Counting birds for a cause

ABOVE: Little blue heron. RIGHT: Black-and-white warbler ARNOLD COLLENS / COURTESY PHOTOS

Whether you’re a bird lover or a fledgling bird enthusiast, Audubon Florida has an opportunity for you to look and learn more about some of the more than 500 species of birds that live here fulltime or move through with the seasons.

From April 20 through 26, partake in the 2024 Audubon Florida Birdathon from anywhere in the state.

Just choose 24 hours within that time frame, get out your binoculars, head to your favorite park, beach, nature preserve or even your back yard and start counting.

It’s a fun event designed to give the public a chance to go and see birds and help raise funds directly for places that protect birds, said Keith Laakkonen, director of Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. “It’s all about the birds.”

Registration is free, but any funds raised in connection with this year’s birdathon will go to two beneficiaries: Supporting the maintenance of the boardwalk at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and a new aviary for owls at the Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland, which is just north of Orlando.

Corkscrew Swamp, the 13,400-acre sanctuary in Collier County, is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. It has the only remaining virgin bald cypress forest in the world and the largest nesting ground in the nation for the endangered wood stork.

The boardwalk that winds 2.5 miles through this ancient forest is a great way to experience the sanctuary, Laakkonen said.

The birdathon is also happening during a peak migration for a lot of bird species in Florida.

Spring is the time when migratory species, many sporting brilliant breeding plumage, return to their nesting grounds. It is also the time when year-round resident species show off their brightest feathers.

Another birding mecca is the world-famous “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel in Lee County.

Wendy Kindig, immediate past president of the “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society Friends of the Refuge, has been an avid bird since about 2010. “I just enjoy getting out and observing nature and what they do,” she said. “I’m not a lister, not a chaser,” like other bird enthusiasts, she said. “But I’m reasonably good at identifying them.”

Roseate spoonbill PETER BRANNON-AUDUBON PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS / COURTESY PHOTO

Kindig won’t be participating in the April 20-26 birdathon. She is going up to her hometown of Indianapolis to participate in a birdathon on May 11, as she has in previous years.

The birdathon can get competitive, she said. One year, her team, led by what she called a “super birder,” counted 130 species in 24 hours.

Erika Zambello, communications director of Audubon Florida, said the birdathon is a long-standing bird conservation organization tradition. “We run it as a celebration of birds,” she said. It’s not a scientific census, she said. You simply choose a 24-hour period and count as many species of birds as you can. Maybe you go out in the morning to a nature preserve, then go visit a park in the evening, or just sit in your backyard. “You can bird for 15 minutes or 10 hours, or the full 24. Whatever you want to do.”

Pileated woodpecker DAVID KORTE / COURTESY PHOTO

And you just might be embarking on your own avian journey from casual to committed birder.

This year, Corkscrew Sanctuary is focusing on seven “bonus” species that have been important to the park’s seven decade history of conservation: great egret, roseate spoonbill, wood stork, black-and-white warbler, white ibis, little blue heron and pileated woodpecker.

Any participant who submits a checklist from Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary that includes all seven of the “bonus” species will be put in a drawing to win a 70th-anniversary commemorative item.

Laakkonen and other birders are looking at the radar every night in Key West to see what birds are coming off Cuba. The birds migrating en masse look like rain on the radar coming toward Florida, he said. “It’s amazing to see.” The wind forecast will determine where they end up.

“It’s like a treasure hunt,” he said. “You never know what you’ll find in a tree.” ¦

The post Counting birds for a cause first appeared on Charlotte County Florida Weekly .