Orlando, Florida: Limpkins

 Went to Disney with my family - we didn't have a rental car so all the birding I did was at the hotel, riding around in the hotel shuttle bus/ ubers, Disney and Epcot.  Unfortunately, we all got sick from the trip  : (    I was a bit disappointed since there were ebird reports of Vermillion Flycatchers and Whooping Cranes really close by.  My consolation prize was seeing 2 lifer Limpkins at Disney.  If one wasn't calling, I probably would have missed them.  I also got to see an Anhingha up close by the hotel. Also got to see Wood Storks fly overhead at the hotel.  List of birds I saw on the trip: Wood Storks, Palm Warblers (lots of them), Grackles (everywhere), Yellow Rumped Warblers, Yellow Throated Warbler!, Black/ Turkey Vultures, Crows, Comorants, Catbirds, Ring Billed Gulls, Sapsucker, White Ibis, Red Shouldered Hawk, Osprey, Mottled Duck?, Paula, Titmouse, Limpkins, Wood Ducks, Anhinghas, White Eyed Vireo, Tri Colored Heron, Purple Martins.  I didn't get a great look but think I saw a Sandhill Crane by the airport and a hawk that I still can't identify.  I was wondering if it was a dark morph Short Tailed Hawk or a Great Black Hawk.  It appeared all black and had white flanks on it's tail.  It was in the air and I was in an uber and didn't get great looks at it.  Unfortunately, won't know for sure.

 

Massapequa Preserve, Red Winged Blackbirds

 Went to the preserve to see my FOS Red Winged Blackbirds.  Also saw a female Pintail that I think overwinters here each year.

Red Tailed Hawks, Massapequa

 I saw 2 Red Tailed Hawks in my neighbor's tree.  They were shrieking too - my kids were outside and got to see them and hear them too.  They were impressed with the shrieking.

Cardinals singing

 Heard Cardinals singing around my house today.

Smith's Pond, Rockville Center

 This is a new location for me.  There has been reports of 3 PineWarblers, a Nashville Warbler, Yellowlegs, Long Billed Dowitchers, Wilson's Snipes, and a Eurasian Teal here.  The shorebirds were too distant in the NW corner and I didn't bother with my scope to look harder for the Dowitchers and Snipes.  I didn't see the Nashville Warbler but did see the 3 Pine Warblers, a Cooper's Hawk and Red Tailed Hawk.  I'm fairly certain I spooked a Rusty Blackbird.

Eurasian Teal

 There were reports of a continuing Eurasian Teal at Sanatapogue Creek, Lindenhurst.  I got to see it but the photos weren't so great.

Monk Parakeets

 Random photos of Monk Parakeets - I think I was at Ketcham's Creek, Amityville.