Florida’s Feathered Friends

White ibis (Eudocimus albus). Photo by Jim Mathisen

Some of the biggest names in Hollywood signed up in 2011 to make a movie about bird watching, underscoring just how popular this pastime has become. In “The Big Year,” Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson played birders competing for a national record – the most avian species seen or heard in a calendar year. According to a recent poll by the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, nearly 50 million Americans consider themselves to be bird watchers. 

As anyone who has lived in or visited Florida knows, the Sunshine State has a lot of birds: 516 different species based on the latest count by the Florida Ornithological Society. So it’s not surprising that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission created the Great Florida Birding Trail – now the Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail – a portion of which is located in Indian River County. 

The map above shows the location of these sites, the common habitats found in each, and examples of some of those elusive species that many people travel to Florida to see.