Lake Apopka, FL - 15 Dec 2019


Robin and I flew to Orlando this Sunday morning to spend a few days kicking around town and at Disney's Fort Wilderness. We landed in Orlando just after 11 am and picked up a rental car (Alamo) and headed to the Marriott Cypress Harbor Villas a few miles away.

The Villas is a VERY nice place. We had a two bedroom setup with kitchen, living room, two bathrooms, and a screened-in porch that gave us views of the natural area out back. Wow. But, with a free afternoon I had the choice of what to do, so I chose the Wildlife Drive at Lake Apopka.



The trip to Lake Apopka was about as indirect as possible, and took almost an hour to get there. However, the 11-mile Wildlife Drive was very impressive. My only regret was doing it in the middle of the afternoon. The overhead Sun put everything on one side of the car completely backlit, so there'd be no photographing the thousands of American Coot and Common Gallinules that crowded one side of the lake. The other side of the lake was nicely illuminated, including said coots and gallinules. Scattered among them were small groups of Blue-winged Teal that provided some nice portrait shots as they swam by.



The highlight of the drive would be a pair of Gray-headed Swamp Hens that foraged along the edge of the canal to our right. These invasive birds from Asia are increasing in number down here, but are the first birds I was able to photograph.






A River Otter stopped traffic long enough to run across the dike in front of us. I was able to get one photo in severe backlight.


Little Blue Herons popped up along the dike, as well as Cattle Egrets.





I'm not a fan of shooting into the Sun but I couldn't turn down the chance to photograph a pair of squabbling Glossy Ibis a few feet away. I really liked how these images turned out.









Red-shouldered Hawks were also spotted at several locations along the drive, but at a distance. The same with Belted Kingfishers.




The only fly-by opportunity was an Osprey that flew directly at us and then overhead. Unfortunately though, the lighting was again bad.



After 11-miles of harsh lighting, we were glad to have reached the end of the drive. This Red-shouldered Hawk was perched just before the exit and the 1-hour drive back to Orlando. We were tired enough that tomorrow (Monday) would be spent at the Marriott; Robin has a meeting with the Futuring Group at Kedge in the afternoon, so our free time is split.



Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, Orange, Florida, US
Dec 15, 2019 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
11.0 mile(s)
Checklist Comments:     Robin and me. Sunny, harsh lighting.
10 species

Blue-winged Teal (Spatula discors)  36
Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata)  500
American Coot (Fulica americana)  500
Gray-headed Swamphen (Porphyrio poliocephalus)  2
Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea)  4
Western Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis)  12
Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus)  2
Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)  1
Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus)  2
Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon)  2

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S160519429

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)