I was in Florida for 5 weeks this winter and it was amazing! This wasn’t just a bird vacation, rather a relaxing, enjoying the daily sun and not being in Wisconsin for winter type of vacation. I think I did less bird things than I would normally do, but I still ended up with over 150 species and 12 life birds. I tried to focus on a few birds that I had not seen before and without spending too much time driving for them. Snail Kite was a top priority, which I made a separate post about earlier this week. I also saw that Vermilion Flycatcher, Tropical Kingbird and Tricolored Munia (ABA bird) were being seen at Torry Island. I made several trips there but was unsuccessful with the Tricolored Munia. I found the other two, along with a Blue Grosbeak and several Painted Buntings. There was also an Indigo x Painted Bunting seen occasionally and I found that as well. Another spot I focused on was Three Lakes WMA. I saw that Brown-headed Nuthatch, Red-cockaded Woodpecker and Bachman’s Sparrow were seen among others. I had seen all three before, but I wanted to spend more time with photos on them. I did the Lake Apopka Wildlife Dr, which is only open on the weekends, and is an 11-mile one way drive. It’s basically water or marsh on both sides of the road and is incredible for photography. Another awesome place was St Marks NWR, which has been hosting an American Flamingo (ABA bird) for over a year. This time I was able to go and see it, among many other things. All in all, it was a very enjoyable time spent in Florida. I took over 15,000 photos and edited over 400, while down there! This is a very large photo gallery post, so please take your time going through it. If you have any questions or would like more info on any of the places I visited, feel free to contact me. Enjoy!
Torry Island/Lake Okeechobee, FL
St Marks National Wildlife Refuge, FL
Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, FL
Three Lakes WMA, FL
Lake Tohopekaliga, FL
Newton Park, FL
Apalachicola National Estuarine Reserve–Unit 4, St George Island, FL
Lake Apopka North Shore, FL
Venetian Waterway Park, FL
Myakka River State Park, FL
Tamarac Exotic Duck Pond, FL
Wow! What a terrific trip! Beautiful pics!
Thank you very much Karen!
Amazing! Wonderful photos and opportunities. Thank you for sharing. What a great prelude to the upcoming spring migration.
Thank you Karie! You are welcome!
Thanks for sharing, amazing photos!!
You are welcome, thank you!
Incredible photos! Thanks for sharing on the Wisconsin birds listserv
Thank you very much! You are welcome!
Your photography work is out of this world. Thank you for posting these!
Thank you so much Anna, you are welcome!
As usual, your pictures are amazing and beautiful!! I’m happy that I got to see them in person with you!
Wonderful shots Jeremy, thanks for sharing
Thank you Tom!
Thanks for sharing your beautiful pictures. Thanks for zeroing in on some hard to get species. Good job of doing your homework,
You are welcome! Thank you very much!