered with snow, so a source of fresh water will be very welcome to local birds. You might even attract species that don't eat bird seed, like bluebirds or robins. You can buy a bird bath heater for about $40, or you could put out a pan of fresh water each morning just until it freezes, then bring it back inside to thaw. I recently ordered a heater for my birdbath, so while it didn’t arrive in time for our first snowstorm, I should have it in use before the end of the winter. (Stay tuned!)

In order to survive, birds need the right combination of food, water, and shelter. The more of these that birds can find in your yard, the more likely they’ll show up.  By hanging a new feeder right after a snowstorm, when food is desperately needed, you’ll likely get a faster response than when natural foods are easy to find. Win-win!

I hope you enjoy watching birds in your yard this winter, along with any other animals that might show up, like squirrels, rabbits, deer, and even foxes. I’d love to hear about what you see!

Once the birds are drawn to your yard, they'll soon explore your feeders as well. This Song Sparrow looks pretty cozy as more snow falls.

Your Messy Garden Can Feed Hungry Winter Birds

A few weeks ago, I posted about how some uncommon Purple Finches arrived at my birdfeeders, part of an irruption (sporadic migration) from Canada this year. They're here because the spruces & other conifers up north didn’t produce as many seeds as usual. The birds came south looking for more food, and a few found it in my yard. While the Purple Finches were happy to join my usual Cardinals, House Sparrows, and White-breasted Nuthatches in eating sunflower seeds, some birds won’t come to a feeder. If you provide the right kind of natural food and habitat in your yard or garden, though, you may be lucky enough to host more than just “feeder” birds in your yard.

One of the Purple Finches, who seem to have moved on. Perhaps more will show up soon!

For example, some birds are normally insect-eaters. Some of those head south for the winter, but others who breed up in New England are arriving in my area right now. They’re helpful picking off any aphids or beetles still lurking in my garden. I recently watched a Ruby-crowned Kinglet flutter around my yard, presumably plucking insects off the undersides of leaves. I’ve also watched wrens busily exploring under my garden bench and in the eaves of my porch, plucking spiders out of the dark corners. By allowing insects and spiders to live in your yard, you also help feed many birds!

We only see Ruby-crowned Kinglets in the winter around here, so it's always exciting when I spot the first one for the season.

"Hmm, any tasty bugs up there?"

Later, as winter drags on, insects are harder to find. So a lot of these birds will be looking for additional food, such as berries or other small fruit. Shrubs like Serviceberry or Spicebush, and trees like Crabapple or Dogwood provide the food that will help these birds survive the cold. Any of these plants would make great additions to your wildlife garden. I usually recommend native plants, but even some ornamental and non-native plants can provide food. The Bradford Pear in my neighbor’s yard has recently been filled with Robins, Blue Jays, and Starlings devouring its small, hard fruits.
In previous years I've sometimes seen Cedar Waxwings in that tree too, although they haven't shown up yet this year.

Shrubs also collect leaves and other detritus like twigs and bark chips beneath them. That’s where lots of garden invertebrates live, such as snails, sowbugs, spiders and insects. Since birds also like to perch in the branches at night, by planting shrubs you’re essentially providing a birdy bed and breakfast!

Because I let most of my plants die back naturally and don’t do much deadheading (removing old flowers before they become seeds) or other fall “cleanup”, I have lots of different seeds for my winter visitors, in addition to the sunflower seed in my feeders. Some birds that are seed eaters don’t come to feeders, so I can still attract and feed them by taking a hands-off approach in the garden. (Less work for me, too-- bonus!) Currently I have seedheads from Ironweed, Joe-Pye Weed, Boneset, Echinacea, Rudbeckia, and Agastache in my garden. This also means that on days I forget to refill my feeders, there is still food available for the birds.

A Purple Finch female nibbled on some of the Ironweed seeds in between feeder visits.

Finally, birds need water just as much as we do. When the temperature is below freezing, many of the local birds’ usual sources may be frozen over or hard to reach. Providing water can attract many birds that shy away from traditional feeders. If you have a bird bath already, you’ll need to have a way to keep it from freezing over too. I’ve experimented with DIY methods over the years, reluctant to buy a gadget if it wasn’t really necessary. I tried just pouring boiling water onto the ice in my birdbath every morning, for example. The birdbath refroze pretty quickly, though, so that didn’t seem like a very good alternative. In fact, I never saw birds take advantage of the warm water for the short time it was thawed each morning. There probably wasn’t enough time for them to notice the water. So I ended up using an aquarium heater to keep my birdbath thawed. That heater died last winter, though, so I’ll have to get a new one soon.

If you want to provide habitat to help migrating songbirds this fall and winter, it’s really as easy as leaving seeds and fallen leaves in your garden and yard. Remember, messier is better for birds in your garden in the wintertime! I’ve posted before about my messy garden too.

I hope you see interesting birds in your yard and garden this winter! I’d love to hear about them in the comments.

Fabulous Purple Finches

One of the Purple Finches that arrived in my yard recently

Most winters, I spend hours peering at the birds at my feeders, in futile hopes of spotting a Purple Finch amid the throngs of House Finches. The two species look fairly similar, but while I have House Finches all year, the Purple Finches only come to my area in the wintertime. I suppose most people wouldn’t care which is which, or which one happened to show up from year to year. But I’m not quite like most people—I’m a birder.

Birding at the C & O Canal this summer

For me the thrill of seeing a new species for the year, for the season, or even the first time in my life can last for days. I use eBird to track the number of different species I see each year, as well as my lifelong sightings.

The reason I longed for a Purple Finch in my yard is their infrequent visits to my area. They’re not rare overall, but they don’t make it to the DC area every year, to say nothing of my own neighborhood & yard. I have house finches in my yard all year, including numerous youngsters begging food from their parents in the late summer. Purple Finches, however, spend the warmer months much farther north—in Canada and northeastern U.S. They only venture as far south as DC in the wintertime, if at all.

A White-throated Sparrow from last winter

Other birds also come to my area only in the winter, like Dark-eyed Juncos and White-throated Sparrows. But while these birds are regular and reliable winter residents, the Purple Finches don’t always show up here. Their winter movements depend in large part on the size of the cone crop in their Canadian breeding grounds. How good a year conifers like pines, firs, and spruces had affects the amount of food available if the birds stayed north for the winter. In poor years for conifer seeds, we mid-Atlantic birders have a much better chance of seeing uncommon winter visitors like the Purple Finch and Pine Siskin. Ornithologist Ron Pittaway makes an annual winter finch forecast to help birders know whether they can expect movements of these longed for species. The summer of 2018 was a poor cone crop, according to Pittaway’s report, and indeed Purple Finches have been seen all over the midAtlantic region, including my yard. For once, examining every finch at my feeders paid off!

The Purple Finches were pretty hungry when they arrived.

In fact, the Purple Finches arrived in my yard even before I saw many of my winter regulars like White-throated Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos. The first thing I noticed about them was the bright white line over the females’ eyes, called a supercilium. Females are brown and streaky, much like the female House Finch. Males of both species are washed with pinkish-purple. They also have a more intense supercilium as well as a darker stripe down the sides of their chin (called a malar stripe). On the Purple Finch, these stripes are pink, while the House Finch's marks are brown. I had to double-check in both Peterson and Sibley field guides to make sure, but yes indeed, I finally had my Purple Finch! The Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Project Feederwatch has a very helpful description of Purple Finch and House Finch field marks as well.

Female House Finch on the left, female Purple finch on the right.

That was my 137th bird species for this year-- tantalizingly close to my goal of 150! Will more uncommon birds visit my yard this winter? I sure hope so. Have you seen any interesting birds this fall? I’d love to hear about them in the comments.

Many, Many Mergansers!

By now, you've probably seen Brent Cizek's viral photo of a hen Common Merganser leading a long train of about 50 fuzzy little babies. (If not, check it out at his photography website, plus his followup visit a couple weeks later, when the group had grown to 76 ducklings. He found the incredible family in Minnesota's Lake Bemidji.

Why was the group so big? This isn't a case of an insanely large nest. Rather, most of the babies probably had different mothers. Common Mergansers often merge multiple hens' broods under the care of one hen-- although not usually quite so many babies at the same time! The new group of babies is called a creche.

It's even possible the hen in Cizek's photo might not actually be the mother of any of the ducklings, but rather their grandmother. Now that's one busy grandma! Baby mergansers can feed themselves as soon as they hatch, so at least she doesn't have to provide food for all her fluffy little followers.

Turns out Common Mergansers on the C & O Canal form creches too!

And remember the merganser family I wrote about back in May? Victor and I saw a large merganser creche reminiscent of Cizek's, when we took a sunset stroll at the C & O Canal a month after our first sighting. These mergansers looked to be about half-grown-- older than the fuzzballs Cizek photographed, but still clustering together as ducklings will. We counted at least forty individuals, which seems to be a large but not atypical group for Common Merganser creches. Presumably some of them were the seven little fluffballs we saw a month before.

I'm really glad to see further evidence of a healthy breeding population in our area. Although most field guides list the Common Merganser as only a winter resident in the MidAtlantic area, the Maryland Biodiversity Project states that they're increasing along the Potomac as a breeder. Cool!

Should we go this way?

No, wait, maybe over here.

Yep, this looks like a good direction.

More Great Backyard Birdcount-- and Beyond!

As I mentioned in my last post, I had a lot of fun on this year's Great Backyard Bird Count. Since I first wrote about it from the road, without the ability to include pictures, I thought I'd follow up with  photos of a few favorite sightings.

One of our first stops was at Disney World, where we spotted this Palm Warbler searching the waterline for tasty bugs.

We spotted this Snowy Egret at our next stop, St. Petersburg. I love the bird's yellow feet, or "golden slippers" as my field guide calls them!

St. Petersburg turned out to be very good for birding, with lots of small parks and canals. Crescent Lake held a lot of domestic-type ducks that were clearly well-fed by locals, but also this American Coot, White Ibis, and Wood Stork (left to right).

St. Pete also has a colony of Eurasian Collared-doves, not native to the U.S. but still fun to see. We also spotted another non-native, the Monk Parakeet I mentioned last post, but couldn't get good photos of it. Cool to see, though!

As we continued to explore the city, we stumbled onto a park whose mudflats held several kinds of gulls and sandpipers, but most excitingly, hundreds of Black Skimmers! Their weird-looking beaks let them skim food right from the water as they glide just above the surface. I think they were my favorite sighting from the trip.

The GBBC is over for this year, but you can still log your project data at eBird.org through March 1, if you haven't gotten around to it yet! Non-GBBC sightings are important to enter too, to help scientists understand long-term patterns or changes. How will birds' migration paths and timing change as our climate changes? Those are just a few of the issues ornithologists are studying with the help of eBirders. 

Ebirders can help document shifts as they happen by logging bird sightings all year round. That's what I'm trying to do by entering at least one checklist every day. Bonus: I've already added several new species to my life list, including the above-mentioned Monk Parakeet, Black Skimmer, and this fussy little Orange-Crowned Warbler we saw in Jackson Square in New Orleans!

The warbler was very active and rarely stayed still for very long. Eventually I got good enough looks at it for identification, and for Victor to get this adorable photo.

If you want to join eBird too, it's super easy to get started. Go to eBird.org and create a free account. Next, identify birds you see in your yard, from your office, or wherever you like, and report them. That's it! If you don't have a bird field guide already, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology even created a great app to help you identify birds, called Merlin. As I mentioned above, I used it this trip to help me identify that Orange-Crowned Warbler! I highly recommend checking it out.

Happy birding! I'd love to hear in the comments what you all are seeing in your area.

Two Days Left in 2018's Great Backyard Bird Count-- Still Time to Join In!

This weekend is one of my favorite Citizen Science projects: the Great Backyard Bird Count, or GBBC for short. This is a four-day event that takes place on President’s Day weekend every year (or the second full weekend in February, for those of you not in the United States). If you haven’t already joined in, you should! I’ve included basic instructions at the end of this post.

[I should note, I'm posting this from the road (literally-- as we drive through Georgia), so will post a second part with photos in a few days when I have a better internet connection.]

Anyway, the GBBC began in 1998 and is run by the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. To participate, you count birds for at least 15 minutes on at least one of the four days (February 16 to 19 in 2018). Then you enter your data at birdcount.org or directly at ebird.org. You’ll need to set up a free eBird account if you don’t already have one, since the eBird tool and app are what make the online count possible..

The great part about GBBC is that it’s a global snapshot of the birds, and takes place everywhere at the same time. I like knowing that all over the world tons of other birders and bird watchers are counting along with me!

Although the count refers to backyards, you don’t need a yard or garden to participate. Count anywhere you like. This year, the GBBC coincided with the weekend after we planned to go to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. So we made a trip out of it.

Mardi Gras itself was February 13. After we finished up in New Orleans, we swung through central Florida for a few days. We did this the last time Mardi Gras coincided with the GBBC too.

However, because we were in tropical Florida this year, I definitely got more species than I did for last year’s GBBC. My favorite sightings so far have been:

·      My first-ever Monk Parakeet, in St. Petersburg

·      Tons of Black Skimmers, also in St. Petersburg

·      An American Kestrel spotted by my husband as we drove back north on Sunday (no photo of that one, of course)

·      Palm Warblers at Disney World, constantly bobbing their tails as they hunted for gnats and other tasty insects.

·      Yellow-rumped Warblers, which were nearly ubiquitous in some of the resort areas of Disney World

·      Roseate Spoonbills along the road as we drove north, as well as flying overhead in St. Petersburg

·      Sandhill Cranes by the side of the road in Florida as we headed north

·      A non-bird sighting, but still exciting nonetheless: a manatee in a bayou in St. Petersburg! That was definitely unexpected since we didn’t go specifically looking for manatees. This one found us, though.

We’ll get home to Maryland tonight, and collapse into our beds. Tomorrow I hope to bulk up my list if I can squeeze a decent birding trip in between unpacking and laundry. I hope you try your hand at the Great Backyard Bird Count this year too. Let me know in the comments what you think!

If you want to participate, here’s what to do:

• Go to ebird.org and set up an account if you don’t already have one.
•  Count birds anywhere you like. Out your office window is fine, out your kitchen window, anywhere is fine. The most urban city neighborhood to the most remote wilderness, or anywhere in between—all locations can help scientists see how birds are doing right now.
•  If you want to use the eBird app, you can tally your birds instantly without having to do an extra step of logging into the main website. Download the free eBird Mobile app, then start a new checklist each time you do a count. Recent updates to the mobile app even track your path and calculate your distance for you, so you won’t have to guess when eBird asks you how far you traveled. Pretty cool!
• If you prefer to keep track of your checklists on paper, you can still enter them through the eBird website.
• If you don’t feel confident about your bird identifications, another free app can help, called Merlin, also from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. It will ask you questions about the bird’s size, what colors it has, and show you photos of birds that match your description. Then you select which photo matches your bird, and voila! You have your identification. I used Merlin frequently in Florida this trip, and usually it helped me figure out the right bird pretty much immediately.
• Complete as many checklists as you want, from as many different locations as you want, from the 16^th through the 19^th. All of the checklists will be gathered to make this year’s snapshot.
• Since 2018 has been declared the Year of the Bird, why not make this the year you try birding in a different way than you have before? Enter your sightings online at eBird if you never have, or include photographs or even sound recordings. The GBBC weekend is a great time to practice your skills, and maybe bring some non-birding friends along.
•  There’s also an annual photograph contest for GBBC, so don’t forget your camera! Have fun birding, and let me know what you find, in the comments below.

2017's eBird Challenge

It's not too late for a 2017 wrapup post, is it? I hope not, because I'm still reviewing all I did and learned over the last year.

One of my projects was to participate in the eBird 365 challenge from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology-- that is, to submit at least one checklist per day. I'll admit, sometimes i didn't send in my sightings on the actual day, but I entered my data as soon as I could the next day. Usually, though, I used the app on my phone to send in data right from the field. It was a lot of fun trying to find a few minutes every day to count birds wherever I happened to be.

I don't know my final total number of checklists; the app only saves about a month worth of data at a time and I didn't think to email myself each month. But I do know my total number of bird species: 127. Since I also finished my Master's degree this year, I'm pretty pleased with my total.

A few of my favorite birds from this past year:

The Red-headed Woodpecker showed up in my yard very briefly

At Boyd Hill Nature Preserve in St. Petersburg, FL, this Great Horned Owl had taken over an active Osprey nest! The park staff told us all about it when we got to the visitor center and asked them about the nesting owls.

My lifer Clapper Rail, spotted in Ocean City, MD

And the 'Oregon' subspecies of Dark-eyed Junco that I excitedly tallied, but neglected to photograph, while I was in Spokane, WA for the NAI national conference. 

I had so much fun doing the challenge, I've already started tallying birds for 2018 as well. I'm aiming for 200 species, but will be satisfied if I can at least make it to 150. I'm definitely targeting my birding excursions more this year, and already have 43 species.

Autumn's Arrival

It's finally fall! It's officially been fall for a couple weeks now, but for me the season doesn't really start until I start seeing migrating birds in my yard.

Today I glanced out my front door and was overjoyed to see a plump White-throated Sparrow scarfing up sunflower seeds. Yay! This is only the first of several, I am sure. I've been trying to log some birds on eBird every day this year, so I look forward to spotting many more of these winter birds and their cohorts.

My first White-throated Sparrow of 2017.

The weather couldn't feel more autumnal today, either. Last night was full of moody rain, which I love to listen to as I fall asleep. Today the rain has mostly stopped, but the clouds are still full and gloomy. I love the cool, dim light, it makes me want to cuddle up inside with a good book, some cider, and a fire in the fireplace. This kind of weather usually makes my cats more cuddly, too!

I hope you are enjoying the season's change wherever you are. Are new birds arriving in your yard too? Let me know in the comments what you're seeing.

Five Fantastic Nature Parks in Florida

To me, nature in Florida is exotic and amazing. The lush tropical swamps and marshes, the tangled mangroves, the bright aroma of citrus orchards, and of course the year-round cacophony of vivid flowers and verdant foliage.  It's a far cry from the chilly winters in Maryland where I now live, to say nothing of Massachusetts where I grew up!

So I love going birding and/or butterflying in Florida when I have the chance. I used to visit the Sunshine State frequently while growing up, since my maternal grandmother lived in Delray Beach. My husband & I got married in Disney World as well, so the two of us spent lots of time in Florida while planning the wedding, and in the years since.

Over the years we've explored many parks all over the eastern United States in search of butterflies and birds. Some were successes, some not. If, like me, you enjoy exploring nature and wildlife, Florida is a great state for it! Sometimes it's hard to narrow down park recommendations when you're just starting to explore an area and don't already have a local contact. Florida has so many awesome parks, it's hard to choose which ones to visit. So to help with that, here are five of my favorite places (so far) to look for either birds or butterflies in Florida.

1. Orlando Wetlands-- Orange County
This park isn't actually in Orlando or even very close-- it's more than an hour's drive east of Orlando, in a tiny town called Christmas. (That was a bit of a surprise to me the first time, I planned our inital visit when we were also at Disney World and I thought it would be a quick side trip. Not very quick, but definitely worth it! We've been back many times since.)

Juvenile Little Blue Heron at Orlando Wetlands

The network of canals and shallow lagoons holds waterfowl galore, plus of course many alligators. The Environmental Education center also has a small butterfly garden around it with interpretive labels. The park offers buggy rides to get you further out than you might go just walking. Make sure you check the Wildlife Sightings list outside the visitor center before you head onto the trails, too, in case any good species have been spotted that you could target. I always try to make an entry in these kinds of lists when I finish a visit, to make sure other folks know what's there and also to let park staff know how much we appreciate their conservation work.

Sneaky Sandhill Crane beneath the birdfeeder

The most recent trip we made included a close encounter with a Sandhill Crane who had found the bounty of the birdfeeder next to one of the picnic shelters. Clever bird!

2. Boyd Hill Nature Preserve-- Pinellas County
Despite being right in the midst of St Petersburg, this park has a huge diversity of habitat, from dry scrub to wetland to lake's edge. Thus it hosts lots of butterflies and birds. The Nature Center also has an aviary with several raptors such as peregrine, harrier, osprey and Bald Eagle, all of which also occur naturally at the park. I have to admit, though, my favorite part of this park is encountering the adorable Gopher Tortoises lumbering across the paths.  I don't know why they strike me as particularly cute, but they do, they're so grumpy and curmudgeonly. Just look at this individual:

This grouchy Gopher Tortoise wasn't so pleased to encounter us!

3. Fred & Idah Schultz Preserve-- Hillsborough County

This park was down a tiny gravel road, if I remember correctly. Like Boyd Hill, it consists of a mix of sandy scrub and wetlands. There were tons of flowers blooming when we last visited, and butterflies everywhere. This is where I got my first Oak Hairstreak, a real thrill. Other butterfliers in the area visit the park regularly, and sometimes post their lists to the sightings page for NABA (North American Butterfly Association). That's how I first heard of the park, by finding a trip report there that included some of my target species.

My first Oak Hairstreak butterfly. Sorry for the obscured view, I chased this little devil quite a bit before getting a decent look.

4. Loxahatchee NWR-- Palm Beach County
This is definitely a sentimental favorite, as my grandmother used to volunteer here and we frequently visited with her. It's made up of both cypress swamp and a network of sloughs, or canals, and thus has lots of waterfowl, waders, and alligators. I didn't pay attention to butterflies back when I was a kid, but in 2015 V and I went on a grim, cloudy day and still found good butterflies. Sadly, few of the photos from that day were worth anything. Check out their website for more information, though!

5. Wakodahatchee Wetlands-- Palm Beach County
This small park is  run by the Palm Beach County water management folks. It's actually designed to help process and filter wastewater from one of their water reclamation plants.  The main attraction is a 3/4 mile long boardwalk the winds through the wetlands so you can get right up close to birds and other wildlife. It's really cool being able to walk right through the marsh and watery areas. Honestly I have not visited Wakodahatchee since before I got into butterflies. I used to visit frequently with family when we were visiting my grandmother, though, and remember loving the birding opportunities there.

What are your favorite parks in Florida to find birds and butterflies? Share in the comment section, and I'll add them to my "must visit" list for next time!