*Sheila Willis is a Native American Naturalist who grew up around the Okefenokee Swamp and is currently writing a Birding Guide to the Greater Okefenokee Area. Sheila was kind enough to share her Birding Calendar with us.

Overall the best month for Okefenokee birding due to migrations, courtship activities, & hatchings. Traveling warblers such as American redstart, Cape May , and black-throated blue briefly stop over. Potted sandpipers & barn swallows are common species for the next few weeks. Swallow-tailed kites soar in the skies, cattle egrets walk the roadsides, & prothonotary warblers fill the swamp forests. Calls of Chuck-will’s-widows, great crested flycatchers, and all the woodpeckers are repeated in attempts to establish territories and attract mates. Red-winged blackbird males assert their dominance, and Northern bobwhites say their names. Bachman’s sparrows are most likely to be heard & even seen during this period. Wading birds begin nesting in colonies. Sandhill crane, wood duck, wildtrukey, red-shouldered hawk, Carolina wren, & Eastern bluebird produce their first young.

*Sheila Willis is a Native American Naturalist who grew up around the Okefenokee Swamp and is currently writing a Birding Guide to the Greater Okefenokee Area. Sheila was kind enough to share her Birding Calendar with us.

Increased mating activities cause the swamp to echo with the sounds of red-shouldered hawks and wild turkeys.  Purple martins have gathered at their homes just ouside the swamp.   Great blue herons are at the nest.  By mid-month the greater sandhill cranes have all departed, leaving the resident Florida subspecies behind to continue dancing for their partners.  Some of the “Summer birds” such as Northern parulas & Eastern kingbirds begin to trickle in, while “Winter birds” such as Eastern phoebes and mallards begin to depart.  Bald eagles are encountered more commonly as they pass by enroute to other areas.

*Sheila Willis is a Native American Naturalist who grew up around the Okefenokee Swamp and is currently writing a Birding Guide to the Greater Okefenokee Area.    Sheila was kind enough to share her Birding Calendar with us.

Barred owl courtship is well underway, while osprey, sandhill crane, and brown-headed nuthatch are just beginning theirs.   Pine warblers are heard trilling in the treetops.  Wood duck are in pairs.   During the last few weeks, sandhill crane migration begins, as those which overwinter gradually leave the area.   Sedge wrens still hide in the wet grasses, while yellow-bellied sapsuckers continue to peck out their feeding stations in tree trunks.

*Sheila Willis is a Native American Naturalist who grew up around the Okefenokee Swamp and is currently writing a Birding Guide to the Greater Okefenokee Area.    Sheila was kind enough to share her Birding Calendar with us.

Sheila Willis is a Native American naturalist who grew up around the Okefenokee Swamp and is currently writing a Birding Guide to the Greater Okefenokee Area. Sheila was kind enough to share here Birding Calendar with us.