And now for a break from the usual - Disney World!

Magic Kingdom, Disney World

Yup. last week I was at Disney World, with my son, daughter-in-law, and two grandkids. It was sort of a group birthday occasion for them, celebrating my DiL's birthday which was August 25, my grandson's 4th birthday on September 9, my son's birthday on September 19, and my granddaughter's '6-month' birthday on September 16. :-)

Disney World is not the place one normally thinks of when one thinks of birding. And indeed, I was there for a week and birding was not at the top of our list! And yet there were plenty of birds around - many, like house sparrows, feral mallards and white ibises, begging handouts from the tourists. Lots of grackles too - both boat-tailed and common, many vultures flying overhead.

Certainly the theme parks are not serious birding spots, but quite a few birds were seen on the ground, in the trees, in the ponds, flying overhead. I was not at Disney World to bird either, but kept track of all the birds I did happen to see and put in some "incidental" reports to eBird.org.

my son, daughter-in-law and two grandkids, Disney World

Mostly I was there to be with the family of course. And that was lots of fun. Seeing Disney through the eyes of a 4-year-old is the way to see it. Everything is so new and awesome and incredible to them. And of course birds were the last thing on his mind. 

white ibises, Disney World

Though he couldn't help but notice the white ibises. They are so large after all, with such remarkable bills, and they were as bold as could be, strutting along the paths, coming up and begging from people. Very interesting how some bird species seem to have very little fear of humans. I wonder what makes some more bold around humans and some so timid?

mourning dove in the morning, Disney World

Mourning doves are also birds that seem pretty comfortable with the human condition, though not quite as close to the people as the ibises and mallards. Oddly enough there were no pigeons at Disney. When I think  of "people" birds begging for food they are one of the first species that come to mind. But while there were doves aplenty, mostly perched on the wires, there were no pigeons in sight.

grackle, Disney World

The grackles were noisy too - lots of boat-tailed grackles in the parking lots, hopping in and around the cars as visitors disembarked and headed for the trams. In the parks themselves they also made rackets, as did the common grackles who seemed to be around the Magic Kingdom.

sandhill cranes, RD Keene Park, Orlando, FL

On Wednesday of our week there we took a break from Disney. The kids went to the pool at the resort where we stayed, and I went out to do some actual real birding! I used eBird to check out what locations might be not far from our resort, and made brief visits to three of them.

I first went to the Tibet-Butler Preserve, which sounded like it would be an interesting location. And maybe it is under the right conditions. But it began to rain torrentially just as I arrived. And thought I spent 30-40 minutes there I did not see or hear one single bird, other than a mourning dove sitting on a wire at the entrance to the preserve. What a bust.

However then I rode a few more miles up the road to RD Keene Park and Boat Ramp. It was still raining, but more of a drizzle, and much more exciting birding. I saw 4 sandhill cranes there! I love sandhill cranes, and this is only my third lifetime sighting of them.

From there I moved on to the Dr. P. Phillips Community Park, a very interesting park also on the water, but not too exciting birdwise. After that I needed to return home to see the family, so my "real" birding was pretty uneventful - but a typical sort of day for an everyday birder like me.

tree containing scolding Florida scrub jays, Ocala National Forest

I did have a special bonus on the way home however! I decided to take the scenic route home up SR 19, through the Ocala National Forest, to see a part of Florida I had never seen before. I took my grandson with me, and my son, DiL and granddaughter went on their own way up the I-4/I-95 corridor. The Ocala National Forest was amazing, just a wonderful ride. And as I was driving my phone beeped indicating I had gotten three text messages. Thinking they might be important I pulled off to the side of the road to read them. As I pulled over I heard a raucous noise outside the car.

So I rolled open the windows. Something was making loud noises in the tree across the way, so I got out my binoculars to see what I could see. And what did I see but two Florida scrub-jays scolding me from the trees. Without my decent camera I was unable to get a photo of them, but followed them closely for several minutes through the trees. What fun. Only my second lifetime sighting of Florida scrub jays, and it was a totally serendiptious sighting which I would never have had if not for checking my texts.

I was near the Juniper Springs area and decided I would then take a few minutes to see what other birds might be around. Nothing too exciting - just usual suspects like turkey vultures, cardinals, crows, etc.

But the scrub jays made the day, and I wound up with 26 species for the week in Orange County. That puts me so far down the list that  I don't even show up on eBird's "Top 100" for species seen in Orange County. I'm at number 200+ there. But as an everyday birder I still wanted to submit reports even though I was mostly enjoying the family and the rides at Disney.