I began the year on a New Year’s cruise with Arthur and did my first birding of 2016 on Great Stirrup Cay, Norwegian Cruise Line’s private island in the Bahamas. I decided against participating in the Bird-a-Day challenge this year and just haven’t been birding (locally or otherwise) much. Still, I’m keeping a Green Birding List for the year. Here’s a short update on the list for the first part of 2016.

In January I visited Gemini Springs 3 times, Konomac Lake 1 time, and checked off several birds at home. I started off with 65 Green Birding List species in January.

Eastern Phoebe, Gemini Springs | 05-JAN-16

Great Blue Heron, Gemini Springs | 11-JAN-16

Painted Bunting blending in, Gemini Springs | 11-JAN-16

Chipping Sparrow, Gemini Springs | 11-JAN-16

February brought the total number of species to 83, with 3 visits to Audubon Park and several stops at other regular sites.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Audubon Park | 01-FEB-16

Belted Kingfisher, Lake Monroe Boat Ramp | 15-FEB-16

Osprey & Boat-tailed Grackles, Gemini Springs | 16-FEB-16

White-tailed Deer, Audubon Park | 21-FEB-16

In March and April I was pretty deep into training for my first half marathon and didn’t go birding too often; at the end of April I had a total of 92 Green Birding List species. I added a handful more during the following two months and ended the first half of the year with 95 species.

Scarlet Kingsnake (seen during run), Gemini Springs | 06-APR-16

American Alligator, Gemini Springs | 12-APR-16

Florida Red-bellied Cooter, Gemini Springs | 12-APR-16

Earth Day Wild Turkey family visit at home! Look at the babies! | 22-APR-16

I’ve had a look at where I’m at now compared to previous years and I should be able to get 10 more species with very little effort if I just head to a couple of spots I haven’t been to this year so far. With more regular birding I would still have a good shot at around 140 species… let’s see what happens in the second half of the year! I’ve already added 8 species in July, including one brand new to my all-time Green Birding List!

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December was a blur of holiday fun times with family intermingled with a nasty head cold and followed by an awesome Caribbean cruise between Christmas and the New Year. I guess that’s why I only went “green” birding ONCE in the entire month! I visited Gemini Springs on December 7th, where I recorded 36 species. Here are a couple of shots from that outing:

A new interpretive sign!

White-eyed Vireo!

Distant Loggerhead Shrike!

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Note: this post is back-dated.

In November I recorded 69 species over 6 checklists for my green birding list. Last year just birding Gemini Springs I had 67 species in 7 trips. There were no new year birds for the green list during the month. Here are some photographic highlights from my green birding trips in November 2015:

Eastern Phoebe at Gemini Springs | 09 NOV 2015

Walking back into the park from the bike path on November 9th, I caught site of a huge snakeskin hanging from a large oak tree. I took a few photos but nothing shows the scale of this thing — I guess it was two inches wide and maybe five feet long. And it was at least 30 feet up in the tree! What kind of big monster snake left this thing?!

Unidentified snakeskin at Gemini Springs | 09 NOV 2015

Palm Warbler at Gemini Springs | 23 NOV 2015

On November 23rd I was really surprised to see a pair of Bald Eagles perched on power structure near a well-used Osprey nest. I’m not sure if this is the Gemini Springs pair or other birds.

Bald Eagles outside of Gemini Springs | 23 NOV 2015

White Ibises at Gemini Springs | 30 NOV 2015

Northern Cardinal at Gemini Springs | 30 NOV 2015

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Note: this post is back-dated.

In October I recorded 70 species over 8 checklists for my green birding list. I added three birds for the year: Blackburnian and Magnolia Warblers at Audubon Park and Northern Waterthrush at Gemini Springs. Last year I recorded 71 species in 10 trips to Gemini Springs.

During the month, Arthur and I celebrated our 15 year anniversary during a long weekend in Savannah, Georgia. We also got Disney passes about a month earlier and started to use them in earnest in October. And I ran my first 5K race on the 25th. It was already starting to happen (hello abandoned blog), but birding started to take a backseat in my life, unfortunately. Anyway, here are some photographic highlights from the month.

Wet Barred Owl at Audubon Park | 04 OCT 2015

Blackburnian Warbler record shot at Audubon Park | 04 OCT 2015

White Peacock at Audubon Park | 04 OCT 2015

Great Blue Heron at Gemini Springs | 06 OCT 2015

White Ibises at Gemini Springs | 06 OCT 2015

tiny frog, species unknown, at Audubon Park | 16 OCT 2015

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Note: this post is back-dated.

In September I recorded 59 species over 15 checklists for my green birding list, adding three to the year list: Common Nighthawk, Yellow Warbler, and Eastern Wood-Pewee, all at Gemini Springs. In September 2014 I had 64 species at Gemini Springs; in September 2013 I had 56. Here are some photographic highlights from the month.

White-tailed Deer at Brickyard Slough | 07 SEP 2015

White-eyed Vireo (tortured by Photoshop) at Brickyard Slough | 07 SEP 2015

Limpkin at Lake Monroe Boat Ramp | 07 SEP 2015

Young Red-shouldered Hawk at Gemini Springs | 09 SEP 2015

Eastern Kingbirds at Gemini Springs | 14 SEP 2015

Red-bellied Woodpecker at Gemini Springs | 14 SEP 2015

On September 19th, Seminole Audubon had a walk at Gemini Springs. The focus was more on the springs and the flora of the park, but we managed to see some birds, too. My parents and Arthur joined the walk as well.

Birders at Gemini Springs | 19 SEP 2015

Golden Orb Weaver at Gemini Springs | 19 SEP 2015

Boardwalk at Audubon Park | 20 SEP 2015

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Note this post is back-dated.

In August I recorded 63 species over 18 checklists for my green birding list, adding five to the year list: Yellow Warbler at home; Eastern Kingbird, King Rail, and Northern Rough-winged Swallow at Gemini Springs; and Hooded Warbler at Audubon Park. In August 2014 I had 31 species at Gemini Springs; in August 2013 I had 40. Here are some photographic highlights from the month.

Florida Scrub-Jay at Quail Lakes Powerline Trails | 03-AUG-15

On August 10th I biked to a new green spot: the Beck Ranch portion of Lake Monroe Conservation Area. I only saw 10 species during my visit but the park is a gateway to the much larger conservation area and a spot to check out again for sure. I did spend some time looking at the interpretive signs explaining the conversion of the property from a working cattle ranch to its current incarnation.

Bike rack at Beck Ranch Park | 10-AUG-15

Downy Woodpecker at Gemini Springs | 15-AUG-15

Young Wood Stork at Audubon Park | 16-AUG-15

Sandhill Crane at Festival Park | 17-AUG-15

Carolina Wren at Gemini Springs | 19-AUG-15

The first Painted Bunting of the fall showed up in our yard on August 21st. He was a one-day wonder. Since then we have been seeing female-type birds a few times per week.

Painted Bunting in our yard | 21-AUG-15

Limpkin at Hickory Bluff Preserve | 24-AUG-15

On August 31st I was very surprised to find an extremely early American Robin at Gemini Springs. It was terribly overcast and the bird was distant but I managed to take an ID photo for eBird. While robins can be a sign of spring for northerners, they are a sign of fall and of the beginning of the end of migration excitement for us here in Florida. We typically start seeing flocks of American Robins arriving in central Florida in early to mid November.

American Robin at Gemini Springs | 31-AUG-15

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