Subject: Central Florida trip . . . belated report from April 7-17
Date: Apr 30 15:42:03 2001
From: Ned McGarry - nmcgarry at gte.net


Interest expressed regarding Central Florida trip, so here goes . . .

It was a good trip . . . but I didn't do enough birding (more of a family
trip to visit my sister in Daytona Beach).

I spent a short morning and a long morning at Merritt Island NWR . . .
needed two more days there to cover more ground. First morning was a rushed
drive around Black Point Wildlife Drive with two semi-impatient non-birders.
A few days later, I went back and hiked the 5-mile Cruickshank Trail (a bit
too far to hike for one location . . . uses up too much time if you don't
have enough). I also paid attention just driving around, hit the beach a
couple of times, took a drive to Lake Woodruff area, went to St. Augustine.
You might check out Wekiva Springs near Orlando early . . . before all the
swimmers get there. I've read you can catch Limpkin there early.

I've also been told of Ding Darling (Gulf coast I think) as a prime area for
birding (a lot of people are probably saying "duh" at this point). You may
want to check into that. I would have needed more time for a Gulf-side
trip.

Bring lots of bug spray, dress in long light clothing. The mosquitoes are
*really* bad news, especially in forests. Sun gets hot pretty quickly . . .
real easy to burn. Ok, I'll stop sounding like Mom now.

My trip list . . .

Pied-billed Grebe
American White Pelican - Meritt NWR - 3 synchro-soaring up high
Brown Pelican - go to beach, look up
Northern Gannet - several off coast at St. Augustine . . . need spotting
scope for half decent look
Anhinga - 1 female Downtown Port Orange
Double-crested Cormorant
Green-backed Heron - Downtown Port Orange, walked right in front of us, very
tame
Little Blue Heron - only one on way back from Merritt NWR on causeway
Reddish Egret - Merritt NWR - here and there -- they "dance" while fishing
Tricolored Heron - Merritt NWR - lots.
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Cattle Egret
Great Blue Heron
Wood Stork - St. Augustine, Merritt NWR
Glossy Ibis
White Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill - Merritt NWR
Sandhill Crane - flying east of Orlando airport over Beeline . . . probably
returning to roost
Canada Goose
Mallard
Mottled Duck
King Rail - 2 at Merritt NWR on drive, may have been Clapper Rail, but had a
fair amount of color
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Black-bellied Plover
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Ruddy Turnstone
Dunlin
Least Sandpiper
Laughing Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Gull-billed Tern - Port Orange beach
Least Tern - Port Orange beach
Royal Tern - Port Orange beach
Black Skimmer - St Augustine . . . very cool . . . I *had* to see this one
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Bald Eagle
American Swallow-tailed Kite (300th) - Wekiva Springs and Port Orange
Cooper's Hawk
Osprey - nests are everywhere
Northern Bobwhite - glimpse poking up in grass on Beeline near Orlando
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker -- pretty common here and there
Pileated Woodpecker - 1 Wekiva Springs
Eastern Kingbird - Merritt NWR
Great Crested Flycatcher - SW corner of Rt 17 and Rt 40 NE west of Daytona
Beach
Scrub Jay
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Wren - Wekiva Springs
Marsh Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - Wekiva Springs
Gray Catbird
Loggerhead Shrike - Cruickshank Trail . . . stayed just ahead of me for
almost 1 mile.
Northern Mockingbird
Cedar Waxwing
European Starling
Northern Parula - here and there
Northern Cardinal
Rufous-sided Towhee
Seaside Sparrow - St. Augustine
Savannah Sparrow
Eastern Meadowlark
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle - most notably at Kennedy Space Center cafeteria
House Sparrow

All in all, 24 lifers . . . finally got me over the 300 mark (up to 316 with
recent trip to Grays Harbor).
Now I gotta get to 400 . . . destination driven I guess. :)

Going to S. Connecticut/Long Island next week on biz. Hoping to get to a
couple of spots there after client schmoozing on Thursday/Friday. Anyone
have any ideas for areas within reasonable quick distance from Norwalk, CT
or Kennedy airport? (hot spots on Long Island . . . Milford Point
(Bridgeport, CT) is supposed to be good. ???

================================
Ned McGarry
Kirkland, WA
nmcgarry at gte.net