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Boreal Birds of the St. Petersburg Area (view list)

Fall in St. Petersburg can seem like a perpetual watch to the south for the next hurricane but it is also a time of arrival for clouds of birds that have spent the summer raising young far to the north in the boreal forests of Canada. Of the 461 bird species known to have occurred in Florida as of 1992 about 14% (63 species) have breeding ranges that lie wholly or largely within the boreal forest of Canada. For some of these species, the St. Petersburg area will be their winter home.

Ducks like the American Wigeon and Green-winged Teal that spend the winter at places like Sawgrass Lake State Park may have raised young in boreal wetlands of northern Ontario or Quebec. The Lesser Scaup that winter in abundance along both Florida coasts are similarly dependent on the thousands of small wetlands dotted across the boreal zone of Canada and Alaska. Unfortunately Scaup populations have declined by an estimated 40% over the last 25 years but researchers don't know why.

Other boreal breeding species use the habitats of the St. Petersburg area only for a short time in fall and spring migration. In fact, at least 30 of the 63 boreal breeding species that occur in the St. Petersburg area spend the winter in Central or South America or the Caribbean! The Cape May Warblers, for example, that occur in September and October in locations like Fort De Soto County Park may have come from as far away as the Northwest Territories of Canada and are on their way to wintering grounds in Cuba and Hispaniola. Blackburnian Warblers that pass through in late August and September go even further, wintering in the foothills of the Andes Mountains of northern South America.