Birds of the Everglades

As a Fisheries and Wildlife Biology Graduate from NCSU, many of my classes included labs in the field at 5:00 am. Silently walking through the woods listening to research, ornithologists describe a Blue Jay’s call. “Hear that? Tweet Tweet Tweet. That is a Blue Jay.” “You are now responsible for knowing the Genus and species of this bird along with what it eats, what habitats it can be found in, and when and where it migrates.” This may have sounded like a great class, but as a twenty-year-old studying animals, this was not my idea of fun. I was here for Polar Bears and Tigers. I wanted to hike and see the charismatic megafauna, not watch songbirds at 5:00 am. Well, fast forward twenty years, and my idea of a good time in the woods has changed. I’m still not sold on spotting four-inch brown songbirds and checking them off my list, but I absolutely love seeing the larger long-legged wading birds the Everglades is famous for.
I love hearing a bird that no one can see yet positively IDing it by its call. Even better, kayaking around an island and pointing out 10 different bird species when they all look the same at first sight. These bird pages were designed to be casually informative and not scientific. When writing our descriptions, think Everglades Gladesmen vs. Ph.D. Ornithologist. Some pages will include our everyday language vs. Latin genus and species. We can try to pull those terms from the basement of our brains, but we would much rather say, “Oh my gosh, look at that giant pink bird.”
With that said, we are all super knowledgeable on the Everglades critters and ecology’s technical side. Still, we prefer to hang out with you side by side as a candid guide vs. an instructor or professor.
This is a work in progress. We have just started to organize and edit our photos.