Lake Apopka - Merritt Island

Saturday January 9th

Ran up to Lake Apopka on Saturday to do some birding on the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive. Vehicle traffic is only permitted on the weekends on the Wildlife Drive, but other trail head locations are usually open everyday to foot traffic.   

Wildlife viewing is popular here, especially for birders, in the winter months when thousands of waterfowl and other birds use the marshes to wait out the freezing weather up north.

Swamp Sparrow

Arrived early on a chilly, blustery morning. Lots of wading birds like Great Blue Herons, some standing on nests, Snowy Egrets, Tricolored Herons, Great Egrets, White Ibis and Glossy Ibis. Didn't spot any black-necked stilts, but lots of Cormorants and Anhingas. There are thousands of American Coots and Common Gallinules to sort through to identify any waterfowl. There are a great many Blue-winged Teal and Ring-necked Ducks, plus Northern Shovelers, Green-winged Teal and Mottled Ducks.  Both Black-bellied and Fulvous Whistling Ducks are common year round residents here.  Other waterfowl seen today included a lone Lesser Scaup, Ruddy Ducks and Pied-billed Grebes. Other birds today included Purple Gallinule, Limpkin, Green Heron, Swamp Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbirds, Osprey, Northern Harriers, Belted Kingfishers and American Robins. 

Dipped on spotting any American wigeons, gadwall and the ash-throated flycatcher that has been hanging out at the gate entrance to the drive.

Blue-winged Teal

American Coot

Ruddy Duck

Fulvous Whistling-Duck

Ring-necked Ducks

Glossy Ibis

Fulvous Whistling-Duck

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks

Limpkin

Green Heron

After completing the Lake Apopka drive, I had options.  Either head home or extend my day trip with a visit to Merritt Island NWR. Chose to extend the trip and arrived at Blackpoint Wildlife Drive at Merritt Island just past lunch and was greeted by a mommy Bobcat with her half-grown kitten making a dash across the road ahead of me. 

The marshes and wetlands had dried down some since my last visit a few weeks ago, and the variety of waterfowl had diminished. Didn't see any pintails today, but did have a lot of Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shovelers and a large flock of Hooded Mergansers. Also present in smaller numbers Mottled Ducks, Green-winged Teal and a couple of Redheads. The cinnamon teal that has been hanging out at stop #4 wasn't seen, but this location had lots of Dunlin, Western Sandpipers and Ring-billed Gulls.  Other species seen included American White Pelicans, American Coots, Common Gallinules, Caspian and Forster's Terns, Reddish Egrets, a Wilson's Sniped, Sanderlings, Roseate Spoonbills, Wood Storks, Greater & Lesser Yellowlegs, Willets, Pied-billed Grebes and Killdeer. Dipped on American avocets, gadwall, the northern pintails, any rails, sparrows or falcons

Checked out the Biolab Drive, but not much happening there. Also stopped at the visitor center feeders before heading home and ended the stop with four Painted Buntings.

A large of of Hooded Mergansers were actively feeding

White Ibis

Ring-billed Gull

Reddish Egret

Armadillo

Wilson's Snipe

Greater Yellowlegs

Lake Apopka

Friday January 17th

Heading home today from the Panhandle. Did make a side trip to Lake Apopka to check out the North Shore Wildlife Drive. Had visited last month and had some good sightings like the Ash-throated flycatcher.

Ring-necked duck and American Coot

But today, a great many people have also arrived to enjoy the day, the birds and photography.  Its much more crowded  on the drive than last month. The first the first mile or so was very busy.

At one point I stopped and asked some ladies what they were doing with a Muscovy Duck. Muscovy ducks are not commonly seen here and the ladies were concerned that the bird was a lost pet.  Especially as was kept approaching. No doubt it was used to being feed. They were trying to capture the it because they believed that it wasn't going to survive in the wild. My advise was to leave it alone.  It'll be alright.  Don't know what became of the situation after I left.

Fulvous Whistling Duck

American Coot

Lots of ducks today, but like at St Marks, the counts seemed lower. Fulvous Whistling Ducks, Blue-winged Teal, Ring-necked Ducks, Lesser Scaup and a Northern Shoveler.  Lots of American Coots, Pied-billed Coots, Anhingas, Common Gallinules, Cormorants, White & Glossy Ibis and the expected waders.  Ospreys, Northern Harriers, Red-shouldered Hawks and a Peregrine Falcon too.

Made a short visit. Still had three hours of driving to get home and the crowds were annoying.

Blue-winged Teal

Best Look I had of this Northern Shoveler

Pied-billed Grebe

Ring-necked Duck

Common Gallinule

gator

Road Trip

Sunday December 15th

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Its been awhile since I've been able to go on a birding road trip.  But this weekend I headed up to Lake Apopka and Gainesville looking for wintering Sparrows and Waterfowl.

Fulvous Whistling Ducks

Ash-throated flycatcher 

 Arrived on Friday morning at the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive to look for interesting waterfowl and other birds. First task  was to seek out the Ash-throated Flycatcher that has been hanging out close to the entrance gate. Almost got a great pic as the bird fly across the road to pose in a nearby tree. 

There were thousands of American Coots seen here and maybe another thousand Common Gallinules. The most interesting bird of the day was a male Painted Bunting seen near the Pump House. A Merlin was also cruising the Pump House area.

A Male Painted Bunting

A Peregrine Falcon and  Kestrel would be seen later along the drive.

Anhingas, Pied-billed Grebes and Double-crested Cormorants were also very numerous. As for the waterfowl, we had hundreds of Ring-necked Ducks, plus Fulvous and Black-bellied Whistling Ducks, American Wigeons, Blue-winged Teal and Northern Shovelers.  Additional sightings included Swamp Sparrows, all of the expected Wading Birds, Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Yellowthroats, a couple of calling Soras, Palm Warblers, House Wrens, Belted Kingfishers, a juvenile Purple Gallinule and Eastern Phoebes. 

Bur Marigolds were in Bloom

Pied-billed Grebe

Great Blue Herons were numerous

Merlin at the Pump House Area

From Lake Apopka, traveled up to Gainesville with plans to check-out The La Chua Trail and Sweetwater Wetlands located on the northern edge of Paynes Prairie, tomorrow. But today as day was waning went over to an area called Magnolia Parke with the idea to see if any Rusty Blackbirds were coming in to roost. Didn't identify any rustys, among the Red-winged Blackbirds but had a few Yellow-rumped Warblers, Yellow Bellied Sapsucker, Carolina Chickadee and black-and-White Warbler.

Swamp Sparrows dining on Spanish Needle seeds

Snowy Egret

Day two was spent visiting venues in Gainesville.
 First stop was a stretch of the Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail - North, walking from SE 4th Street to the Sweetwater Spur and back. Only spotted a single Chipping Sparrow, that was identifiable. Other sightings included Eastern Towhees, Northern Flickers, Downy Woodpeckers, Eastern Phoebes, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Carolina Chickadees, Gnatcatchers, Blue-headed Vireo and Black-and-White Warbler

American Bittern

Next up was the Sweetwater Wetlands Preserve. Haven't visited here in almost two years and there was quite a different experience today. Back then the water level was lower with plenty of exposed muddy shores to attract Long-billed Dowitchers, various Sandpipers, Wilson's Snipes and a rare to Florida, female Ruff. Lots of waterfowl too.

Today the American Coots, Common Gallinules, Anhingas and Double-crested Cormorants are very abundant, But not a lot of other waterfowl - Blue-winged Teal, Mottled Ducks, Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and a lone American White Pelican. Heard a Sora and photographed a Purple Gallinule, but dipped on any snipes or other rails

Purple Gallinule

Common Gallinules

Snail Kites have also moved into this venue since my last visit. Which is a good sign that this once threatened species is expanding their range.

 I also  joined a stack-out for another rare in Florida bird, LeContes Sparrow. As I waited on the bird, an American Bittern made an appearance as did a trio of Savannah Sparrows and a Song Sparrow. 

Turns out that the last sighting of the LeContes was made yesterday, before a strong storm, with tornados passed through the area last night. 

Snail Kite at the Sink Boardwalk

It didn't take long to cover the LaChua Trail at Paynes Prairie State Park as much of the area was flooded. The park volunteers I talked with said that the water levels were actually falling, and that the Spanish Horses and the Bison herd had been moved to another area of the park because of the high water.

At the Sink Boardwalk, several Snail Kites were active and very tolerant of the human visitors as were the huge alligators. Other sightings included a White-crowned Sparrow, more American Coots and Common Gallinules, Limpkins, Sandhill Cranes, Anhingas and Double-crested Cormorants

Bluejacket