Eastern Bluebird Report: June 22, 2026

By Mary Miller

BB Trail Reports:

Carrollwood Village: 3 chicks (from a third nesting), & 14 fledglings (all BB)

Flatwoods: 53 eggs, 34 chicks (all BB), 135 fledglings (125 BB, 10 CC)

Hunter's Green: 4 eggs, 8 chicks, 29 fledglings (all BB)

Lake: 5 eggs, 16 chicks (all BB), 96 fledglings (68 BB, 9 CC, 4 CW, 9 TM)

Lettuce Lake: 4 CW fledglings

Lithia Springs: 4 eggs, 7 fledglings (all BB)

MacDill AFB: 17 BB fledglings

Sargeant's: 7 BB fledglings

The weather was brutally hot on the Flatwoods Bluebird Trail today, but the wildlife seemed to be doing okay. We have a total of 53 eggs and 34 chicks (all BB) and 135 fledglings (125 BB, 10 CC). We have 29 second nestings, and two of the other trails have third nestings already.

Although we hardly found any wildlife hanging around our almost completely dry lakes today, we did see a lot of birds. We saw a lot of Northern Bobwhite, some with chicks. A beautiful Summer Tanager flew through the trees just as we began our monitoring. We also saw Mourning and Common Ground Doves, Turkey Vultures, a beautiful Swallow-tailed Kite flying overhead, a Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-bellied and Downy Woodpeckers, White-eyed Vireos, American Crows, Tufted Titmice, Carolina Wrens, Eastern Bluebirds, Eastern Towhees, Common Yellowthroats, Northern Parulas, and many Northern Cardinals.

Sherry also found some partridge peas in bloom and Atala butterfly caterpillars on their host plant – the coontie. Atala Butterflies almost became extinct in South Florida but their population rebounded when the coontie started being sold as landscape plants throughout Florida. Through these conservation efforts, the Atala butterfly began spreading as more coontie was planted. Now, these butterflies are more commonly seen in Florida and have even made it to our part of Florida up the West Coast after originally being contained to Southeast Florida.