Florida 2024. Part 4. Twin Oaks Conservation Area

Once again I consulted eBird for sites close to where we were staying and found a reference to the Twin Oaks Conservation Area. An area of scrub trails and a large lake. What caught my eye was the sheer number of wildfowl, 300 + American Coots for example, along with Snail Kites. One of the few areas this species is seen regularly.

Heading off on our penultimate day I arrived around 09.00 to disappointingly find the preserve allowed shooting and there was a fair bit of disturbance around the lake. There were still plenty of birds around but the ducks were very flighty and a long way out with only Ring-necked Duck & Mallard being close enough to identify without a 'scope. There were also several distant Belted Kingfishers - instantly recognisable by their call. The last time I'd heard one was the one I ticked as a lifer in the UK. See here.

For the 1st time during our stay I met another couple out birding. Not really birding as they didn't have binoculars but they had cameras with large telephoto's. Chatting to them they showed me photos of a Great -horned Owl they just photographed peering out of a hole in an old tree. Armed with directions I headed that way and after a search found the owl peering out of its roost. The 2nd of the trip following one heard only at the Disney Wilderness Preserve.

Whilst searching for the Horned Owl I saw good numbers of smaller passerines including Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. These small birds are extremely active and hard to photograph but I noticed one kept  sallying forth from the same tree so waited for an opportunity to get a photo.

The couple I'd met suggested I was a bit early in the day for Snail Kite as they normally saw them towards dusk but told me they frequent a swampy area on the approach road to the reserve. Sure enough my luck was in and I picked up a distant kite perched up. The distinctive bill is adapted to remove their favourite prey, Apple Snails, from their shells. As I watched another bird appeared and they both hunted slightly closer so I could get a couple of record shots.

As the sun got hotter more butterflies appeared including Zebra Longwing, the Florida State butterfly, and Queen butterfly.

Heading back before it got to hot I came across yet another pair of ridiculously tame Sandhill Cranes. Crouching down they approached me completely unperturbed by my presence.

A great couple of weeks. Although not a serious birding trip I managed some good trips out ended up with a list of 70 birds. Not a huge number but it included four lifers in Florida Scrub Jay, Pileated, Red-headed and Red-cockaded Woodpecker. I also saw my 1st ever Black Bear and a totally unexpected Nine-banded Armadillo feeding outside the back of our villa one morning. These were introduced into Florida in the early part of the 20th century and are now naturalised.

For once a trip to Disney was more relaxed. The next time we'll probably go will be for our 40th wedding anniversary in 2026 with all the grandkids so I can't see me getting much free time to go birding on that trip.

Florida 2024. Part 3. Wildlife around the golf courses.

A lot of the golf courses in Florida have extensive wetlands associated with the. Lots of these are natural lakes but many are attenuation ponds designed to hold rain water or recycled water from the sewage works  for irrigation purposes. These attract a surprising amount of wildlife and I was pleasantly surprised to see a number of waders such as Least Sandpiper, Killdeer, Solitary Sandpiper, Wilsons Snipe and Greater Yellowlegs in good numbers. Alligators and Florida Red-bellied Cooters (turtles) were also a common sight.

Least Sandpiper

Killdeer

Greater Yellowlegs with Least Sandpipers

Greater Yellowlegs

Wilson's Snipe

   

Nearly every where we went had at least one pair of ridiculously tame Sandhill Cranes whilst both Turkey & Black Vulture were omni present overhead. The golf courses were the only places I saw Loggerhead Shrikes.

Turkey Vulture

                                                                         Sandhill Crane

Loggerhead Shrike

Golf carts are essential in Florida due to the heat and many courses won't let you play without hiring one. At first I was a bit annoyed about this but I soon discovered approaching birds in the cart slowly meant they weren't disturbed whereas approaching on foot they quickly moved away. The added bonus was the 'beer buggy' that came round selling snacks and cold drinks. Birding on a hot Florida day in the comfort of a golf cart with a cold beer in the icebox provided takes some beating! 

The muddy margins of some of these pools held the waders whilst more established areas were home t oa good variety of waterbirds such as Great Blue & Little Blue Heron's , Anhinga, Pied-billed Grebes and on one memorable day my trips only Roseate Spoonbill. Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Cattle Egrets, Glossy Ibis and Limpkin were also fairly common.

Pied-billed Grebe

Roseate Spoonbill

Little-blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

American White Ibis

Anhinga

Some of the best views of birds such as Palm Warbler, Pine Warbler and Eastern Phoebe were of those feeding on the ground on golf courses. Using the cart as a hide meant I could get up pretty close without disturbing them.

Palm Warbler

Pine Warbler

Eastern Phoebe

Ospreys are one of the commonest birds of prey in Florida and they were s common sight fishing in the golf course lakes and ponds. Red-shouldered Hawks also utilised the fairways for hunting. Perching up until they spotted a prey item and then swooping down after it. I also saw my only American Kestrels on the golf courses.

American Kestrel

Osprey with fish

Red-shouldered Hawk

It was outside one of the golf course club houses that I saw my only Wild Turkey of the trip. Apparently it comes every morning to get fed scraps by the kitchen staff.

Review of my birding year 2024.

A mixed year with some superb birds seen and some memorable trips.  I managed to add 3 species to my local patch and house list in 2024. All of them wildfowl - an indication of the wet weather we've experienced that affected so many of our small passerines during the breeding season.  Once again the pond opposite our house was the focus of attention with a memorable one afternoon Green-winged Teal proving to be the highlight. Other new birds were a juvenile Garganey that arrived with the first Teal of the Autumn and numerous sightings of Mandarin. Starting in the spring with a single male on the flooded part of the field and culminating in 9 juveniles that revisited on several occasions.

                                      Mandarin

                                        Garganey

Green-winged Teal

Locally our Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat populations crashed with only two pairs of the former and none of the latter present during the breeding season. Lesser Whitethroats were recorded as passage birds only. Once again I've not had a treecreeper on my local patch for the 3rd year running.

My Cheshire list increased by one with the superb Hudsonian Godwit found by Colin Wells at Burton Mere Wetlands RSPB. See here for details of that bird.

August saw me, Chris, Steve and Al making my 1st Scilly's pelagics trip for 11 years and what a memorable few days it turned out to be with the undoubted highlights being the record number of Wilson's Petrels seen in British and Irish waters in a single day (121) and a lifer in the form of Scopoli's Shearwater. Coupled with a very showy Spotted Sandpiper and an evening Storm petrel ringing it was a great trip. See here for details of that epic 'big Wilson's day'.

I had to wait until our annual trip t oFair Isle for my next lifer. After the disappointment of two years ago when we missed Tennessee Warbler on two consecutive days on Yell by 5 minutes (see here ) one turned up on Fair isle the day before we were scheduled to arrive. A nervous wait ensued with no news of the bird but  it was re-found just as we were picking our luggage up off the runway on the Fair Isle airstrip. A brisk 10 minute walk later and we were watching this little American gem by ourselves!  See here for details of that trip.

A great trip with Pectoral Sandpiper and Golden Oriole being self finds and seeing the Tennessee Warbler , Ortolan Bunting and Arctic Warbler in the hand along with colour ringing numerous Yellow-browed Warblers in the hand.

My next lifer of 2024 came in the form of the widely expected Pale-legged leaf Warbler at Flambourough in October - just as I'd returned from Fair Isle and just before my trip to Fetlar. Details here. What a bird! 

Fetlar proved to be wet and windy with the highlight being a putative Eastern Yellow Wagtail found by Paul Macklam and submitted to the BBRC. having to leave Fetlar early due to the poor wether I managed to jam in on the White-winged Scoter on the mainland - my 2nd in the UK and by far the best views. Details here

Next up was the sublime Yellow Warbler at Hythe in Kent. Being found fairy late on Christmas Eve meant a nervous wait for me until the day after Boxing Day when all the family events were behind us. I'm glad  I made it on the 27th rather than waiting until the weekend as the bird promptly did what has become known as the infamous Friday night flit.

The undoubted highlight of 2024 for me personally was my long-awaited and anticipated trip to Antarctica in January. A dream trip and one that lived up to all expectations. I fell in love with Antarctica and am  already planning a return trip within the next few years. A close second was visiting our family in Australia to see Amy perform as Maria in the Sound of Music in May. A time that happened to coincide with a big local influx of Swift Parrots. An Australia lifer for me - see here  - along with Rose Robin - see here. With a trip to Malaysia in March and Florida in November I ended up with a global year list total of 516 species.

So, what of 2025? I'm hoping for at least three lifers in the year to take my BOU list up to a nice round 550 species. Finally catching up with Green Warbler would be nice along with Siberian Thrush and a Yellow-breasted Bunting!  Hopefully I'm going to Iceland for two weeks in May catching and flagging Red Knot on their migratory staging grounds. We've already booked Fair Isle from 26th September until 3rd October and I will probably end up on Fetlar for a week early October. I'm taking Jan to the Seychelles for her birthday in November so that will provide an opportunity to see a few more island endemics.