This morning I awoke in my hotel in Orlando and quickly made my way to Gatorland—a tourist attraction focusing primarily on alligators, but also having a sizeable bird colony living on its grounds.  The birds are free-ranging, completely wild animals: they choose to nest there because the gators keep out other predators (such as raccoons) that would normally pose a threat to the birds’ nests.  In March you can get amazing close-up shots of egret and heron chicks in their nests, right from the boardwalk that spans the swamp:




Last year I spent a wonderful day at Gatorland and came away with many, many satisfying images.  But like last year, I again arrived too late this time to make the “early bird” photography session (which begins promptly at 7:30am), and had to wait to enter with the general public at 9am.  Bummer.
   When I got in I noticed there were tons of egrets (mostly great egrets), and a few wood storks, spoonbills, and anhingas.  Shooting was decent for a while, but then the sun came out, and since most of the birds I was shooting were white, with dark backgrounds, getting good exposures became very difficult.  I saw only one moorhen (a favorite of mine that I’d shot liberally here last year), and it didn’t stay out in the open much.  Getting flight shots with only sky as background was very difficult, especially since there were literally hundreds of birds in sight, and I never knew which one might take flight at any time.  There was a limpkin present (a new bird for me), but I wasn’t able to get great shots of it.  The spoonbills flew out of sight in mid-morning; they reportedly come back each evening to roost and leave in late morning to go to their feeding sites outside Gatorland.  A kite flew over once.



    In addition to photos of chicks in the nest, it’s also possible to get lots of “plume” images, in which the birds inflate their plume feathers while performing their courtship poses.

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Around 1 or 2pm I went out to the car to check on Kelsey.  It was a cool day, and she enjoys napping in the car, but I always like to check up on her anyway.  As I was visiting with her, a nasty security guard approached and informed me that I’d have to leave immediately, because dogs can’t be left in the car unattended, and they can’t be taken inside Gatorland.  Apparently, Florida has a new state law banning unattended dogs in cars, even on cool days with the windows open.  Brilliant.
    Update: I’ve recently learned that there’s been a change in management at Gatorland, and that this has negatively affected the birding there.  The photo passes are no longer available, and a bungee-cord-jumping exhibit is reportedly in the works that will likely disrupt the birds nesting there (a lawsuit has been filed to try to stop this).  I don’t have any additional details at this time.  You might consider going to the St. Augustine Alligator farm instead.  I intend to go there next year instead of Gatorland.
    I left Gatorland and headed toward Merritt Island, which is the only site I’m familiar with on the east coast of the state.  It’s a very reasonable drive from Orlando (see the map below).


Last year I’d had mixed results here: I obtained my only images of Florida scrub jays, along with a couple of spoonbill photos, but little else.  The main attraction within the park, for birders, seems to be a loop called Black Point Wildlife Drive.  Last year I saw little-to-nothing here, but I decided to try it again (it’s free—it just takes a while to traverse the loop, which is quite long).  This year I found most of the circuit to be largely bird-free, though some ponds had some ducks and grebes (the grebes weren’t approachable, unfortunately).  In one pond there were a bunch of willets that I was able to photograph in smooth water with half-decent color. A skimmer flew by, but didn’t stay long enough for me to capture it.  Some people told me about some spoonbills they’d seen down a nearby trail, so I walked there and found about 6 spoonbills, all napping with their beaks tucked under a wing.  Eventually one woke up and stretched for a bit before resuming its nap:




There was a king rail there at that pond too, but it wouldn’t come out from behind a branch.  The only other “keeper” image I was able to get on the Black Point Drive was this shot of a tricolored heron on a bush in the middle of a large pool:




As darkness approached I decided I’d taken enough photos and sufficiently exhausted myself on this trip.  Tomorrow I’ll make the long drive back to North Carolina.  Next year I hope to come back with renewed energy and hopefully find some opportunities for getting novel shots of Florida birds.

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