| I. Blackbirds & Allies | Top | Start | |
| Common | Binomial | Habitat Preference | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Common grackle | Quiscalus quiscula | Nests in woodlands and prairies | Permanent resident. Diet includes insects, mollusks, crustaceans, fruits, and seeds. |
| Boat-tailed grackle | Quiscalus major | Nest in fresh and saltwater marshes | Common, year-round residents. Food includes beetles, crayfish, crabs, corn, and other grains and insects |
| Red-winged blackbird | Agelaius phoeniceus | Marshes. Very widespread and abundant in NA | Characteristic of marshes, considered pest in some places . Rice, corn, oats, wild grasses and insects. One of the most abundant birds in North America. |
| II. Buntings & Grosbeaks | Top | Start | |
| Northern cardinal | Cardinalis cardinalis | Woodlands and suburban sites. | Common suburban bird. Eats fruits and seeds. |
| III. Cranes, Rails & Allies | Top | Start | |
| American coot | Fulica americana | marshes, lakes, and canals | Feed on aquatic vegetation |
| Common moorhen Common gallinule | Gallinula chloropus | Freshwater wetlands | Feed on aquatic palnts, seeds, insects, and other invertebrates. |
| IV. Finches | Top | Start | |
| House sparrow English sparrow | Passer domesticus | Open, disturbed areas; urban parking lots | Released at hundreds of locations in the U.S. in the 1800's. 45% of avian fauna in St. Pete urban areas. Feeds on seeds and grains, garbage and insecs during breeding system |
| V. Flamingos | Top | Start | |
| Greater Flamingo | Phoenicopterus ruber | Marshes and mangroves. | Most birds in Florida are probably escapes from zoos. Eat small shellfish. |
| VI. Gallinaceous Birds | Top | Start | |
| Northern bobwhite Quail | Colinus virginianus | Pine woodlands | Common in flatwoods. Feed on grains, seeds, and insects. |
| Wild turkey | Melagris gallopavo | Hammocks and swamps | Feed on acorns, saw palmetto berries and acorns. Roost in trees. |
| VII. Gulls & Terns | Top | Start | |
| Ring-billed gull | Larus delawarensis | Beach strand and coastal wetlands to shopping malls and landfills. | Most common gull in Florida. Food includes fish, insects, refuse, plants including cabbage palm seeds. |
| Laughing gull black-headed gull | Larus atricilla | Beach strand and coastal wetlands | Only nesting gull in Florida. Feeds on fish and other marine organisms. |
| Royal tern | Sterna maxima | Coastal, marine environments. | Plunge feed for small fish. |
| VIII. Herons & Allies | Top | Start | |
| Cattle egret | Bubulcus ibis | prairies, marshes, open disturbed sites. | Native to Africa, reached South America in the 1930's. Arrived in Florida in 1953. Food includes grasshoppers, butterflies, flies, caterpillars, damselflies, spiders, snakes, frogs, lizards, and small rodents. |
| Great blue heron | Ardea herodius | Shallow, open wetlands | Readily looses its fear of man. Still hunt for frogs, lizards, snakes, small mammals, lizards, and occasionally small birds. Feed both during the day and at night. Great white heron is a white form of this species. |
| Great egret American egret common egret | Casmerodius albus | Shallow wetlands | Stalking hunter in shallow wetlands. Nest in fresh and saltwater wetlands. Hunted nerly to extinction in the early 1900's. |
| Green-backed heron | Butorides striatus | Wetland, forest edges. | Often solitary, unlike many other herons. Fish are their most important food but they also consume crustaceans, insects, and mollusks |
| Little blue heron | Egretta caerulea | May nest near saltwater but prefer freshwater for feeding. | Nest in fresh and saltwater wetlands. Food includes small fish and frogs. Decline may be due to the cattle egret. |
| Roseatte spoonbill | Ajaia ajaja | Mostly mangrove swamps and estuaries. | Nearly extirpated by the middle of this century. Eat small fish, ceustaceans, and insects. |
| Snowy egret | Egretta thula | Shallow wetlands. | Nearly hunted to extinction in the early 1900's. Stalk frogs, fish, worms, shrimp, crayfish, aquatic insects, and small snakes. |
| Tricolor heron | Egretta tricolor | salt and freshwater marshes and mangroves. | Still hunt, primarily for fish, mostly in salt marshes and estuaries. |
| White ibis Curlew Chokoloskee chicken | Eudocimus albus | Salt and freshwater marshes and mangroves | Feed on crayfish, grasshoppers, aquatic insects, crabs, grass shrimp, and small snakes. |
| Wood stork Ironhead | Mycteria americana | Freshwater swamps and mangroves. | Reduced to 20% of their 1930 population of 75,000. Nest in cypress and mangrove. Grope feed for small fish. |
| IX. Hummingbirds | Top | Start | |
| Ruby-throated hummingbird | Archilochus colubris | Pinelands, hammocks, and suburban environments. | Florida's smallest bird. Includes both residents and migrants. Feed on nectar and nectar-feeding insects. |
| X. Jays & Crows | Top | Start | |
| Bluejay | Cyanocitta cristata | Flatwoods, hammocks, and suburban environments. | Prefer acorns but will eat anything smaller than themselves |
| Fish crow | Corvus ossifragus | Abundant especially near coastlines, rivers, lakes, and marshes. | Diet includes crabs, mollusks, carayfish, and bird eggs. |
| American crow | Corvus brachyrhynchos | Most abundant in upland wooded areas. | Common, permanent resident. Diet includes insects, young rabbits, snakes, lizards and young reptiles and birds. |
| Scrub jay | Aphelocoma coerulescens | Scrub | Eastern race found only in Florida. Feed on acorns, grasshoppers, beetles, ants, wasps, spiders, and a variety of fruits. |
| XI. Kingfishers | Top | Start | |
| Belted kingfisher | Ceryle alcyon | Rivers, lakes, canals. | Dive headfirst into the water. Feed on small fish, crayfish, insects, and frogs. |
| XII. Loons & Grebes | Top | Start | |
| Pied-billed grebe | Podylimbus podiceps | Lakes and canals. | Aquatic invertebrates and small fish. Includes residents and winter migrants. |
| XIII. Mockingbirds & Allies | Top | Start | |
| Gray catbird | Dumetella carolinensis | Thick, understory vegetation in hammocks, pinelands, and swamps. | Greenbrier, grape andd other fruits. |
| Northern mocking bird | Mimus polyglottos [state bird] | Common in agricultural and suburban landscapes. | Mimic virtually any bird or other sounds. Eats insects fruits, dahoon holly, cabbage palm, elderberry. |
| Loggerhead shrike | Lanius ludovicianus | Agricultural lands and open areas. | Rodents, lizards, small birds, grasshoppers, caterpillars, and other insects. Frequently impale food on thorns or barbed wire. |
| XIV. Owls | Top | Start | |
| Barred owl hoot owl | Strix varia | Prefer swamps | Cavity nesters. Feed on cotton rats, flying squirrels, deer mice and other birds. |
| Burrowing owl | Athene cunicularia | Open well-drained habitats. | Foods include insects, rodents, ampibians and small birds. |
| XV. Parrots | Top | Start | |
| Monk parakeet | Myiopsitta monoachus | Urban and agricultural environments. | Fruit. |
| XVI. Pelicans & Allies | Top | Start | |
| Anhinga snake bird water turkey | Anhinga anhinga | Lakes, swamps, and canals. | Feathers become water-logged to facilitate diving. Birds must sun themselves to dry feathers. Skewer fish with their sharp bills. Very strong flier. |
| Brown pelican | Pelicanus occidentalis | Usually nest in coastal mangrove islands. | Dive from heights of 20-30 feet. |
| Double-crested cormorant | Phalacrocorax auritus | Open water | Includes residents and migrants. Eats fish. |
| XVII. Pigeons & Doves | Top | Start | |
| Eurasian collared dove | Streptopelia decaocto | Suburban and agricultural areas. | Grains and weed seeds. First appeared in Florida in the 1980's after it was introduced into the Bahamas. |
| Mourning dove Turtle dove | Zenaida macroura | Open woodlands and suburban environments | Popular gamebird |
| White-crowned pigeon | Columba leucocephala | Mangroves and tropical hammocks | Nest in mangroves. |
| Rock dove Pigeon | Columba livia | Disturbed and urban sites | Introduced by early European settlers. Feed on grains and seeds. |
| XVIII. Plovers, Sandpipers & Allies | Top | Start | |
| Killdeer | Charadrius vociferus | Beach strand, prairies, marshes, and agricultural environments | Numbers increase in winter as migrants arrive |
| Ruddy turnstone | Arenaria interpres | Coastal areas | Flip stones and shells to find marine invertebrates |
| Sanderling | Calidris alba | Coastal areas | Most common sandpiper. Feeds on marine invertebrates. |
| XIX. Starlings & Allies | Top | Start | |
| European starling | Sturnus vulagaris | Disturbed areas. | Introduced to NY in 1890. Feeds on grasshoppers, worms, fruits and grain. |
| Common myna | Arcidotheres tristis | Disturbed and suburban sites. | Introduced |
| XX. Sparrow | Top | Start | |
| Seaside sparrow | Ammodramus maritimus | Coastal prairies. | Nine subspecies, seven occur in Florida. Eat snails, grasshoppers, crabs, spiders, beetles, and seeds. |
| XXI. Swallows | Top | Start | |
| Barn swallow | Hirundo rustica | Pairies and marshes. | Feeds on insects. |
| XXII. Vultures & Hawks | Top | Start | |
| American swallow-tail kite | Elanoides forficatus | Cypress, pineland and marshes. | Prey includes grasshoppers, lizards, snakes. Nest in pine and cypress |
| Snail kite Everglades Kite | Rosrthamnus sociabilis | Marshes and long-hydroperiod prairies | Feeds exclusively on Pomacea paludosa (apple snail) |
| Bald eagle | Haliaeetus leucocephalus | Open water near forested areas. | Feed on fish and large wetland birds including grebes, cattle egrets, and American coots. |
| Osprey Fish hawk | Pandion haliaetus | Open fresh or salt water. | Plunge feet first into the water. |
| Northern harrier hawk Marsh hawk | Circus cyaneus | Pastures, prairies and marshes. | Prefer open habitats, Feed on small vertebrates. |
| Red-shouldered hawk | Buteo lineatus | Pinelands, hammocks and swamps. | Common woodland hawk, with a permanent resident population in the state. Eat small mammals, lizards, snakes, frogs, crayfish, and inects. |
| American kestrel | Falco sparverius | Prairies,marshes and open agricultural areas. | Smallest falcon. Feeds on insects, small mammals, and reptiles. |
| Turkey vulture | Cathartes aura | Extremely sensitive sense of smell | |
| Black vulture | Coragyps atratus | More aggressive than turkey vultures but less adept at finding kills. | |
| XXIII. Warblers | Top | Start | |
| Palm warbler | Dendroica palmarum | Woodland edges, marshes, and agricultural areas. | Very common winter warbler. Feds on insects and seeds. |
| XXIV. Waterfowl | Top | Start | |
| Muscovy duck | Cairina moschata | Urban wetlands and lakes. | Native to South and Central America. May harbor diseases and parasites that affect native waterfowl. |
| XXV. Woodpeckers | Top | Start | |
| Northern Woodpecker | Colaptes auratus | Open woodlands and suburban habitats. | Insects, especially ants. Sometimes a nuisance because of drumming. |
| Red-bellied woodpecker orange sapsucker | Melanerpes carolinus | Very widespread, adapts well to suburban landscapes. | Widely distributed in Florida including suburban yards. Feed on seeds, nuts, insects and grubs. |
| Pileated woodpecker | Dryocopus pileatus | Swamps and pinelands. | Largest woodpecker. Feeds on ants, beetles, fruits. |