CENTRAL/EASTERN FLORIDA

May 27 - April 4

As with each of our Florida birding trips, I was attending a conference in Kissimmee and stayed a few days after the conference to do some birding. While we arrived in Orlando on May 27, aside from birding around the hotel and at a couple nearby parks, we did most of our birding from April 1 to April 3.

This was going to be the fifth time we would bird in Florida, the first time having been when we just started birding and no planning was made at all for that trip. We had our two year old daughter, Sophia, along, so the birding was paced with her in mind. In particular, we did no early morning birding, the earliest being at 10am. This likely played a role in our low warbler count. We didn't expect too many lifers, but did get one, the gull-billed tern, and got a total of twelve new Florida species.

Resources: For a field guide nothing beats, or is heavier than, Sibley's North America Bird Guide. To get an excellent idea of what to expect and the different habits and sites to bird in Florida, A Birder's Guide to Florida, by Bill Pranty, one of the ABA/Lane Birdfinding Guide series books, is great. As with any such book, as time goes on it becomes less valuable; last updated in 1997, however, it still proves very useful. Other information specifics as to where to bird and what to see were gleaned from recent trip reports from the web and e-mail lists; this proved very useful in motivating us to try some of the dirt roads in the Merritt Island NWR, where the gull-billed tern was fund. The e-mail lists can also be a bit frustrating when someone lists a wave of warblers they saw, since, as we know, the same area can be dead when you arrive later. I also have a copy of the National Audubon Society Field Guide to Florida which is of interest regarding all things natural in Florida. I'll take this opportunity to mention a book I had recently read about the everglades and found very interesting: Liquid land: a journey through the florida everglades, by Ted Levin.

Areas Birded: In the Orlando area we birded Brinson Park in Kissimmee. We then headed east to bird the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and spent the night in Cocoa Beach. We next headed southward to spend the night in Jupiter, stopping at Blue Cypress Conservation Area in the Vero Beach area and Sandhill Crane Park in the Port St. Lucie area. After snoozing in Jupiter we went up the Jungle Trail in the Vero Beach area and then to the Turkey Creek Sanctuary in the Palm Bay area.

Accomodations: We were a little late in booking our hotels for our trip. Two months ahead wouldn't be a bad idea. We waited until a little less than a month and had to work to find places. In Kissimmee we stayed at the Gaylord Palms. This is quite expensive and was chosen since the conference I was attending was held there. The Best Western East Gate in Kissimmee was good and reasonably priced the year before, but now it only has weekly rates and has changed names. Our first night out of Kissimmee we stayed in Cocoa Beach at the Inn at Cocoa Beach for about $160. They advertise as a bed and breakfast and do have a good breakfast. The beach is about 100 yards away. Delivery pizza from a local place was quite good. In Jupiter we stayed at the Best Western at about $125. Our last night was spent again in Cocoa Beach, this time at the Best Western which we've stayed at some years before and find to our liking: the beach, and the pier, is right off the hotel grounds.

Looking Back: On this trip, spending time along the eastern seaboard south of Orlando, the biggest impression was the shear magnitude of development. Not only that which exists already, but that which is taking place now. Contractors/builders are refacing this entire area of Florida a good deal beyond what has already been done. There is no doubt that wildlife are feeling and will feel the impact.

Hindsight: The most memorable birding occurred at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, the Blue Cypress Conservation Area and Brinson Park. I had seen postings on the web of some nice warbler sightings at some of the places we birded but they didn't materialize while we were visiting them; in part due to the time of day. After returning I noticed that just as we were spending our last day at Cocoa Beach good numbers of warblers were seen at Lori Wilson Park in Cocoa Beach, which I had not visited, but was aware of.

Brinson Park, Kissimmee: We birded this park on Tuesday, from 4-5:30pm and it proved wonderful as usual. We birded the northwest corner of the lake primarily, where there is a fishing pier and the lake extends under the roadway to the other side. The vegetation was drastically altered on the other side from the year before, a considerable amount having been removed from the shoreline. The view was better and there was still a good deal of similar vegetation away from the immediate shoreline so I can only imagine that no animals have lost any habitat. This lake is lowered and raised from year to year and my understanding is that this and other adjustments are done to help the animals who use it.

A very cooperative pair of limpkins was probing around which in and of itself was a treat, but it got better when we noticed the huge apple snails they were probing. In addition we saw: starling, red-winged blackbird, grackle, mockingbird, eagle, osprey, coot, moorhen, black vulture, white ibis, glossy ibis, black-necked stilt, palm warbler, pigeon, mourning dove, eurasian collared dove, kingfisher, little blue heron, green heron, snowy egret, great egret, great blue heron, stork, herring gull, royal tern, forster's tern, cormorant, mallard, blue-winged teal, pied-billed grebe, ring-necked duck; white-winged dove, greater yellowlegs, monk parrots.

The white-wing dove was expected to be seen as we've seen them before. It was seen very quickly and the greater yellowlegs at a distance. The monk parrots, which we've gotten great looks at in prior years, were a fly by and didn't stop to visit the feeders at the house across from the lake as we usually see them do: there was a cat roaming very nearby to these feeders who seemed to be new to the area since last year.

Mead Gardens, Orlando: We birded this park/gardens, on Thursday from 4-5:30, before going nearby to an excellent cuban restaurant. The boardwalk is interesting as you can see the devastation some large storm had some years ago. The park was relatively quiet and we saw only two warbler species, although around this time of year waves of warblers are reported in this park. A very cooperative pileated gave us, including our two year old, great looks. We saw: chimney swifts, downy, red-bellied and pileated woodpeckers, cedar waxwings, cardinal, catbird, redstart, blue-grey gnatcatcher, unid'd waterthrush and thrush.

Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (MINWR) : On Friday we headed over to MINWR, picking up sandhill cranes on the way, and birded from 2-5pm. We had birded the Black Point Wildlife Drive our first time birding in Florida and had found it a real treat. This time, thanks to some e-mail list messages, we were going to try also the Gator Pond dirt roads: to get to these, right when you get off the bridge to MINWR the first dirt road is to your immediate right, next to an information kiosk. There are two Gator Pond roads and by taking the first you will get to a point where you can either proceed to the paved road again, or take the second one: we took them both. We saw more birds on Gator Pond road, but Black Point Wildlife Drive was worth going to also as we picked up reddish egret there and a few alligators up close. In short, it was a great time!

The birds we saw were: wood stork, white pelican, black-bellied plover, brown pelican, killdeer, short- and long-billed dowitchers, lesser and greater yellowlegs, willet, least sandpiper, black-necked stilt, avocet, laughing gull, ring-billed gull, caspian tern, forster's tern, gull-billed tern, black skimmer, kingfisher, glossy and white ibis, roseate spoonbill, great egret, great blue heron, green heron, snowy egret, reddish egret, tri-colored heron, little blue heron, blue-winged teal, scaup, mottled duck, northern shoveler, pied-billed grebe, grackle, red-winged blackbird, meadowlark, eastern kingbird, flicker, mourning dove, pigeon, coot, moorhen, osprey, northern harrier, turkey vulture, black vulture.

Cocoa Beach, Inn at Cocoa Beach : Around the hotel on Friday night and Saturday morning we saw: sanderling, eurasian collared dove, northern parula, prairie warbler.

Blue Cypress Conservation Area : We left cocoa beach late in the morning and headed to Blue Cypress, where we birded on Saturday from 12-2pm, seeing sand hill cranes en route. I walked a good ways out on the dike, to a little area where you can actually camp over night, and then came back. Bill Pranty, in his book, mentions the possibility of snail kite here, and they were easy to see. Even from the parking lot we watched males slowly cruising by; be aware of the red-shouldered hawks which, I presume, could be mistaken for a female snail kite if a good look is not had. We didn't see the smooth-billed anni that had been seen here a week or two before, but did see: white and glossy ibis, black-necked stilt, black vulture, blue-winged teal, moorhen, anhinga, cormorant, grackle, mockingbird, red-winged blackbird, tri-colored heron, osprey, red-shouldered hawk, snail kite, snowy egret, cowbird, great blue heron, great egret, limpkin, rough-winged swallow.

Sandhill Crane Park : We had some lunch and made our way to the Port St. Lucie area to Sandhill Crane Park, where we birded on Saturday from 3:45-4:45pm. The directions in Pranty got us confused. Getting on to walton road was correct, but the next and last turn, a left, seemed wrong and we had to go one street further down. While at the park we noticed that going even one street further would have brought us to a larger parking area. A fairly significant looking burn had been done recently in a good sized part of the park. At this time of day things were quiet, but we did see: sand hill crane, yellow-throated warbler, prairie warbler, pine warbler.

Jungle Trail: After breakfast in Jupiter we made our way to the Jungle Trail in Vero Beach. Apparently there is some history behind this road and it has been kept unpaved. The entrance on the south side is easy to miss. From Pranty's description we were shocked at what we saw. Golf courses and houses lining a good deal of the west side of the road and brand new houses going up on the east side. Towards the north end it does traverse a small distance without housing, but the initial segment was quite depressing, to say the least. While the housing in Florida may be cheap, the impact on the environment is not. Towards the north end, in fact, is a refuge; I don't recall if it is a national wildlife refuge or not, which I believe had to do with pelicans. Along the "trail" we did see, from 11am-12:30: common yellowthroat, palm warbler, prairie warbler, white pelican, kingfisher, tri-colored heron, osprey, great egret.

Turkey Creek Sanctuary : After spending too much time on Sunday looking for a reasonable place to have lunch in Melbourne, we ate lunch and went over to the Turkey Creek Sanctuary and spent about 2 hours birding. It was a nice warm afternoon and the walk was pleasant, with nice views of Turkey Creek from the boardwalk. However, it was very quite and the only bird we saw was a northern flicker. We spent the night at the Best Western in Cocoa Beach and on April 4 headed slowly to Orlando to take the flight to Boston.

Species: In all we saw 84 species. Not bad given the number of actual hours birding and that we did no morning birding. In the Kissimmee area we saw red-shouldered hawk, cattle egret and anhinga. Fish crows were fairly common on the trip and house sparrows were seen in some urban areas. Gull-billed tern was a lifer and we had twelve new Florida species.

pied-billed grebe
brown pelican
white pelican
cormorant
anhinga
great egret
great blue heron
snowy egret
reddish egret
tri-colored heron
little blue heron
cattle egret
green heron
glossy ibis
white ibis
roseate spoonbill
stork
mallard
mottled duck
northern shoveler
blue-winged teal
ring-necked duck
turkey vulture
black vulture
snail kite
northern harrier
red-shouldered hawk
eagle
osprey
moorhen
coot
limpkin
sandhill crane
black-bellied plover
killdeer
black-necked stilt
avocet
greater yellowlegs
lesser yellowlegs
sanderling
least sandpiper
willet
long-billed dowitcher
short-billed dowitcher
herring gull
ring-billed gull
laughing gull
forster's tern
caspian tern
royal tern
gull-billed tern
black skimmer
pigeon
mourning dove
white-winged dove
eurasian collared dove
monk parrot
chimney swift
kingfisher
flicker
downy
red-bellied
pileated woodpecker
eastern kingbird
rough-winged swallow
fish crow
blue-grey gnatcatcher
mockingbird
catbird
cedar waxwings
starling
northern parula
yellow-throated warbler
prairie warbler
palm warbler
pine warbler
redstart
common yellowthroat
cardinal
house sparrow
meadowlark
red-winged blackbird
grackle
cowbird