29 April 2023 - Orlando, Florida

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Northern Parula, Brown Thrasher, Downy Woodpecker, Great Crested Flycatcher, Red-shouldered Hawk, Yellow-throated Vireo, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Swallow-tailed Kite

With just a couple of hours to kill before going to the airport this morning, we headed for Airport Lakes Park.  This looked promising, but unfortunately the only access to the water (a boardwalk) was blocked off for some reason.  We had a stroll around and I saw a few interesting things, including Northern Parula, Downy and Red-bellied Woodpecker, and the usual Northern Cardinals and Mockingbirds.  There were some great butterflies around, but they didn't seem to want to land.  Probably the best bird I saw here was a Yellow-throated Vireo, but it didn't stick around long enough for a photo.

We then tried another small park nearby, (Warren Park I think), which produced a few birds including another Northern Parula, a Red-shouldered Hawk that landed in a tree just across the road, and a nice male Black-throated Blue Warbler. The Merlin app apparently picked up a Great Horned Owl while I was walking around, but I didn't hear anything! As we ate our snacks and drank our last remaining drinks before going to the airport, a Great Crested Flycatcher that had been giving me the run around suddenly landed close by, posing for some nice photos; this has been a tricky species to photograph throughout the holiday, so it was nice to finally get some good pics!   

On the way to drop off the hire car at the airport, we saw another Swallow-tailed Kite swooping low over one of the hotel buildings.  As we got into the airport there was a weather warning of a severe thunderstorm, with 'quarter-size' hailstones, possibly causing vehicle damage.  Indeed, the storm came directly overhead, with some serious thunder and lightning and torrential rain that delayed our departure by about an hour (though we didn't see the hailstones!).

As we were taking off, there seemed to be an increase in the number of pools around, and quite a few herons and egrets frequenting them. 

Downy Woodpecker, 1/2500 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 6400 (view full size image)

Redouldered Hawk, 1/640 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 800 (view full size image)

Great Crested Flycatcher , 1/640 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 1000 (view full size image)

Great Crested Flycatcher, 1/640 sec, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 800 (view full size image)