The weather patterns have not been conducive to coastal sightings of migratory birds along the panhandle of Florida this year. In the absence of strong north winds, the birds are flying across the Gulf and making their first landing much further inland. Thus, using eBird hotspots to find locations where migrating songbirds were being seen, I made a 3 day birding trip to Ft. De Soto State Park near Tierra Verde, FL. The park is located on five interconnecting islands (keys) consisting of over 1000 acres with a variety of habitats (mangroves, wetlands, palm hammocks, etc). Over the next few weeks I will post some of the images I obtained during this outing. Prairie Warblers, a species noticeably absent from the galleries in my Smugmug web site, are featured in my first blog.
