Posted by Kelly Rowe on April 10, 2006 at 10:45 AM
I have been birding off and on in central and south Florida for a bunch of years. My ancient copy of Robbin's had to be drilled and stitched together with nylon twine because the pages were falling out; 30 years ago.
My memory isn't the greatest, but it sure seems like a lot of the birds that I used to take for granted are gone, or not present in any significant numbers. It used to be impossible to walk around my favorite birding sites and not see a Meadowlark or a Rufous Sided Tohee, but I can't remember when I last saw those. Loggerhead Shrikes, Blue-grey Gnatcatchers, and Phoebes were common place, but now I'm challenged to find any of those on a given day. I haven't seen a winter Robin in years where they used to flock to my back yard. I can hardly remember what a Bobwhite Quail looks or sounds like.
Is it just me or have other Florida birders observed similar reductions in numbers and species? I live very close to Orlando which is growing so quickly that habitat is an issue, but I really hadn't noticed before. I guess it's like the frog in the pot of water...
Discussion
0 repliesMy memory isn't the greatest, but it sure seems like a lot of the birds that I used to take for granted are gone, or not present in any significant numbers. It used to be impossible to walk around my favorite birding sites and not see a Meadowlark or a Rufous Sided Tohee, but I can't remember when I last saw those. Loggerhead Shrikes, Blue-grey Gnatcatchers, and Phoebes were common place, but now I'm challenged to find any of those on a given day. I haven't seen a winter Robin in years where they used to flock to my back yard. I can hardly remember what a Bobwhite Quail looks or sounds like.
Is it just me or have other Florida birders observed similar reductions in numbers and species? I live very close to Orlando which is growing so quickly that habitat is an issue, but I really hadn't noticed before. I guess it's like the frog in the pot of water...
Kelly