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Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Orlando Wetlands~Its Christmas!

Howdee all~

While in Titusville having service done to Homey….we took a suggestion of fellow birders and went to Orlando Wetlands in Christmas, Florida.

The OWP is a water treatment wetland and city park run by the city of Orlando, located in Christmas, FL. It takes treated wastewater from the Orlando metro area and runs it through a series of ponds, in which the vegetation take up remaining nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous. The water is then discharged into the St. Johns River. 

Click here to see Maps and Bird Check list of the Wetlands park.

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Jeff and I did a 2.5 mile loop …

The park is large and we didn’t  have enough time to

see the whole park. 

wildlife-map

We were greeted by A chorus of Coot, Limpkin, Boat-tailed Grackle, common Gallinule and roaring alligators..

Mottled Duck

OrlandoWetlands_012There were large expanses of marshy areas..

OrlandoWetlands_018We passed thru one area..

There were Turkey Vultures on one side of the road..

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And Black Vultures on the opposite side..

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We continued on looking thru the reeds…to our delight we found

American Bittern

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In the same vicinity a Green Heron flies in..

OrlandoWetlands_028We notice a Purple Gallinule in the greenery…

OrlandoWetlands_030Also in the same are a Glossy Ibis is preening..

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A hawk flies in and causes a ruckus amongst the birds..

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Red shouldered Hawk

OrlandoWetlands_060We continue on and find a Common Gallinule..

OrlandoWetlands_062Jeff disgiscoping..

OrlandoWetlands_069Bald eagle

Taken with my 20x point and shoot.

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Digiscoped by Jeff

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We continued on looking for more birds..I wanted to see rails..

OrlandoWetlands_076We didn’t find any rails this day..

OrlandoWetlands_077We did find two Wilsons Snipe

jeffs_031The area was active with alligators..

We heard and saw them roaring ..This one is just lounging around..

It was facing the road so we quickly went by..

OrlandoWetlands_081Baby alligator snoozing..

jeffs_033 (1)Onward we pass these pretty flowers.

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We find another Purple Gallinule..

OrlandoWetlands_098Beautiful colors..

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A large green Dragonfly

I think this may be an Eastern Pondhawk

OrlandoWetlands_102We decided to take the shorter loop and do the Bird trail..

We find a Corm with some sticky white thing stuck to its bill..it kept trying to flick it off.

OrlandoWetlands_103See this very blurry photo below…Jeff tried to digiscope this bird but it flitted around too much..

We had wonderful views of not one but four Least Bittern in this area.

They flew in and out of the reeds several times.

Neither of us were fast enough to get a good photo..

What a wonderful thing to see! We were so exited and left thinking nothing can top this…(Well ~this Cedar Waxwing flock did)

jeffs_034We continue on

Passing Great Blue Herons..

OrlandoWetlands_106Blue-winged Teal

OrlandoWetlands_109White Ibis

OrlandoWetlands_113Glossy Ibis

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Immature Ibis in the green..

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Glossy Ibis on a dead tree..

OrlandoWetlands_124White and Glossy Ibis

OrlandoWetlands_130Hanging out in a dead tree..

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OrlandoWetlands_137Boat-tailed Grackle

OrlandoWetlands_141More Ibis

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OrlandoWetlands_150OrlandoWetlands_160Little Blue Heron

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More Blue-winged Teal

OrlandoWetlands_167Anhinga

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Common Gallinule..

OrlandoWetlands_175We really enjoyed this park..

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And will be sure to visit the next time we are in Titusville

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We saw 51 species

It was Christmas for us here at Orlando Wetlands Park…

OrlandoWetlands_183Tri-colored Heron

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Orlando Wetlands Park, Orange, US-FL
Mar 30, 2012 8:45 AM - 12:25 PM
Protocol: Traveling
2.5 mile(s)
Comments: <br />Submitted from BirdLog NA for iOS, version 1.1
51 species (+1 other taxa)

Wood Duck
Mottled Duck
Blue-winged Teal
Pied-billed Grebe
Wood Stork
Anhinga
American Bittern
Least Bittern 4 in the same area - watched them fly and land several times
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Green Heron
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Accipiter sp. Short tail hawk?
Red-shouldered Hawk
Purple Gallinule
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Limpkin
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Wilson's Snipe
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
White-eyed Vireo
Fish Crow
Purple Martin
Tree Swallow
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Northern Parula
Eastern Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Boat-tailed Grackle

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

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