 Big Bend Wildlife Managment Area: Hickory Mound.
This off the beaten path site is a paradise for birders who enjoy waterbirds and a bit of adventure. Nearly 250 bird species have been reported here via eBird, including wintering and migratory shorebirds and over 20 warbler species. About an hour from Tallahassee or half an hour from Perry, take a bumpy 6-mile ride down Cow Creek Grade off Highway 98 to reach the entrance. Once there, visitors can drive, bike or hike along well-maintained dike roads overlooking brackish marsh and scattered Sabal Palm and oak islands. This site is sunny and remote, so come prepared with sunblock and a packed lunch. Head to the middle of the impoundment where you’ll find an observation tower offering views of nesting Ospreys, Bald Eagles and wintering Northern Harriers. Along the way, watch for some of the more than 20 duck species that have been recorded at Hickory Mound, including Northern Shoveler, Redhead, Lesser Scaup and Hooded Merganser.
Birds aren’t the only wildlife you can enjoy at Hickory Mound. Look for Florida favorites like bobcats, deer and alligators, and keep an eye out for the large colony of Brazilian Free-tailed Bats along the mile-long Bat House Trail. This site is also home to more than 75 types of butterflies, making it a great place to add to your list and earn a Wings Over Florida Butterfly certificate.
Learn more at the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail's webpage for Hickory Mound.
 Screenshot of Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count Trend Viewer.
First held on Christmas day of the year 1900, Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count has become a time-honored winter tradition. The annual event is held from Dec. 14 to Jan. 5 and birders in more than twenty countries participate. The CBC is free and open to all, but participants must secure their spots ahead of time by reaching out to designated count compliers who lead and organize the events. Each count complier heads and trains a group that is responsible for counting the number and types of birds seen within a designated 15-mile diameter circular area on a single day of the CBC. The results of this census have provided over a century of citizen science data on the long term health and status of birds across North America.
This data is accessible to anyone through Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count Trend Viewer, an exciting online tool that uses maps and simple graphs to show how species are doing based on Christmas Bird Count data. Use it to see changes over time from 1970 to 2021, by US state or Canadian province and across bird conservation regions.
 Wings Over Florida bird and butterfly certificates for 2022.
2022 is drawing to a close and we are getting our new Wings Over Florida Big Year certificates and buttons ready. There are still a few days to add to your 2022 bird and butterfly Big Year lists, and it’s the perfect time to start getting them ready to submit. We look forward to seeing how many you saw this year!
Not familiar with a Big Year? It’s the total number of species you observe in a single calendar year. Learn more at our website.
 Bert Alm (right) and his son (left).
Part 1 of 2 (This interview has been edited for length and clarity)
Many birders are familiar with the impulse to see as many birds as possible, but Bert Alm has taken it a step further. In this interview we find out what inspired Burt to embark on his amazing journey to visit every site on the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail.
How did you first learn about the Trail?
I only started birding seriously when I retired about six years ago. I attended the Florida Master Naturalist Program and the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, and they both mentioned the Great Florida Birding Wildlife Trail. At the festival I learned the Trail has these four different trail guides and thought, “Wow, this is really interesting, it’s all over the state.” And we'd only moved to Florida in 2014, so I thought this would be a great way to get to learn more about the state, and I set my goal to try and visit all 500 plus Great Florida Birding Wildlife Trail sites. At first, I thought it was a little crazy, but you know it gave me something to do in my retirement, and that first year I went to 116 different sites.”
What do you think is the most important thing about the Trail?
To me, the fact that these sites are protecting habitat for the future. In almost all cases, these are parks or state forests or areas that have been set aside for the wildlife, but also for people to enjoy. And the other amazing thing about the Trail is how different the sites are all throughout the state. Seeing all the different habitats and learning a little bit more about the different plants and animals, as well as the birds that inhabit those areas, is really important to me. We've been to one or two trail sites where we didn't see any birds, not even a vulture, and yet, those sites are still just absolutely beautiful because it's a Wildlife Trail. We would see butterflies and dragonflies, mammals and reptiles and interesting plants or fungus. And so, whether we see a bird or not isn't the purpose of going to the site. It's learning more about that site, and just experiencing what's there.
What does your family think about your mission to visit all these sites?
My family's very supportive. It's something I get to share with my wife. She’s not into birding, per se, but she's gotten to a point now where she can recognize most of the birds we see. She's a photographer and really just enjoys being outdoors with me taking pictures. She doesn't realize how much she's learned without being an “official” birder. I have some hearing loss, and she's good at helping me in the field with hearing little birds chirping, so we make a good team and it gives us something fun to do together.
My youngest son just recently moved to the Panhandle and believe it or not, I don't have a lot of Panhandle sites covered yet. So now I have a great opportunity to visit them and he enjoys going out with us even though he's not a birder. He's got young ears and young eyes so he's really good at helping spot things. And then my oldest son lives in California, but when I'm with him birding is always something we try to do together. He was with me at Cruickshank Sanctuary at one point when a Scrub-Jay landed on my head and we took a selfie, and then when I took the next picture the Scrub-Jay was jumping off of my head heading towards him, and then the third picture is the Scrub-Jay on his head, and so I kind of called that series passing my love of birding on to my son.
|
floridabirdingtrail.com