AllAboutBirds.org notes, “The Bobolink is one of the world’s most impressive songbird migrants, traveling some 12,500 miles (20,000 kilometers) to and from southern South America every year. Throughout its lifetime, it may travel the equivalent of 4 or 5 times around the circumference of the Earth.”

In addition to be well-traveled, they’re also pretty birds. The Bobolink males are black with white bellies and a cream-colored patch on their necks. The females are pale brown, looking a little similar to female Red-winged Blackbirds.

I am guessing the group I saw was enroute to the north for breeding. Hopefully I’ll spot them again in the fall when they head back to South America for the winter.

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It was April 1, and it was the first attempt to launch the rocket with its four-person crew. Amazingly, the rocket did fly on its first try — something that is pretty rare across NASA history.

The mission was a success, and the crew sent back some amazing photos from the journey.

Just yesterday, the crew for Artemis III was announced. Hopefully I will be able to photograph their launch, too.

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While many migratory visitors have moved on, there is still a tremendous variety of birds to photograph across the area. It’s just a bit more uncomfortable with the heat, humidity and omnipresent mosquitos.

Here are just a few of the summertime Florida birds I have photographed recently:

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So far I have photographed four of the five: Barred Owl, Burrowing Owl, Eastern Screech-Owl and Great Horned Owl. Still missing from my catalog is the American Barn Owl.

Over the past several weeks, I photographed some Barred Owls at Orlando Wetlands, a Burrowing Owl in Osceola County and a red-morph Eastern Screech-Owl on Merritt Island. (I also photographed a Great Horned Owl at MI, but I wasn’t happy with the results).

So, here are some of my recent Florida owl photos:

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I’m not scientist — let’s make that clear from the start. But I am avid nature observer and bird lover. Since I starting visiting Emeralda back in the fall, there appear to be more Snail Kites hunting in that area. And among the Kites there now are some banded ones I had not previously seen.

Back in January, Audubon released an interesting report titled, “Snail Kite Population Showing Strain in Dry Years.” Since the kites feed on Apple Snails, those snails need water to reproduce. If there’s not enough water, there’s not enough snails and not enough food for Snail Kites. With very dry springs in 2024 and ’25, Audubon said it found only 30 successful Snail Kite nests in the entire state in 2025.

Fast forward to 2026. Florida is again in the midst of a serious drought. One place in the Kites’ historic range that is lowest on the drought index is Central Florida, which includes Lake County near Emeralda. Maybe the Snail Kites are migrating farther up the peninsula looking for Apple Snails — and finding them at Emeralda?

Hopefully, someone with proper training and credentials will look into this hypothesis. But for now, I’m just happy to have more Snail Kites to photograph. Here are some from recent trips to Emeralda.

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I’ve previously only taken still images of these amazing pink birds. Photographs can be amazing, and I am proud of the ones I have taken of these birds over the past couple of years. But a still photo can’t convey the incredible movements these birds made as they spent their morning walking, feeding and resting around Bird Island in the Indian River.

The video starts with one of the flamingos dancing in a circle, presumably feeding. I had never seen that behavior before, another great reason for me to start including video. I hope you enjoy it.

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There were nine there when I last visited them on March 27, but there are way more now. I counted 20 flamingos, and another photographer said he counted 21.

What exactly does this population boom mean? I’m not entirely sure. But last year the number of flamingos at MINWR steadily grew during the spring, with the flamboyance reaching more than 30. The number of birds went down as the summer progressed, with the remaining ones eventually leaving the Haulover Canal area for other parts of the refuge.

One thing I did learn is that flamingo are very active a night and that’s when they usually migrate. So, there could be more morning surprises in the future.

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It appears they never actually left but were residing in less remote parts of the 140,000-acre refuge. There had been a couple of reported sightings of flamingos in the past six months, in New Smyrna Beach and areas mostly north of Haulover Canal. But during the week of March 19, a group of them returned to their previous hangout at Bird Island off the heavily traveled Haulover Canal.

I went to visit them on a Friday evening as the sun was setting. It was great to see nine flamingos around the island and many of the other birds who are there. Hopefully, like last spring, more flamingos will join the Merritt Island group. Fingers crossed.

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There is a mated pair of Sandhill Cranes who nest in the same spot at the wetlands each year. I was a bit concerned because they seemed to be behind schedule, but last week two little Sandhill Crane colts hatched from the nest. I got to see them on Sunday when they were still less than a week old.

Unlike most baby birds, Sandhill Crane colts don’t look terrifying right after they are born. In fact, it’s definitely cuteness overload with these little birds, who will quickly grow and, hopefully, become the next generation of Florida Sandhill Cranes.

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A second Burrowing Owl has shown up and they appear to be mates. That’s great news for this pint-sized raptor, which Florida lists as an “imperiled” species.

Here’s what the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says about Burrowing Owl breeding in the state:

“The typical breeding season for the Florida burrowing owl is February 15 to July 10, though owls can breed earlier or later. Nesting occurs in burrows in the ground that they dig.  These burrows will be maintained and used again the following year. …   Females lay up to eight eggs within a one-week period, and they will incubate the eggs for up to 28 days.  Once the white-feathered juveniles are born, it takes two weeks before they are ready and able to appear out of the burrow.  Juveniles will begin learning how to fly at four weeks, but will not be able to fly well until they are six weeks old.  Juveniles will stay with the parents until they are able to self-sustain at 12 weeks old.”

Hopefully we’ll get to see some baby burrowers at some point.

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