Our flights down were great, and I began birding as soon as we landed in Florida, in fact I spotted an osprey sitting in a tree next to a pond on the runway as we taxied to the gate.
Once we got off the plane, Disney's Magical Express bus took us to the resort. Along the way we passed many ponds and lakes that were filled with birds, and one had an American alligator. Birds I spotted on the ride to the resort included: cattle egret, great egret, white ibis, glossy ibis, wood stork, anhinga, and red-shouldered hawk to name a few.
When we arrived at the Coronado Springs, birds were plentiful and obviously used to seeing people, including this little blue heron below.
Also on the way to the room, I spotted this limpkin hunting in the reeds of a large pond.
After we got into our room, and unpacked I raced outside to look for more animals. There was a small pond near our building bordered by a road on once side and forest on the other three sides. I walked around the pond and found some good stuff. This orb spider was one of them. It was about 2.5 inches long!
This long-tailed skipper was a lifer for me.
This Cooper's hawk watched over the edge of the woods and the pond from the top of a snag.
There were not many birds around the pond, but there were plenty of butterflies, I added two lifers, the long-tailed skipper (pictured above) and palamedes swallowtail.
This long-tailed skipper was a lifer for me.
This Cooper's hawk watched over the edge of the woods and the pond from the top of a snag.
There were not many birds around the pond, but there were plenty of butterflies, I added two lifers, the long-tailed skipper (pictured above) and palamedes swallowtail.On the way to the Quiz Bowl competition, this little blue heron (pictured below) was easily approached.
So was this Florida sub-species of the Viceroy. The Viceroy is famous for mimicing the poisonous Monarch butterfly, but this sub-species may be trying to mimic the Queen butterfly, which is more common in Florida than the Monarch.
The next morning, I woke up early to look for animals, the first bird I saw was this adult red-shouldered hawk sitting on top of the "ruined Temple" by the pool. The hawk constantly screamed and in the distance I could hear another responding.
This northern mockingbird was also making its presense known by singing very loudly.
Other birds I found were common grackle, boat-tailed grackle, red-bellied woodpecker, downy woodpecker, and blue jay. I flushed this great egret out from some reeds.
Outside my room was this very cool looking moth.
After a short speech by a man who wrote a book about how the America's were before non-native people invaded them, Frank (one of the other students in our group) and I got a taxi and went to Tibet-Butler Nature Preserve. It was about 10 miles away from the Coronado Springs. Here is a picture of the swampy area of the preserve.
I was able to find Queen butterflies here, a lifer for me!
Also, this group of four female anhinga's soared high above the swamp.
A juvenile red-shouldered hawk made a few passes overhead, along with black and turkey vultures.
Frank spotted this very small spider sitting in the middle of it's web. If you look close, it appears that the black dots on it's back make a smiley face.
Easily overlooked with all the Queen butterflies around, was this Soldier butterfly, another lifer!
So was this Florida sub-species of the Viceroy. The Viceroy is famous for mimicing the poisonous Monarch butterfly, but this sub-species may be trying to mimic the Queen butterfly, which is more common in Florida than the Monarch.
The next morning, I woke up early to look for animals, the first bird I saw was this adult red-shouldered hawk sitting on top of the "ruined Temple" by the pool. The hawk constantly screamed and in the distance I could hear another responding.
This northern mockingbird was also making its presense known by singing very loudly.
Other birds I found were common grackle, boat-tailed grackle, red-bellied woodpecker, downy woodpecker, and blue jay. I flushed this great egret out from some reeds.
Outside my room was this very cool looking moth.
After a short speech by a man who wrote a book about how the America's were before non-native people invaded them, Frank (one of the other students in our group) and I got a taxi and went to Tibet-Butler Nature Preserve. It was about 10 miles away from the Coronado Springs. Here is a picture of the swampy area of the preserve.
I was able to find Queen butterflies here, a lifer for me!
Also, this group of four female anhinga's soared high above the swamp.
A juvenile red-shouldered hawk made a few passes overhead, along with black and turkey vultures.
Frank spotted this very small spider sitting in the middle of it's web. If you look close, it appears that the black dots on it's back make a smiley face.
Easily overlooked with all the Queen butterflies around, was this Soldier butterfly, another lifer!
A butterfly I have seen before, but have had trouble photographing was this Cloudless Sulphur.
It was very hot and not many birds were active, although one area was pretty productive, with pine warblers, woodpeckes, great-crested flycatchers, eastern phoebes, common moorhen, and blue-gray gnatcatchers. We searched the short, scrubby area for Florida Scrub Jays, but no luck there. At one point, Florida's state butterfly, the Zebra Longwing flew past me, but I was unable to photograph it (this happened 3 times on my trip.....)
Back at the Coronado, I found this White Peacock butterfly on some bushes.
This skipper was also with the White Peacock.
Back at the Coronado, this Florida Softshell Turtle lazily swam around the main lake. Along with the panfish below.
Later that night, the four of us went to Disney's Hollywood Studios. We were able to get in for free and rode some rides such as the "Tower of Terror" and "Rockin' Roller Coaster". However, the best part for me was the 20 or so common nighthawks flying in and out of the massive spotlights catching moths and other insects about the huge Mickey Mouse hat in the center of the park.
The next morning at the hotel, this white ibis was very cooperative.
As were these two species of lizard.
This pied-billed grebe was swimming in the pond near our building.
I decided to take the free buses to other Disney properties and look for animals. Outside of the "Animal Kingdom" was this very tame roseate spoonbill.
And this black-bellied whistling duck.
At the Fort Wilderness Lodge, I found these two Cassius Blue's mating. And also added polydamas swallowtail to my list.
This dorantes skipper was at the "butterfly garden" at the Fort Wilderness Campground.
The palamedes swallowtail (pictured below) was the most common butterfly species I saw and was at every location I visited.
This wood stork was near the Downtown Disney area.
Considering I couldnt really leave Disney property and I didnt have my own car, I think I did pretty good for birding and butterflying. I ended the trip with 44 species of birds and 15 confirmed butterflies, there a ton of others I have yet to ID with the photo's I took. I only found 3 species of mammals; grey squirrel, cottontail rabbit, and an armadillo. The armadillo was running around the last night I was there near our building at the resort.
It was very hot and not many birds were active, although one area was pretty productive, with pine warblers, woodpeckes, great-crested flycatchers, eastern phoebes, common moorhen, and blue-gray gnatcatchers. We searched the short, scrubby area for Florida Scrub Jays, but no luck there. At one point, Florida's state butterfly, the Zebra Longwing flew past me, but I was unable to photograph it (this happened 3 times on my trip.....)
When we were about to leave, Frank spotted this Gulf Fritillary.
Back at the Coronado, I found this White Peacock butterfly on some bushes.
This skipper was also with the White Peacock.
Back at the Coronado, this Florida Softshell Turtle lazily swam around the main lake. Along with the panfish below.
Later that night, the four of us went to Disney's Hollywood Studios. We were able to get in for free and rode some rides such as the "Tower of Terror" and "Rockin' Roller Coaster". However, the best part for me was the 20 or so common nighthawks flying in and out of the massive spotlights catching moths and other insects about the huge Mickey Mouse hat in the center of the park.
The next morning at the hotel, this white ibis was very cooperative.
As were these two species of lizard.
This pied-billed grebe was swimming in the pond near our building.
I decided to take the free buses to other Disney properties and look for animals. Outside of the "Animal Kingdom" was this very tame roseate spoonbill.
And this black-bellied whistling duck.
At the Fort Wilderness Lodge, I found these two Cassius Blue's mating. And also added polydamas swallowtail to my list.
This dorantes skipper was at the "butterfly garden" at the Fort Wilderness Campground.
The palamedes swallowtail (pictured below) was the most common butterfly species I saw and was at every location I visited.
This wood stork was near the Downtown Disney area.
Considering I couldnt really leave Disney property and I didnt have my own car, I think I did pretty good for birding and butterflying. I ended the trip with 44 species of birds and 15 confirmed butterflies, there a ton of others I have yet to ID with the photo's I took. I only found 3 species of mammals; grey squirrel, cottontail rabbit, and an armadillo. The armadillo was running around the last night I was there near our building at the resort.
man, you definitely get the most of out a trip to wherever you go. good work - sounds like you had a great time.
ReplyDeletechris