Seminole County Birding, 2013

Lincoln's Sparrow
Canal St, Feb 2013

I didn't intend to attempt a Seminole Co. big year this year.  I intended to do at least a little birding every day, and since I have a little time before work, I tended to stick to Seminole Co. on most work days, with an occasional venture into Orange County to visit Mead Gardens or Wekiwa Springs.  On the weekends, I wanted to chase birds within about an hour's drive of my home.  But as finances became tight and time became limited, I found myself concentrating more and more on Semnole County. Eventually I decided to see if I could hit 200 in the year, and then once I did, I just had to keep going.

Philadelphia Vireo
Central Winds Park, Oct 2013

I believe my county is under-birded compared to neighboring counties (Orange, Lake, Brevard, Volusia). Seminole Co is small and filled with suburbs. It's inland so there's no coastline, and there's surprisingly few places to look for shorebirds.  But something about that makes a little more exciting.  I enjoyed looking for new places to find birds I used to think weren't really findable in my county.

Le Conte's Sparrow
Marl Bed Flats, Jan 2013

American Avocet
Marl Bed Flats, Dec 2013

There are a few places that proved to be very profitable places to visit: Marl Bed Flats has been great for shorebirds, sparrows, wading birds, and blackbirds.  Central Winds Park was phenomenal this year for warblers, vireos and other passerines.  The Lower Wekiva River Preserve also provided some fun additions, including Red-headed Woodpeckers and Bachman's Sparrows. And the Black Hammock Fish camp was spectacular for ducks and gulls. A couple friends did a fair amount of birding with me here late in the year, and that let me get several of these ducks on my list, not to mention a Snow Goose and a Black Tern.  I hope this year to save enough for a scope to improve my ability to find and identify ducks.

Red-headed Woodpecker
Lower Wekiva River Preserve, Oct 2013

Bachman's Sparrow
Lower Wekiva River Preserve, July 2013

There's at least one area of Seminole Co. that I've been unable bird significantly--the St. John's River.  The west side of the river is in Seminole Co., and without a boat it's not really feasible to do much birding there, since there aren't many places that that give you access to the river.  During this year's CBC, a Gull-billed Tern, a Sandwich Tern, and 18 Black-bellied Plovers were seen here (I think by boat), but I was was with my wife, who had just been in a car accident.  Don't get me wrong; I'd rather be with her than out birding. But I may need to find some legal and creative ways to get into that area in 2014.

Bufflehead
Black Hammock Fish Camp, Nov 2013

Great Horned Owl
Seminole Co, March 2013

Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Wekiva River, Jun 2013

So here's my Seminole Co. list for 2013. I ended up with 209 species in 2013 (my life list is 215). Perhaps this is not that impressive a total, especially when compared with coastal counties, but I'm proud of it nonetheless. I'm hoping this year to learn more of the birding nooks and crannies in my county that might let me add to this list in the future.

1. Black-bellied Whistling-Duck 
2. Snow Goose 
3. Canada Goose 
4. Muscovy Duck 
5. Wood Duck 
6. Gadwall 
7. American Wigeon 
8. Mottled Duck 
9. Blue-winged Teal 
10. Northern Shoveler 
11. Northern Pintail 
12. Green-winged Teal 
13. Canvasback 
14. Redhead 
15. Ring-necked Duck 
16. Greater Scaup 
17. Lesser Scaup 
18. Bufflehead 
19. Hooded Merganser 
20. Red-breasted Merganser 
21. Ruddy Duck 
22. Northern Bobwhite 
23. Wild Turkey 
24. Pied-billed Grebe 
25. Wood Stork 
26. Double-crested Cormorant 
27. Anhinga 
28. American White Pelican 
29. Brown Pelican 
30. American Bittern 
31. Least Bittern 
32. Great Blue Heron 
33. Great Egret 
34. Snowy Egret 
35. Little Blue Heron 
36. Tricolored Heron 
37. Cattle Egret 
38. Green Heron 
39. Black-crowned Night-Heron 
40. Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 
41. White Ibis 
42. Glossy Ibis 
43. Roseate Spoonbill 
44. Black Vulture 
45. Turkey Vulture 
46. Osprey 
47. Swallow-tailed Kite 
48. Northern Harrier 
49. Sharp-shinned Hawk 
50. Cooper's Hawk 
51. Bald Eagle 
52. Red-shouldered Hawk 
53. Short-tailed Hawk 
54. Red-tailed Hawk 
55. King Rail 
56. Virginia Rail 
57. Sora 
58. Purple Gallinule 
59. Common Gallinule 
60. American Coot 
61. Limpkin 
62. Sandhill Crane 
63. Black-necked Stilt 
64. American Avocet 
65. Killdeer 
66. Spotted Sandpiper 
67. Solitary Sandpiper 
68. Greater Yellowlegs 
69. Lesser Yellowlegs 
70. Dunlin 
71. Least Sandpiper 
72. Pectoral Sandpiper 
73. Long-billed Dowitcher 
74. Wilson's Snipe 
75. American Woodcock 
76. Bonaparte's Gull 
77. Laughing Gull 
78. Ring-billed Gull 
79. Herring Gull 
80. Least Tern 
81. Caspian Tern 
82. Black Tern 
83. Forster's Tern 
84. Royal Tern 
85. Black Skimmer 
86. Rock Pigeon 
87. Eurasian Collared-Dove 
88. White-winged Dove 
89. Mourning Dove 
90. Common Ground-Dove 
91. Yellow-billed Cuckoo 
92. Barn Owl 
93. Eastern Screech-Owl 
94. Great Horned Owl 
95. Barred Owl 
96. Common Nighthawk 
97. Chuck-will's-widow 
98. Eastern Whip-poor-will 
99. Chimney Swift 
100. Ruby-throated Hummingbird 
101. Belted Kingfisher 
102. Red-headed Woodpecker 
103. Red-bellied Woodpecker 
104. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 
105. Downy Woodpecker 
106. Northern Flicker 
107. Pileated Woodpecker 
108. Crested Caracara 
109. American Kestrel 
110. Merlin 
111. Peregrine Falcon 
112. Monk Parakeet 
113. Eastern Wood-Pewee 
114. Acadian Flycatcher 
115. Eastern Phoebe 
116. Great Crested Flycatcher 
117. Eastern Kingbird 
118. Loggerhead Shrike 
119. White-eyed Vireo 
120. Yellow-throated Vireo 
121. Blue-headed Vireo 
122. Philadelphia Vireo 
123. Red-eyed Vireo 
124. Blue Jay 
125. American Crow 
126. Fish Crow 
127. Northern Rough-winged Swallow 
128. Purple Martin 
129. Tree Swallow 
130. Bank Swallow 
131. Barn Swallow 
132. Carolina Chickadee 
133. Tufted Titmouse 
134. Brown-headed Nuthatch 
135. House Wren 
136. Sedge Wren 
137. Marsh Wren 
138. Carolina Wren 
139. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 
140. Ruby-crowned Kinglet 
141. Eastern Bluebird 
142. Veery 
143. Gray-cheeked Thrush 
144. Swainson's Thrush 
145. Hermit Thrush 
146. American Robin 
147. Gray Catbird 
148. Brown Thrasher 
149. Northern Mockingbird 
150. European Starling 
151. American Pipit 
152. Cedar Waxwing 
153. Ovenbird 
154. Worm-eating Warbler 
155. Louisiana Waterthrush 
156. Northern Waterthrush 
157. Blue-winged Warbler 
158. Black-and-white Warbler 
159. Prothonotary Warbler 
160. Swainson's Warbler 
161. Tennessee Warbler 
162. Orange-crowned Warbler 
163. Common Yellowthroat 
164. Hooded Warbler 
165. American Redstart 
166. Cape May Warbler 
167. Cerulean Warbler 
168. Northern Parula 
169. Magnolia Warbler 
170. Bay-breasted Warbler 
171. Blackburnian Warbler 
172. Yellow Warbler 
173. Chestnut-sided Warbler 
174. Blackpoll Warbler 
175. Black-throated Blue Warbler 
176. Palm Warbler 
177. Pine Warbler 
178. Yellow-rumped Warbler 
179. Yellow-throated Warbler 
180. Prairie Warbler 
181. Black-throated Green Warbler 
182. Eastern Towhee 
183. Bachman's Sparrow 
184. Chipping Sparrow 
185. Vesper Sparrow 
186. Savannah Sparrow 
187. Grasshopper Sparrow 
188. Le Conte's Sparrow 
189. Song Sparrow 
190. Lincoln's Sparrow 
191. Swamp Sparrow 
192. White-crowned Sparrow 
193. Summer Tanager 
194. Scarlet Tanager 
195. Northern Cardinal 
196. Blue Grosbeak 
197. Indigo Bunting 
198. Painted Bunting 
199. Bobolink 
200. Red-winged Blackbird 
201. Eastern Meadowlark 
202. Common Grackle 
203. Boat-tailed Grackle 
204. Brown-headed Cowbird 
205. Baltimore Oriole 
206. House Finch 
207. Purple Finch 
208. American Goldfinch 
209. House Sparrow 

Canada Goose
Flea Market