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| Wood Ducks |
There are times when I have to stop, take a deep breath, and
thank God for where I am and what I’m doing.
Yesterday was one of those days.
I spent it birding in the Orlando area at Mead Gardens, Leu Gardens, and
the Orlando Wetlands Park in the little town of Christmas. The weather was perfect, the company was
great (as always, we laughed like fools), the people we met were so nice, and
the birding was very good. You can’t ask
for more.
Anyway, the Big Red Van left Alachua County at 5:30 and
reached Mead Gardens at 8:00 AM. Within
moments, we had a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and a Gray
Catbird, and we hadn’t yet left the parking lot! We worked our way down to the pond where we
found the Wood Ducks pictured above. I
know God was playing with a box of 64 Crayolas when he created Wood Ducks and
was thinking, “Let’s just get a little crazy here.”
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| Green Heron |
We were fortunate to meet up with the local folks doing the
morning Bird Walk, and they helped us find a few really good birds including a
male Black-throated Blue Warbler, a Black-and-white Warbler, and an American
Redstart. One of our group chipped in
with a young male Black-throated Green Warbler. Eventually we ended the morning with an Indigo
Bunting and a Ruby-throated Hummingbird giving us 33 species for Mead Gardens.
After lunch we headed into Leu Gardens. It’s a gorgeous place, but the admission
price of $7.46 per person was a bit steep – especially with Mead being free and
just a mile or two away – and I read that the price is going up to $10
soon. I’m afraid I would have to scratch
it off my birding hot-spots list if I were a local. Couldn’t afford it. Still, the place was really beautiful and for
mid-day birding we had some success. The
observation platform at the lake gave us a great look at a Green Heron (right)
and a soaring Red-tailed Hawk. Then as
we were about to leave, we hit one little area near the Citrus Grove that had a
Brown Thrasher, a Tennessee Warbler, and a Magnolia Warbler. That’s not a bad way to end a walk!
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| Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks |
Next we headed east to Christmas, Florida, and the Orlando
Wetlands Park. It was late in the day
when we arrived so we knew we couldn’t do the entire Birding Trail. Instead, we walked one edge of the Cypress
Marsh and a piece of the Birding Trail. Among the species we found were the
Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks pictured at left and a few Purple Gallinules
(below).
The Orlando Wetlands Park is one of my favorite places, so
I’m bummed that it’s closed from November 15 through the end of January for
duck hunting. I hope the ducks avoid the
human predators, and I’ll be back in February to do some duck watching.
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| Purple Gallinule |
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| Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, Florida |
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