Where the Birds Are

Some people think that you have to trek far off the beaten path to see birds, or at least any birds worth seeing.  This might be true for some birds; some birds, like some people, prefer the solitary life and don't care much to be around others.  But the wilderness, for all its soul-restoring virtues, is not necessarily the best and only place to see birds.  Birds care about food, shelter, and a safe place to reproduce, and short of constant harassment, find these conditions met in many suburban settings.  Many birds thrive along edges, where different kinds of plant communities or environments meet, and these broken up or patchy conditions can be nicely, if inadvertently, provided by suburbia.  In Temple Terrace, you don't need to travel far or be an intrepid adventurer to enjoy birds.

Here are a couple of settings that I've found to be both easily accessible and very rewarding for sampling our local bird life:

RiverHills Boardwalk: along the boardwalk at the river's edge, limpkins, great bule, small blue, green, and night herons, wood storks, ibis, wood storks, and roseate spoonbills.  In the water; gallinules, mallard ducks, wood ducks, anhingas.  On the islands; heron and ibis rookeries, occasional redwing blackbird.  On the pine and oak slopes: red shouldered hawks, palm warblers (flitting just above the ground beneath the oaks), cardinals, jays, several species of woodpecker, doves.  Overhead; ospreys flying to and fro their river island nests or the nests at the 56th Street bridge.  Pests who like to be fed; muscovy ducks, grackles, starlings.

Golf Course Ponds: especially in winter for migratory diving ducks (more on this later), year-round, herons.

Golf Course Edge along river swamp: small songbirds, moving quickly, feeding. Woodpeckers, occasional bluebird (but usually more out in the open).  Large pine trees--osprey nests, roosting turkey vultures (often in large numbers).

Your Own Yard: if you provide cover (understory of shrubs beneath larger oaks) and have shrubs with seeds or berries, you're likely to have birds.  Some native plants like firebush are very easy to grow and attract hummingbirds.  You'll also get chickadees, titmice, warblers, Carolina wrens (who also find many nooks and crannies to nest), woodpeckers on the bigger trees (Pileated woodpeckers very striking and easy to identify), catbirds, cowbirds, cardinals, blue jays, brown thrashers, and the list goes on.  I've seen hawks feeding frequently on front lawns where they can dig out or grab worms and various insects.  Hawks spend a lot of time on the ground; I don't think they can read the "keep off" signs that the lawn services stick up after they've poisoned a yard.

You can see from these brief notes that I've left out some common birds and haven't even mentioned the rare or exotic.  So keep your eyes open--there's plenty to see.  Bird shows right here in Temple Terrace for free--you don't even have to go to Busch Gardens!