Great Florida Bird Trail - Clearwater, Florida
Over 500 species of birdshave been spotted in Florida - we're a birdwatcher's paradise. This Fowl Trail is actually the Great Florida Bird Trail and information is provided by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The Great Florida Bird Trail is made up of 2000 miles of self-guided highway trails throughout Florida. There are 445 birding sites located throughout Florida.
These trails were designed to conserve and promote "Florida's bird habitat by promoting birdwatching activities, conservation education and economic opportunity" (Source: GFBT Home page)
The Great Florida Bird trail is divided into 4 Sections and each one has it's own birding trail guide. Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties birding sites and trails in cities like Clearwater, Dunedin, Tierra Verde, St Petersburg and Tampa can be found in the West Section Guide.
- West Section Guide
- East Section Guide
- Panhandle Section Guide
- South Section Guide
The information for the Great Florida Birding Trail is also available in Spanish.
Fun things to do in Clearwater, Florida and Tampa Bay
In addition, you can have fun while you learn by participating in the Wings Over Florida program.
Wings Over Florida is a FREE award program open to all birdwatchers - whether you're a Clearwater resident or not. This program encourages YOU to identify as many Florida native birds as you can. You may earn 1 or all 5 of the levels of birdwatching from "Beginner" to "Elite Florida Birder" for which you are awarded Full color certificates. COST - FREE!
Beginners Birding for Kids - Pinellas County, Florida Summer Fun
Check out the the Wings Over Florida Junior Birder Program. This program was created to introduce younger children (3rd grade and up) to Florida bird watching. Check out the Teacher / Student resources online and create your own unique bird scavenger hunt this summer.
Did you know that Florida has:
- over 481 native birds;
- 12 established non-natives;
- and 4 native birds that are on the extinction list.
The Great Florida Bird Trail website has lots of tips and techniques for the beginner to the most experienced bird watcher. They provide checklist, bird guides, which sites you can expect to see which birds. Hope this provides you with some new ideas of things to do in the Clearwater / St Petersburg / Tampa Bay area.
Have you ever tried birdwatching? What's your favorite spot or story?
UPDATED: Want to see more Florida bird photos, check out this follow-up article: My Photos Of Some Florida Birds by Lysa Napolitano
Other Fun on a Budget Things to do in Clearwater / St Petersburg / Tampa Bay Florida Area:
- Experience Baseball with a Bite , Clearwater Florida
- $1 Buys you a Boat Dock in St Petersburg, Florida Saint Petersburg, Florida
- Boat Friendly Waterfront Restaurants-Part I: Clearwater Beach & Island Estates, Clearwater Beach, Florida
- Is your Home safe? - Man Eating Plant seen in St Petersburg!, Florida
- St Pete Beach Celebrates Silver Anniversary - Home of the Seaside Grill St Pete Beach, Florida
- Visual Tour of Clearwater Main Library ~ Home to 1000s of Books & Resources Clearwater, Florida
- Largo, FL ~ 1st Annual Largo Central Park Artist Market ~ Enjoy Fun in the Sun Largo,Florida
- Downtown Largo home to a new Caffeine Fix ~ of the Finest Kind! Largo, Florida
- Clearwater Beach - Somethings Always Happening There Clearwater Beach, Florida
- St. Petersburg Exhibitionists Bare All for FREE St Petersburg, Florida
Thinking of buying or selling Clearwater Florida Real Estate? Remember, in these changing times having a real estate agent (or 2 in our case) working for you is a real asset! We make sure our condo, town home, villa and home buyers in Tampa Bay get great deals. We'd love to talk to you about how we can help you find the perfect property - home, town home, villa or condo at the perfect price.
Tampa Bay MLS Serach shows all the homes, town homes, villas and condos for sale by all real estate agents in the Tampa Bay area. With us there's never any pressure - just consulting, educating, working to be your real estate consultant for life. Want proof - read our client testimonials to see what they have to say. Cyndee & Jack Haydon - specializing in Sandbars to Sunsets
Relocations ~ Waterfront Homes, Townhomes Condos & Villas ~ Beach House of Your Dreams ~Oceanfront ~ Gulfviews ~ Find the Perfect Florida Lifestyle in Pinellas County
Courtesy of Sandbars to Sunsets, all information and photos are the property of Cyndee & Jack Haydon,Realtors copyright 2007.
there are soooo many different things that we enjoy in florida on a daily basis that many of us to a certain degree take for granted.
you've just covered one.
Cyndee,
I never realized that Florida had organized birding trails. Sounds like a nice way to have some cheap fun while at the beach.
Rita
Cyndee,
Wow, what a wonderful post, so much information here, especially those of us who love the outdoors. Florida is such a great place, I love it. Anyone looking for help in your area would no doubt benefit from your knowledge.
And Cyndee only you would come up with such a "fowl" title.
Lynda - glad it caught your attention - it gets harder everyday with 32,000+ and growing. Actually I'm finding blogging is making me an even better resource and my relo packets are getting better and better :-). How's are friend Barbara doing? Tell her I said she's missing all the fun!!!
P.S. Thanks for visiting - we've done well together haven't we in 3 short months - I'll always be thankful to you.
Cyndee ~ You're right about your title, it absolutely did get my attention. Your comment about being a better resource is really what it's all about, isn't it? No doubt it's nice to be recognized among your peers, yet for me, that's only the icing on the cake. You are doing so well, you make me proud!
As for Barbara, I hope to see her soon, she's a little overwhelmed with the whole thing, but I'm not giving up on her for one minute. I hope to share your success with her.
My best to you and your family!
Paula - I really had a tough week working on "other things" and my friend Susie reminded me the blog must go on :-) I had an even more detailed one done in goggle documents this morning and it got some virus that wouldn't open and I had to start from scratch - glad I could get it pulled back together.
Do you have birding in Indianapolis? A buyer relocating to the area gave me the inspiration to share about the wealth of opportunities we have here. Thank you for you kind words and support my friend.
I must be tired...I saw those birdies flying and thought it was a video...geez. And then I clicked before I was done and had to click on edit.
You always write great posts that save us a trip to the library...great one Cyndee!
Cyndee,
Thanks for this post! My husband and I will have a great reason to come to Florida now. We love birdwatching.
Michelle - can you believe there are actually 445 designated sites which are usually parks in the state and we have 15 in Pinellas Couny and about another 10 in Pasco and Hillsborough Counties. what's your favorite thing about birdwatching?
Thanks for taking time to read and comment - I appreciate it and look forward to learning more about Riverside CA.
Cyndee - since you are showing your love for nature I have to share this photo - I am not trying to spam your blog - you can delete this and there are no hard feelings.
You are so right, Florida is wonderful for bird watchers!
Other Fun on a Budget Things to do in Clearwater / St Petersburg / Tampa Bay Florida Area:
Thanks for sharing!! We're ony a hop-skip and a jump from Clear-Wa-Wa!
my backyard and the canal nearby are FULL of different species of birds from Black Rains, to Ibises, Herons, Muscovy Ducks (yuck), and a few rare wild parrots...
it is great... and great fun walking with my son and watching him in awe of the wildlife
Susie - oh can I relate - when I was writing the part about birding for kids - Jack said - oh, the serious bird watchers are going to be mad at you for letting "kids" know about their special spots - with all the noise. (LOL)
You're right there are so many fun on a budget things to do in Clearwater, Florida
Cyndee, Now you're making me blush! Thank you so much though! You're right about the simple treasures. I do treasure them every day. I could care a less about who uses which plastic surgeon, give me nature and natural any day!
David... LOL on the Muscovy's!
They aren't that yucky!
I just found that this article was Featured on Localism - I want to thank the moderator(s) who chose it.
Thank you - for the recognition, the support and most of all your personal tireless service to make this community and the information we provide consumers the best that's available in the marketplace.
I received this email from AR and I also wanted to thank Lysa & Rita and all who read my posts and take time to rate them - look, it does make a difference....Thank you fellow readers and friends:
"Cyndee:
Because of member support we have featured this post on Localism... Lysa and Rita:Thank you for taking the time to flag this post!"
Congrats Cyndee on the feature in Localism!
When David mentioned the Muscoy's I had to add the photo, glad you don't mind. They are rather non attractive aren't they? This is part of a pair that hangs out with a common white duck near the office. They've been trying to nest around our building but I think they picked an out of the way place, I've not seen them in awhile. I call the photo below "Ugly Duckling" :)
Lysa - I do think we have so many prettier birds - but I always root for the ugly duckling too! :-)
P.S. Thank you - Go back one comment an see the email I got that acknowledges your rating along with others brought this post to the attention of the modertors - so it really does make a difference,
Cyndee,
The email surprised me - I have never gotten one like that before - I wonder if we will get email feedback for all the posts we flag? Seems like it would take a long time to write an email for each time someone flagged a post.
Rita
Where are you tonight????? maybe a night off finally? perhaps you are already in bed! ~Where I should be!
Great post, lots of wonderful info, I am learning so much about writing and Florida too. Please explain the rating system. Is a 1 better or worst that a 5?
Thanks
Philippe - thanks for sharing about life in Portugal - do you ever vacation in Florida?
Barbara - sometimes I forget myself - we are so blessed with natural resources and beauty here.