Orlando Wetlands Park, Tosohatchee WMA, 7/9/2011

Overall, this was somewhat of a dreary day.  It was overcast the whole time I was out, so shutter speeds were slow, and I have a lot of blurry pictures.  Thankfully, I got there at 6:30am to take pictures of roosting Black-Crowned Night Herons (they weren't roosting where I was told they would be), so I had my tripod with me.  I've been spending more time in places where I'm more likely to find perching birds, but I found nothing extraordinary.  I did see a Pileated and a Downy Woodpecker, which I haven't seen in the park before.

After I left OWP, I went down to the Tosohatchee WMA to see what I could find there.  I didn't realize how large that place is.  I'm going to have to read up on where to go there.  I only saw a few species while I was there, but I didn't spend much time there, and was mostly trying to get the lay of the land for future trips.  I got very irritated with a few fishermen--I didn't see it happen, but I'm pretty sure they fed a large catfish to a huge alligator.  I suspect they don't realize how dangerous that is for future encounters with the alligator.

So here's what I saw.  Again, X means I didn't count the number of species, and a number refers to how many I observed.  If you want to see photos from my day, check my smugmug site.

Orlando Wetlands Park

Non-Birds
American Alligator X
Black Swallowtail 2
Tiger Swallowtail 1
Various Dragonflies X

Birds
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck X
Double-crested Cormorant X
Least Bittern 4
Great Blue Heron X
Great Egret X
Snowy Egret X
Little Blue Heron X
Tricolored Heron X
Cattle Egret X
Green Heron X
Black-crowned Night-Heron 3
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron 3
White Ibis X
Glossy Ibis X
Black Vulture X
Turkey Vulture X
Osprey 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Purple Gallinule 1
Common Moorhen X
Limpkin 2
Mourning Dove X
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 3
Red-eyed Vireo 2
American Crow X
Fish Crow X
Carolina Wren 3
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Northern Mockingbird X
Northern Cardinal X
Red-winged Blackbird X
Common Grackle X
Boat-tailed Grackle X

Tosohatchee WMA

Non-Birds
American Alligator X

Birds
Anhinga X
Great Blue Heron 2
Great Egret 3
Cattle Egret 5
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Black-necked Stilt 3
Mourning Dove 3
Red-winged Blackbird 3
Boat-tailed Grackle 2