Florida originally had eight different sparrows, living among tall grasses in dry prairies and swampy marshes from Central Florida to the Southern Everglades. Weakened by natural habitat loss from over development of Florida’s Dry Prairie Ecosystem, the song of these birds may soon go silent. As the Miami Herald reports, grasshopper sparrows are considered North […]
Tag: Grasshopper Sparrow
Decline of threatened bird highlights planning importance of bison releases
The story of the American bison is both tragic and uplifting. Once dappling the prairies of North America in the tens of millions, hunting winnowed the number to perhaps a thousand survivors by the end of the 19th century. Nearly wiping out the continent’s largest surviving land animal was a bloody stain on the century-old […]
Two Winter Specialties At Stratford Point
Stratford Point just off I-95 above the Long Island Sound became host to a Short-eared Owl on 2 January according to eBird data. I closely followed reports of the Short-eared Owl on eBird as I had not observed the species in the wild before. As the owl was seen with regularity I began to study […]
Sprague’s Pipit at the Little Big Econ WMA (Kilbee Tract), 1/4/2015
Yesterday I met up in the early morning with a couple of my friends to explore the Little Big Econ WMA. Our biggest hope was to find the Vermilion Flycatcher that has been hanging out along the Econ River. We found that bird without much trouble, though it was very early in the morning, and […]
A Fun Day for Sparrows and Buntings
Yesterday I went to my favorite little sparrow spot in Seminole County. It has been fantastic to us this winter, since we’ve been able to see Grasshopper Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Lincoln’s Sparrow, and even a Lark Sparrow, not to mention our more commons species: Savannah, Swamp and Chipping Sparrows. However, since […]
Rhythm
Lately I’ve been considering why it is I find birding so continuously fascinating, and even addicting. Of course there’s the beauty of the birds, the thrill of finding them (especially rarities), and the challenge of learning to identify them. I also have great interest in learning about their behavior–why they act the way they do. […]
Florida’s Ammodramus Sparrows
There are six Ammodramus sparrows that occur in Florida, and now I have presentable photos of all of them. This may be my favorite group of birds in the world. I know the Henslow’s Sparrow photo below is terrible, but I’m not complaining. I suspect I won’t get a better photo unless I see one […]
Grasshopper Sparrows Have Returned
I love fall migration, don’t get me wrong, but I get really excited when sparrows start coming in. This past Saturday I found my first Savannah Sparrow at Merritt Island, and today I went to my favorite local spot for sparrows on a little street south of Lake Jesup. It’s just a fence line with […]