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.
