Good Birding in Boring Places

Eastern Phoebe

It occurred to me  a couple years ago that birds don't care about whether they'e in a "birding hot spot."  Given the right habitat, you can find birds anywhere, even in boring places like where I work.  And so, beginning in 2011, I started to use my workplace as an experiment.  I work in a relatively unattractive office park, but there's a pond in front my building, some nice trees in the parking lot, and behind my building, there's a row of trees that form the southern border of a recreational park.  So I decided that I would do 15 minutes of birding here several mornings per week, just to see what I might find.  I rarely bring my camera to work, and I've taken no pictures at this location with my SLR.  This is just a time for "pure" birding before the start of the day.  The photos you see in this post are of the species of birds I've seen at my workplace though the actual photos were taken elsewhere.

Pine Warbler

So here's a list of the 44 species I've seen around "Grassy Lake" near the corner of Rte 17-92 and Rte 436 in Casselberry, FL.   I regularly see Ring-necked Ducks, Wood Ducks and Hooded Mergansers in the lake, and in the trees, it's always a surprise what I'll find.  This morning I found two Pine Warblers and a Tufted Titmouse, neither of which have I seen at this location before.  Maybe I should bring my camera.

Species	Date
Wood Duck	1/3/2012
Mallard	1/3/2012
Ring-necked Duck	1/12/2012
Lesser Scaup	1/3/2012
Hooded Merganser	2/6/2012
Pied-billed Grebe	1/12/2012
Wood Stork	1/17/2012
Anhinga	1/12/2012
Great Egret	1/9/2012
Snowy Egret	1/9/2012
Little Blue Heron	4/26/2011
Black Vulture	1/3/2012
Turkey Vulture	1/26/2012
Osprey	4/26/2011
Red-shouldered Hawk	1/9/2012
Red-tailed Hawk	1/3/2012
Common Gallinule	1/12/2012
American Coot	1/9/2012
Sandhill Crane	1/17/2012
Ring-billed Gull	1/17/2012
Rock Pigeon	1/12/2012
Mourning Dove	4/26/2011
Belted Kingfisher	1/12/2012
Red-bellied Woodpecker	4/26/2011
Downy Woodpecker	4/26/2011
Eastern Phoebe	1/3/2012
Blue Jay	4/26/2011
American Crow	4/26/2011
Fish Crow	4/26/2011
Tufted Titmouse	2/6/2012
Carolina Wren	4/26/2011
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	1/3/2012
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1/26/2012
Northern Mockingbird	4/26/2011
Brown Thrasher	4/28/2011
European Starling	4/26/2011
Black-and-white Warbler	1/26/2012
Palm Warbler	1/9/2012
Pine Warbler	2/6/2012
Northern Cardinal	4/28/2011
Red-winged Blackbird	4/26/2011
Common Grackle	4/26/2011
Boat-tailed Grackle	4/26/2011
House Finch	4/26/2011