Florida in Winter

Florida Scrub-Jay © Rafael Galvez

Fantastic winter birding in various habitats throughout Florida; pleasant weather and easy terrains; regional specialties, an abundance of waders, songbirds, and wintering ducks.

Florida is a fantastic place to be in winter—to get away from colder climates in the same manner as do hundreds of species of wintering birds from throughout North America. Large numbers of waders and shorebirds can be expected along the tidal shallows and mangroves of the Gulf Coast, including specialties such as Roseate Spoonbill, Reddish Egret, Wood Stork, Wilson’s Plover, up to 5 species of terns, and Black Skimmer. The beaches may attract Piping and Snowy plovers, and many sandpipers and gulls. Inland, vast Pine Flatwoods will give us an opportunity to find the rare and declining Red-cockaded Woodpecker, along with Brown-headed Nuthatch and, with luck, the elusive Bachman’s Sparrow in the palmetto understory.

We will cross the peninsula and visit wetlands where Snail Kites and Limpkins forage, and where Purple Gallinules, rails, and bitterns may be found with patience. Herons will be commencing their nesting season and Anhingas showing their breeding colors. Springs will shelter the threatened West-Indian Manatee while American Alligators bask on marshy edges. Once on the Atlantic Coast, we will visit Florida’s largest barrier island and enjoy close views of great congregations of waterfowl at Merritt Island, including more than a dozen species of ducks. Uplands along the coast host oak scrub where the state’s sole endemic bird species can be found, the charismatic Florida Scrub-Jay.

The tour starts on Florida’s Gulf Coast, taking us through the Kissimmee River Basin north of Lake Okeechobee and a diversity of habitats to end on the Space Coast and marshes along the Canaveral National Seashore. This tour will be a slower-paced exploration of the Sunshine State’s prime wetland destinations including: “Ding” Darling and its mangrove flats teeming with spoonbills, Reddish Egrets, and pelicans; Corkscrew Swamp and its magical boardwalk through an ancient Baldcypress forest; and Merritt Island’s wildlife drive through impoundments that attract tremendous congregations of ducks, herons, storks, and ibises. The regional hammocks and pinelands will host an array of wintering birds, including several woodpeckers, sparrows, and up to a dozen warbler species. Raptors along the way may include Swallow-tailed Kite, Short-tailed Hawk, and Crested Caracara.

With a diversity of habitats from coast to coast, an abundance of wintering species, and good chances for a variety of specialties, a winter Florida tour is a must.

Good accommodations; mostly roadside birding; generally pleasant winter conditions with potentially cold mornings.

Snail Kite © Michael O'Brien