Everglades Summer Birding

Everglades summer birding is much different than winter birding. For one thing, in the summer the mosquitoes, and horseflies are horrible! Don't forget the mosquito spray! You will also find different birds and wildlife in the summer then you will find in the winter. Flycatchers and kingbirds are "king" in the summer.

Great Crested Flycatcher in sawgrass meadow

In the winter you will find a variety of warblers, birds of prey, and many other songbirds. If you want to see some summer songbirds check out Long Pine Key where you could find an Eastern Towee, Brown Headed Nuthatch, Northern Cardinals, or the recent rare sighting of the Black Faced Grassquit!

Eastern Towee at Long Pine Key

At the entrance of the everglades main service road you are likely to see wading birds, red winged black birds, birds of prey, Eastern Meadowlarks, and if you wait until late in the evening, you find common night hawks soaring and diving.

Eastern Meadowlark at park entrance on main service road

Common Nighthawk at dusk

If you enjoy insect watching as well, something interesting I saw last weekend was that there were many many grasshoppers everywhere! They were making a "swishing" noise, and many were mating, and were all over the road. Probably hundreds of them! It was an interesting sight to say the least. There were many Zebra Longwinged Butterflies as well.

Eastern Lubber Grasshopper

Zebra Longwing Butterfly at Anhinga Trail

We tried heading to Flamingo, and Mahogany Hammock but we were met by storms, heavy rain, thunder and lightening. It is always a risk for afternoon thunderstorms during the Florida summers. Normally at Flamingo you can find various wading birds including herons, egrets, avocets, stilts, sandpipers, and roseate spoonbills. Before we got back onto the main road from Mahogany Hammock, we were lucky enough to run into an Eastern Kingbird! A lifer for me as I have seen many Gray Kingbirds, but not the Eastern Kingbird before.

Eastern Kingbird at Mahogany Hammock

The last thing to remember with summer birding in the everglades is that water has returned throughout the park during the wet season so wildlife wont be in confined areas like in winter, and spring. You may need to do a little more searching to find different kinds of animals and reptiles.

Green Anole at Reef Rock Pass

So as you can see summer birding in the Everglades is much different then in winter. There are different birds and wildlife this time of year so definitely don't want to miss out! Be sure to bring your camera, a can of bug spray, sunscreen, a hat, and plenty of water as temps are brutal this time of year! What kinds of wildlife have you found this summer??

-by Michelle P.