Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, 8/7/2015

Great Horned Owl

Yesterday I drove out to the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive before work.  I got there before 6:30 so that I'd have a couple hours to see what I could find.  I'm headed to Mexico for a week later on today, so I figured it would be good to have one last check of the drive before leaving. It was a pretty fun time, even if I wish it could have been longer.

Solitary Sandpiper

A Black Tern and an Upland Sandpiper were seen during the week, so those were the birds I was hoping for.  But I had no luck finding those.  However, there are still lots of shorebirds around the sod fields--most of them were on the west end by Canal Rd, so I had to look straight towards the sun to see them. Presentable photos were impossible, but there was a Stilt Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, at least 10 Pectoral Sandpipers and Least Sandpipers, and several Solitary Sandpipers, Greater Yellowlegs and Lesser Yellowlegs.

Prairie Warbler

Warblers are also coming back. I saw a Yellow Warbler and a Prairie Warbler. the Yellow Warbler is my first of the year. Interestingly, when the ranger came to open that she mentioned that she had passed a Great Horned Owl on the road. It had a Pied-billed Grebe, but it flew up onto some farm equipment when she approached.

Bank Swallow and Barn Swallow

There were far fewer swallows there than there were last week. I counted only 3 Bank Swallows and 5 Barn Swallows. Here's a link to my eBird checklist.