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Florida Visit (1 Viewer)

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churchy123

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Hi Everyone
I am in Florida for two weeks from the 19th March.The first week will be around Orlando,the second in Fort Myers.I would be interested to hear from locals as to good places to visit for birds.I am a paticularly keen on bird & wildlife photography.
Thanks in advance
MarkB :)
 
I live in South Florida and don't know too much about birding areas in Orlando area . However I have visited places that may interest you in that area.The Audubon Center for Birds of Prey is in Maitland. Great place. They have a black vulture that wanders around the grounds (flightless) . He/she is great fun. What a personality. Several bald eagles, hawks, falcons, kites,vultures, owls....
The best place to see manatees is Blue Springs State Park Park in Blue Springs ;). They have a count posted at the entrance. When I was there in January it was 243 in a relatively small area. What a beautiful place.
Also DeLeon Springs State Park (aka Ponce DeLeon Springs) has a great nature trail around the lake and into the woods. The main trail is 4 miles long. . I have seen lots of birds there, including bald eagles. Also sandhill cranes, otters, gators, and the egrets, herons, and ibis of course. Also there's a really cute place for breakfast on the grounds. It's an old mill. Each table has a griddle on it, you make your own pancakes etc. Go to floridastateparks.org/deleonsprings/' Oh, I forgot you can take a 50 min boat tour too.
And the Avian Reconditioning Center in Apopka is open to the public on Saturdays. It's arc4raptors.com If you go there contact them before hand to make sure the ambassador birds aren't out on a field trip. They give flight demonstrations there. The peregrine, her name is Cora, is incredible!!

We visited a small park in Winter Park in early afternoon. There were 3 Great Horned owls there, just watching us. Apparently they're always there.

I always see tons of Sandhill Cranes wandering around the road side and such.
if you want to see a black bear I'll direct you to my mom's garage lol
 
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Merritt Island is one of my favourite places - about an hour east of Orlando on the beeline highway. Great driving loop where you can cruise around and get out and bird. Saw load there last year, all with the NASA rocket launcher transport in the background which adds a sense of occasion to proceedings. I have found the whole coast very productive.

The Everglades NP is also great, good trails, loads of herons/egrets am bittern etc. The sawgrass just goes on for miles, makes minsmere look like your backgarden.

I also like Miami beach for seawatching although you get some funny looks, lots of terns and skimmers etc. Logger head shrike in the bushes by the boardwalk.

The best advice I could give is get the Birding Florida Falcon Guides book - I found it very useful, good directions and possible bird locations etc.

Have fun, I can't go this year as I have a baby on the way. Looking forward to the baby, not looking forward to missing the sun, great birds and free petrol in the USA!
 
Also A.R.M. Loxahatchee Wildlife Refuge in Boynton Bch. That's the northernmost area of the Glades, but it is about 2.5 hrs south of Orlando.
Since the Everglades are such a unique ecosystem it's worth a trip seeing some part of them as jimbird says.
There is also Big Cypress Preserve.

Oh, I must also add that in my first post I should have said Blue Springs State Park, which is a manatee refuge. There is another Blue Springs park which is privately owned and primarily for swimming, etc. Oops!!
 
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Hi Mark,

We had a family holiday in Orlando last year (extended by the chaos caused by the volcano!!).

Merritt Island & Gatorland have already been mentioned, and they provided excellent photo opportunities. We also had a trip to Boggy Creek Air Boat Rides which produced Bald Eagle, Snail Kite, Wild Turkey, Sandhill Cranes & Limpkin amongst others.

Not sure what your other plans are, but we also had fantastic opportunities in the Disney Parks.

I'm at work at the moment so don't have the link to hand but look up the Great Florida Birding Trail on Google.

Enjoy your trip, we had a fantastic time when we were there.

Richard
 
Best advice I can give is to get the Florida Birding Trail booklet for the area(s) you are visiting. You can download a pdf copy or order a hard copy at www.floridabirdingtrail.com.

You might want to check out the Big "O" Birding Fesival which is from Mar 23rd to the 26th. See www.bigobirdingfestival.com.

I will be in the Ft Myers area from Mar 23rd to the 29th and have a busy schedule of bird photography planned.
 
Thanks very much guys all this info is reallt helpful,cheers!! I can't wait to go and I'm really looking forward to the trip,hopefully I'll get some good shots!I'll certainly look up the Birding Trail!
Thanks again.
 
I've been twice and the suggestions you've had are great. I'd add Brinson Park which is close to Old Kissimmee, I had Limpkin, Snail Kite and A. Purple Gallinule there, check the link in my signature for some pics from Florida. For Red-cockaded Woodpecker and Brown-headed Nuthatch it's worth a drive to Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area via Joe Overstreet Road where i had Bald Eagle, Caracara, Sandhill and Whooping Cranes, Eastern Meadowlark, Bobwhite, Belted kingfisher plus others. It takes about an hour from Orlando and we ended up going three times.
Loads to see and photograph, you'll love it
 
churchy123 said:
Thanks Alex for the suggestions! Your photos are excellent too my friend!!
Click to expand...

No problem and thanks, a lot of the closer pics of Egrets and herons are from Gatorland, worth paying for the early access photographers pass. If you do visit Gatorland make sure you do the swamp boardwalk, Tufted titmouse and Yellow-throated Warbler plus the chance of Cottonmouth:eek!:
 
Some of the best birding when I was there was just around the hotel, which backed onto a lake in Kissimeemorning gave Least Bittern, Northern Waterthrush, Pileated Woodpecker, Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, Cedar Waxwing, Blue-Winged Warbler amongst others. Also Limpkin down to 6 feet (Ithought they were supposed to be shy but everything seems pretty tame in Florida).
Wherever you go, keep an eye on the sky for Swallow-Tailed Kite - absolutely stunning!

Phil
 
apbarr said:
No problem and thanks, a lot of the closer pics of Egrets and herons are from Gatorland, worth paying for the early access photographers pass. If you do visit Gatorland make sure you do the swamp boardwalk, Tufted titmouse and Yellow-throated Warbler plus the chance of Cottonmouth:eek!:
Click to expand...

Sorry to say but the early access photographers pass has been discontinued at Gatorland.

Bob Sheldon
 
Finally remembered the name of the large wildlife refuge in DeLeon Springs. It's Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Refuge fws.gov/lakewoodruff. It's around 25,000 acres. There is also Alexander Wilderness Area nearby. Lake Woodruff has 23 miles of protected manatee area and was opened as a sanctuary for migratory birds and waterfowl. Apparently there is a particularly large concentration of both there.
I've never been to either, just driven past on the way to the other Deleon Springs place. I believe you can take airboat rides at Lake Woodruff.

Now I'm planning a trip to Three Lakes. Sounds great!
 
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If you're in Ft Meyers anyway, head over to Sanibel for great shore birds and the famous "Ding" Darling Wildlife refuge. Hit it at low tide and early in the morning if possible - Reddish Egrets, possible Spoonbills, and every other wader you can think of. It's a great spot, especially if you can get a kayak, but even without there a good drive-through.

FYI It is closed Fridays to the public
 
merryslug said:
If you're in Ft Meyers anyway, head over to Sanibel for great shore birds and the famous "Ding" Darling Wildlife refuge. Hit it at low tide and early in the morning if possible - Reddish Egrets, possible Spoonbills, and every other wader you can think of. It's a great spot, especially if you can get a kayak, but even without there a good drive-through.

FYI It is closed Fridays to the public
Click to expand...

Thanks for your help and advice.I was planning a trip to Sanibel and I would particularly like to photo the Reddish Egret,fingers crossed!!
 
Phil Carter said:
Some of the best birding when I was there was just around the hotel, which backed onto a lake in Kissimeemorning gave Least Bittern, Northern Waterthrush, Pileated Woodpecker, Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, Cedar Waxwing, Blue-Winged Warbler amongst others. Also Limpkin down to 6 feet (Ithought they were supposed to be shy but everything seems pretty tame in Florida).
Wherever you go, keep an eye on the sky for Swallow-Tailed Kite - absolutely stunning!

Phil
Click to expand...

Nice to have birds like that on your doorstep Phil,I'll have to keep my eyes open!!Thanks for the tip!
 
churchy123 said:
Thanks for your help and advice.I was planning a trip to Sanibel and I would particularly like to photo the Reddish Egret,fingers crossed!!
Click to expand...

Blackpoint Wildlife Drive on Merritt Island is where I've seen Reddish Egrets both times I've been in Florida, in March I also had loads of waders, Skimmers etc
 
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