Desperately needing some sun and heat in our bones, Karen found a late bargain deal to Kissimmee. We had been to America before so knew we wouldn't get that many new birds, still that didn't deter us. We picked up the hire car and off we went. First decent birds were a group of 4 swallow tailed kites ! Brilliant - our first new bird. With nowhere to stop we weren't too bothered as we thought we would see alot more - wrong ! Just one single bird was seen and yet again we were driving with nowhere safe to stop. We did find the driving very stressful, the levels of traffic were massive and it never stopped. Of course, the nearer to Disney the worse it got. We got very lost many times!
We managed about 140 species with 30 of these being new. Saw some fabulous mammels, had a day at Sea World and got a cracking suntan (now covered up with 2 fleeces!).
The places we visited were Brinson Park, Kissimmee Lakefront Park, Kaliga Park, Canoe Creek Road, Joe Overstreet Road, Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area, Lake Wales and the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Plus any good stops along the way. A big thank you to Roy and Linda Harvey for their trip report, much appreciated !
We saw plenty of warblers in full colour which was good after seeing them in autumn in Cape May with little colour.
Bird of the trip was the pileated woodpecker, big misses were American Avocet and Burrowing Owl.
Food shopping was quite a challenge. Trying to find plain food without maple syrup proved difficult, believe me they put it in everything ! But we managed it and spent very little. The meal of the trip was a Porterhouse steak and chips from Longhorns Steak House - probably the best steak we have ever had and a 7 chocolate pudding, scruptious! Infact, we needed a doggie bag for half the pudding which was swiftly demolished the following afternoon with a cup of Yorkshire tea on our balcony. We know how to live the high life!!
A fabulous weeks break with some excellent birds in the sun - can't go wrong !
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