Scopeless in Florida

My family and I spent the last two weeks in October on holiday in Florida at the home of the mouse.  It wasn’t really a birding trip but we did manage to escape the crowds on a few days to visit some of the superb birding hotspots of central Florida.

This was my first time birding in the United States and I achieved 82 lifers.  Being a family holiday and not a birding trip I opted not to take my scope and I never really felt that I needed it.  There was only one day that a scope would have been a help and that was the day we spent at Fort de Soto.  But even then, I may have only added another one or two birds to the list, so not really worth the effort of lugging my scope half way around the world.

We stayed at the Disney resort hotel Art Of Animation. Though this probably wasn’t the best location for birding, a walk around Hourglass Lake did turn up a few good birds including Pied-Billed Grebe, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Tufted Titmouse, Blue Grey Gnatcatcher, Brown Thrasher, Red-Shouldered Hawk and Cooper’s Hawk. 

We also found a gem of a place in the centre of Orlando, Mead Botanical Gardens.  This place showed up on Ebird as a regular spot for Ruby-Throated Hummingbird and within twenty minutes of arriving we had a good but brief view of this cracking little bird.  Other highlights at Mead Gardens were Barred Owl (Thanks to local birder Marcus Sharpe), Yellow-Throated Warbler, Black & White Warbler, Yellow-Rumped Warbler, Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker and Blue-Headed Vireo.  

The only disappointment of the holiday was that Black Point Wildlife Drive on Merritt Island was closed for maintenance.  We did walk the Scrub Trail and drive Bio Lab Road, though I was expecting to see far more birds than we actually did.

A real highlight of the holiday though was watching Manatees from the watch point at Haulover Canal.  Other highlights from Merritt Island were Florida Scrub Jay at the Scrub Trail and the Canaveral Beach pay booth, Black Racer (snake) and male Painted Bunting at the Visitor Centre and the shear numbers of Belted Kingfishers all around Merritt Island.  Not to mention the none-birding highlight of Merritt Island, ‘Kennedy Space Centre’.  This place turns grown men into excited school boys.

Another couple of superb places that we visited were Circle B Bar Reserve and Fort de Soto.  Circle B Bar is an inland wetland reserve with a good mix of habitats and there seemed to be a constant kettle of Vultures and other Raptors overhead.  There is a good network of paths on the reserve, however it was a little unnerving walking along paths with Alligators in the pools at the side of them.  The highlights here were Short-Tailed Hawk (dark phase), good views of Bald Eagle, Caspian and Royal Tern, Green Heron, Yellow Warbler and Yellow-Throated Warbler. 

Fort de Soto is an island on the Gulf Coast South of St Petersburg.  This place is paradise with its white sandy beaches and palm trees.  I would love to have spent a few days here as one day is just not enough to do it justice.  The highlights were Magnificent Frigatebird, Reddish Egret, American Avocet, Black Skimmer, Groove-Billed Ani, Wilson’s Plover and Hooded Warbler. 

I only had five real targets and after the two weeks I was still missing one of them, Limpkin.
As our flight home wasn't until 19:10 we had a few hours to kill before heading to the airport. I had noticed a few reports on ebird from Kissimmee, so it seemed like a good place to spend a few hours chilling before the long flight home.  As we pulled up at the car park there were four Sandhill Cranes feeding in the front gardens of the houses.  After photographing the Cranes I turned around to walk back to the car and there on the grass behind me was a Limpkin eating an Apple Snail.  'A cracking bird to end our holiday with' I thought, then I spotted a bird flying low over the lake and as soon as I got my bins on it, I could see that it was a Snail Kite. So we moved around the lakeshore to a play park where I got better views of the Kite as my daughter played happily in the park.  Now that WAS a cracking bird to end the holiday with!

 

Here is a full trip list.

Pied-Billed Grebe*                    common

Brown Pelican*                         Merritt Island, Fort de Soto

Magnificent Frigatebird*           Fort de Soto

Anhinga*                                   common

Double-Crested Cormorant*     common

Great Blue Heron*                    common

Great Egret                               common

Snowy Egret*                            common

Reddish Egret*                          Fort de Soto

Little Blue Heron*                      common

Tricolored Heron*                      common

Green Heron*                            Circle B Bar

Glossy Ibis                                Circle B Bar

White Ibis*                                everywhere

Wood Stork*                             Mead Gardens, Kissimmee

Canada Goose                         Kissimmee

Wood Duck*                             Mead Gardens

Muscovy Duck*                        Kissimmee

Mallard                                     common

Mottled Duck*                           Disney

Black Vulture*                          common

Turkey Vulture*                        common

Osprey                                     common

Snail Kite*                                Kissimmee

Cooper’s Hawk*                       Disney, Merritt Island, Circle B Bar, Fort de Soto

Northern Harrier*                      Merritt Island, Circle B Bar

Red-Shouldered Hawk*            common

Short-Tailed Hawk*                  Circle B Bar

Red-Tailed Hawk*                    Merritt Island

Bald Eagle*                              widespread

American Kestrel*                    Circle B Bar, Merritt Island, Fort de Soto

Wild Turkey*                             roadside 528

Moorhen                                   Circle B Bar, Kissimmee

American Coot*                        Circle B Bar, Kissimmee

Limpkin*                                   Kissimmee

Sandhill Crane*                        Kissimmee, Roadside i95

Black-Bellied Plover                 Merritt Island, Fort de Soto

Semipalmated Plover*              Fort de Soto

Wilson’s Plover*                        Fort de Soto

American Oystercatcher*          Fort de Soto

American Avocet*                     Fort de Soto

Greater Yellowlegs                   Merritt Island

Lesser Yellowlegs                     Merritt Island

Willet*                                        Merritt Island, Fort de Soto

Turnstone                                  Fort de Soto

Sandling                                    Fort de Soto

Red Knot                                   Fort de Soto

Least Sandpiper*                       Merritt Island, Fort de Soto

Short-Billed Dowitcher*              Fort de Soto

Laughing Gull*                            common

Caspian Tern                              Circle B Bar

Royal Tern*                                 Circle B Bar

Sandwich Tern                            Fort de Soto

Forster’s Tern*                            Merritt Island, Fort de Soto

Black Skimmer*                           Merritt Island, Fort de Soto

Mourning Dove*                          common

Common Ground Dove*             Merritt Island

Collard Dove                               Kissimmee

Monk Parakeet                            Kissimmee

Groove-Billed Ani*                       Fort de Soto

Barred Owl*                                 Mead Gardens

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird*    Mead Gardens

Belted Kingfisher*                        common

Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker*          Mead Gardens, Fort de Soto

Red-Bellied Woodpecker*           Circle B Bar, Mead Gardens, Fort de Soto

Downy Woodpecker*                   Mead Gardens, Fort de Soto

Eastern Wood-Pewee*                Merritt Island

Eastern Phoebe*                          Circle B Bar, Mead Gardens

Loggerhead Shrike*                     Merritt Island, Fort de Soto

Blue-Headed Vireo*                     Mead Gardens

White-Eyed Vireo*                        Merritt Island, Disney

Blue Jay*                                      Merritt Island, Circle B Bar

Florida Scrub Jay*                        Merritt Island

American Crow*                            Disney

Fish Crow*                                    Circle B Bar, Kissimmee

Tree Swallow*                               Merritt Island

Tufted Titmouse*                          Disney, Mead Gardens

Carolina Wren *                            Mead Gardens

House Wren*                                Circle B Bar, Mead Gardens

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet*                 Disney

Blue-Grey Gnatcatcher*                common

Gray Catbird*                                Circle B Bar, Merritt Island

Northern Mockingbird*                   common

Brown Thrasher*                           Disney

European Starling                         Fort de Soto

Yellow Warbler*                            Circle B Bar

Yellow-Rumped Warbler               Merritt Island, Mead Gardens

Palm Warbler*                                everywhere

Pine Warbler*                                Fort de Soto, Disney

Yellow-Throated Warbler*             Circle B Bar, Mead Gardens

Black & White Warbler*                 Mead Gardens, Fort de Soto

American Redstart*                       Disney, Mead Gardens

Common Yellowthroat*                 Disney, Circle B Bar, Merritt Island

Hooded Warbler*                           Fort de Soto

Indigo Bunting*                              Disney

Painted Bunting*                            Merritt Island

Northern Cardinal*                         Disney, Mead Gardens

Red-Winged Blackbird*                 Circle B Bar, Disney

Common Crackle*                         common

Boat-Tailed Crackle*                     common

House Sparrow                             common

Lifers*

We were probably about a week too late arriving to catch any real migration, but 101 species is not bad going considering I only had four birding days and a couple of birding walks around Disney.  Florida is a superb place to visit and I highly recommend it for a birding or none birding holiday.