Wild Florida – It’s the Season for Bird Song

Today on Wild Florida, Master Naturalist and journalist Lisa Grubba talked about backyard birding as a way of enjoying the outdoors and de-stressing during the COVID-19 shelter-at-home orders. The segment appeared during WJCT’s First Coast Connect with host Melissa Ross at 89.9 FM.

Jody Willis, the president of Duval Audubon Society, had the following tips for becoming a backyard birder:

• Keep binoculars close by as you’re in and around your yard.
• If you don’t have binoculars, you can make a bird feeder or bath near a porch or window in order to observe them.
• Bird food can be ordered from a hardware store or Wild Birds Unlimited. But don’t put a feeder in your yard if you have an outdoor cat and do keep the feeder or bath clean; moldy food is toxic to birds.
• The type of feed determines what species you’ll attract. Bluebirds and Chickadees, for example, will feed on dried meal worms. To attract a Baltimore Oriole as it migrates through north Florida, cut an orange in half and put it in a tree.
• Pick some common species to get to know: Blue Jay, Northern Cardinal, Carolina Wren, Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, Brown Thrasher, and Bluebird. Also Owls, Eagles and Woodpeckers are active in parks and yards this time of year.
• Use YouTube videos of specific birds to learn a bird’s call.
• The birds are nesting in spring, so be careful not to disturb them. If startled, they may abandon the nest.

Birding can be a great hobby for the family because it can be pursued both together and independently. Audubon has a great site for kids called Audubon for Kids with new content added every week.

Here are some other ideas that kids can pursue independently: Pick a couple of common species to learn, like Blue Jays and Cardinals. Using photos from a field guide or the internet, draw and color the birds as a way of learning each one’s specific characteristics. Start your own Field Notebook to draw things you see outdoors and write down observations. Use YouTube to listen to each birds call, and see if you can mimic it on a musical instrument.

Got cabin fever? Take a scenic drive. State and national forests are still open, and most have roads that cut through them. Cars are allowed and you can even access a trail, according to Rob Chase, public information officer with the Florida Forest Service. Trail heads are closed in order to avoid crowds gathering, he said. But hikers can park along the side of the road near a trail and enter from other points.

The University of Florida Extension Service reminds people that facilities, like restrooms, may not be available, so plan ahead. Also, to keep park employees from being overwhelmed, take your trash with you when you leave.

The moon is full during this first week in April; take a scenic drive or a walk under the moonlight. Heckscher Drive as it crosses Nassau Sound offers a beautiful view by moonlight of the Atlantic Ocean, the sound and the white sands of Huguenot Park.

Remember, nature is not on lock-down; it’s doing what it always does in spring, which is rejuvenate and bloom. There are many things to look forward to in the months to come. Days are getting longer, which means longer sunsets in the evening. Water temperatures are rising, which means more swimming. Sea turtles are lumbering ashore right now to lay eggs. Shrimp are starting to run in the St. Johns River. Now is a great time to get outdoors and take solace in nature.

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