Was just reading another thread were the OP couldn't go diving in Cozumel because of "Norte", so they went birding with a guide instead.
This week we did a a 5 hour bird watching tour in
Cozumel with Elvis Jimenez during the Norte that closed the port. It wonderful.
I put bird in the search function and this thread popped up.
What the heck do people do on the weekends if they can’t dive? This weather is awful….
It's excellent bird watching season! We have so many amazing birds that visit South FL every winter along with all of our amazing local birds. Palm Beach County has FANTASTIC birding parks and natural areas.
So 366 days after the above posts from
@CosbySweater and
@Divin'Papaw we have similar weather conditions. What
@Divin'Papaw wrote still holds true we have fantastic bird watching in south Florida, but especially Palm Beach County. When the weather turned to crap after the hurricane I switched gears to birding from scuba diving. Yeah I know its a diving thread, so going to do a little hijacking anyway.
Anybody who reads my threads here knows I normally go on and on about fish. Often I pull interesting stats from REEF.org to highlight certain species or areas. For example the species most rich site in the Tropical Western Atlantic is BHB, with 480 species observed. The next site, is not even close, Bari Reef In Bonaire with 430 species.
There is another organization devoted to birds. Ebird.org. Because so many people watch birds, Ebird.org has lots of members, and lots of contributions. The result is an incredible database. Here are some stats, worldwide. 10,957 species, 101,988,861 checklists, and 1,062,053 members.
More locally, maybe because of actual square mileage Palm Beach County is the leader in species count than surrounding and nearby counties, Martin, Broward, Miami Dade, Monroe, Collier, Hendry and Glades. The high species count by an individual in Palm Beach County is 314.
There is great information provided on where to find birds, in a given local, right down to on an hourly basis if you want it. Just go to the site and hit the explore tab, find a local hot spot, find interesting rare species in your area, join so you can start your own life list. Be careful though, it can be addictive. Since October there has been a Bananaquit hanging out at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. Many who have been to the Caribbean would recognize this bird, sometimes called sugar birds. Not at all shy about landing on your coffee cup, if your having breakfast in St. Croix. But they are RARE in Florida.
Ebird.org app can be loaded on to a phone, makes it easy to do a bird list anywhere. Merlin app can be loaded on to a phone as well. Merlin app can make recording and tell you the likely identity of a bird by its song or call.
Below images are of Red Cockaded Woodpeckers, a threatened species that FWC has been trying to revive in south Florida. These images were taken at the Dupuis Wildlife and Environmental Area at a known nesting location (found from ebird). There is another known nesting area in the Hungryland Wildlife and Environmental Area not far from my home, but still have not observed birds there myself.
