Eastern Bluebird Trail Report

May 19, 2025

Below are the numbers for the 8 BB Trails:

Carrollwood Village Park:  2 BB nests with 5 eggs, 4 chicks, and 5 fledglings

Flatwoods Park: 23 BB nests with 20 eggs, 23 chicks, 99 fledglings (86 BB, 13 CC)

Hunter's Green Park: 1 BB nest with 4 eggs, 26 fledglings (23 BB, 3 CC)

Lake Park: 14 nests (10 BB, 4 CW), 24 eggs (18 BB, 6 CW), 19 chicks (11 BB, 8 CW), 51 fledglings (46 BB, 5 TM)

Lettuce Lake Park: 13 fledglings (9 CC, 4 CW)

Lithia Springs: 1 CW nest, 5 BB fledglings

MacDill AFB: 4 BB nests, with 4 eggs

Sargeant's Park: 2 BB fledglings

Flatwoods Park was alive with bird calls today! The bluebirds have 8 new second nestings today for a total of 10!  We also had 21 new BB fledglings for a total of 86 BB & 13 CC for a total of 99!  We have a total of 23 BB nests, 20 eggs, 23 chicks and 99 fledglings. See attached spreadsheet for details. 

The bluebirds almost always build a new nest for every brood. We were amused to find the birds in F42 not only didn't wait for us to clean out the box after the first chicks had fledged, but they built a nest on top of the old one, and already had 4 new eggs in the new nest! So we removed the old nest underneath and left the new nest with 4 eggs.

We saw so many birds today and were very surprised when Sherry also spotted an Eastern Kingbird the other day! It winters in South America and summers in N. American, including Florida. Today we saw 2 Swallow-tailed Kites soaring over the park, Great Crested Flycatchers, Carolina Chickadees and Wrens, a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird, several Eastern Towhees, a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, 5 Wood Ducks, an immature Little Blue Heron,  Common Yellowthroats, Tufted Titmice, 2 Ospreys (one eating a fish), an Anhinga,  Red-shouldered Hawks, and White-eyed and Yellow-throated Vireos. I've also included a picture Carrollwood Village Park BB monitor, Sonya Rose sent me of the hypomelanistic alligator, that lives in their lake, that the staff call Blondie. Thanks Sonya!

Down near box F56, in a shallow wetland, we discovered an area covered with Yellow-eyed Grass (Xyris elliott) and Bantam-buttons (Syngonanthus flauidulus). All over the park, the Mohr's Thoroughworts (Empatorium mohrii) are blooming and the insects love it!

Photos of wildlife and native plants are attached.