The one about Orlando

Yes folks we have been to Orlando in Florida, and in between the Disney experience I managed to squeeze in a few off days to go birding. There are birds in the parks, but not very many. Grackles and white ibis are common, and a lot of the lake areas have mallard, anhinga and cormorant. I am going to do a trip list (mainly for my own purposes) with a few notes. If you are bored skip to the pictures. The list is in the order I saw the birds, not taxonomic. Lifers are highlighted, a "U" represents a USA first to add to the birds I saw in my last trip in 1991. A star means the bird made it onto the 2022 list as well. 

Great egret * 
Roseate spoonbill (U) *

American crow*

Cattle egret U)*
Great blue heron*
Mourning dove*
Boat-tailed grackle (U)*
Double-crested cormorant (U)*
White ibis (U)*
Mallard
House sparrow
Black vulture  (U)*
Anhinga  (U)*
Black-crowned night heron (U)*
Tri colored heron (U)*
Snowy egret  (U)*
Glossy ibis  (U)
Osprey  (U)*

Limpkin  (U)*
Common grackle*
American coot  (U)*
Black bellied whistling duck  (U)*

Muscovy duck  (U)*

Starling

Green backed heron  (U)*

Little blue heron  (U)*

Wood stork  (U)*

Fulvous whistling duck(U)*

Purple gallinule  (U)*

Black-necked stilt  (U)*

Bald eagle  (U)*

Coopers hawk  (U)*

Northern flicker  (U)*

Yellow-rumped warbler  (U)*

Pied-billed grebe  (U)*

Collared dove  (U)

Snail kite  (U)*

Gray kingbird  (U)*

Loggerhead shrike  (U)*

Moorhen  (U)

Brown pelican  (U)*

Mottled duck  (U)*

Turnstone  (U)

Sanderling  (U)

Laughing gull  (U)*

Forster's tern  (U)*

Least tern  (U)*

Black Skimmer  (U)*

Turkey vulture  (U)*

Belted kingfisher  (U)*

Barn swallow

Mute swan

Egyptian goose

The birding days were around Lake Apopka and particularly the wildlife drive which is well worth doing. We also went to the Kissimmee Lake front at Lake Toho, Cocoa beach and the Merritt Island wildlife drive. If you get one day to bird I would recommend the Lake Apopka North Shore Wildlife Drive which is a 12-mile one way drive on a dirt road with ample opportunities to stop for pictures. It also gave the best views of alligators and is less than an hour from Orlando. 

Tri-colored heron

Limpkin

Osprey

Common grackle

 

Egyptian goose

American crow

Brown pelicans

Muscovy duck

White ibis

Lake front at Kissimmee

Boat dock at Kissimmee and site of three snail kites!!

Snail kite

Alligator

Lake Apopka wildlife drive view

Merritt Island drive

White ibis

Great egret

Great blue heron

Double-crested cormorant and brown pelican

Lake Apopka Drive view

Snail kite

Enough said

Great egret

Little blue heron

Obviously the local patches have been a bit neglected, but I did add curlew sandpiper to the 2022 and WOW lists. I missed a lot of passage waders with being away, but the Florida birds were ample compensation. The highlights were the snail kites sitting around the boat dock. I wasn't expecting them but a local birder put me on to them. The bald eagle was a flyover as we came off the Turnpike heading for Lake Apopka to look for bald eagles. It was the only one we saw despite visiting three good sites - Lake Apopka, Kissimmee and Merrit Island. The habitat and time of year meant that passerines were scarce, but there was a wide variety of waterbirds. 

2022

149: Greenshank

42 in Florida (see above)

192: Curlew sandpiper

NDCP

61: Treecreeper

WOW

79: Curlew sandpiper