Schedule of Events:

Monday, December 9, 2024

Monday 1. Joe Overstreet Road and Three Lakes– Mostly driving, some walking. Meet at Publix, 3372 Canoe Creek Rd., St. Cloud, FL 34772. $60, bring your own lunch or snacks. Leaders: Chris Newton, Lorri Lilja (Orange Audubon Society), and Brady Bailo (Kissimmee Valley Audubon Society). 7:00 a.m.‒ 2:00 p.m. Maximum participants: 14. Possible sightings include Crested Caracara, Red-headed Woodpeckers, Eastern Meadowlarks, Northern Bobwhite, Snail Kite, Bald Eagles, and Red-cockaded Woodpeckers at Three Lakes.

​​​​​​​Monday 2. PEAR Park, Morning – Walking. Palatlakaha Environmental and Agricultural Reserve (PEAR) Park Wildlife Conservation Area, 4800 Univ. Ave., Leesburg, FL 34748. $50, bring your own lunch. Leaders: Gallus Quigley (Lake County Parks and Recreation) and Alan Shapiro (Orange Audubon Society). 7:30 a.m.‒11:00 a.m. Meet at Nature Center. PEAR Park is 268-acre Lake County wildlife conservation area made up of scrub and sandhill restoration. Possible sightings include wintering songbirds and sparrows, like Savannah, Swamp, White-crowned, Vesper and Grasshopper. With luck, we may see Le Conte’s, Lincoln’s, Clay-colored and more of the 12 wintering sparrows. https://ebird.org/hotspot/L371829

​​​​​​​Monday 3. Best of Birding the Lake Apopka North Shore – Mostly driving, some walking.

Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, 2850 Lust Rd, Apopka, FL 32703. $60, bring your own lunch. Leaders: Luis Gles (Woodstars Tours), Mariah Hryniewich (PhoneSkope) and Brian Silverman (St. Johns River Water Management District). 7:30 a.m.‒11:30 a.m. Maximum participants: 16. This half-day trip will focus on the best birds seen on the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive trips in the previous four days. Possible sightings: See Fri 3.

​​​​​​​Monday 4. Wekiwa Springs Sandhill Specialties – Walking

Wekiwa Springs State Park, 1800 Wekiwa Cir, Apopka, FL 32712. Leaders will coordinate early entry to the park and collect park admission. Park entrance: $4 per single person, $6 for 2-8 people or free for Youth Camp overnight guest or annual pass holder. $30, bring your own lunch. Leader: Paul Lammardo (Wekiwa Springs State Park). 7:30 a.m.‒ 11:00 a.m. Maximum participants: 8. Wekiwa Springs State Park is a 7,000-acre state park that is considered one of the crown jewels of Florida’s award-winning state park system. This will be a walking trip. Possible sightings include pineland specialties, including Brown-headed Nuthatches, Bachman’s Sparrows, Eastern Towhees, Eastern Bluebirds, Pine Warblers, Red-headed Woodpeckers, and overwintering songbirds.

Monday 5. Scrub-Jays and other Pineland Species at Seminole State Forest – Some walking (sandy surfaces). Seminole State Forest, south entrance, turn north off SR 46 just west of Wekiva River bridge, approximately 14 miles west of Sanford. $50, bring your own lunch.

Leaders: Ralph Risch (Florida Division of Forestry) and Joseph Whipple (Florida Division of Forestry). 7:30 a.m.‒11:30 a.m. Maximum participants: 15. The endemic Florida Scrub-Jay is restricted to Florida’s ever- decreasing sandpine scrub habitat. The 25,812-acre Seminole State Forest hosts the nearest relatively stable population of this friendly and charismatic bird to Lake Apopka. After everyone gets up close and personal with scrub-jays, the group will search for other species throughout the afternoon. Possible sightings include Florida Scrub-Jay, Sandhill Crane, Wild Turkey, Eastern Towhee, Eastern Bluebird and pineland specialties such as Bachman’s Sparrow, Red-headed Woodpecker and Brown-headed Nuthatch.

​​​​​​​Monday 6. Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge – Mostly driving, some walking.

Parrish Park, 1 A Max Brewer Causeway, Titusville, FL 32796. $55, includes access permit. Bring your own lunch. Leaders: David Simpson (Birding with David Simpson), Mitchell Harris (Space Coast Audubon Society), Craig Watson and Pamela Ford (Carolina Bird Club). 8:00 a.m.‒1:30 p.m. Maximum participants: 24 (group will split into two). Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge is consistently rated as one of the top birding destinations in the United States with 357 species recorded. The refuge has one of three important populations of the threatened Florida Scrub-Jay. Possible sightings include Hairy Woodpecker, American Avocet, Roseate Spoonbill, and overwintering shorebirds and ducks. Note that this trip will NOT go to Black Point Wildlife Drive but to other good birding spots. This trip can be conveniently taken in combination with  Monday 7, which is straight up I-95 in Daytona Beach Shores.

Monday 7. Gull Congregation at Daytona Beach Shores – Some walking.

Frank Rendon Park, 2705 S Atlantic Ave, Daytona Beach Shores, FL 32118-5701. $50. Leaders: Michael Brothers (Florida Ornithological Society) with Mitchell Harris (Space Coast Audubon Society). 3:00 p.m.‒5:30 p.m. Maximum participants: 20. This location near Daytona Beach, about an hour northeast of Lake Apopka, hosts an amazing birding spectacle each late afternoon and evening during the winter months. Gulls from the northeastern U.S. and Canada winter here, feeding during the day at Daytona Beach’s Tomoka Regional Landfill. Tens of thousands of gulls fly for the evening to the beach at Daytona Beach Shores. After gathering (staging) on the beach, close enough to be identified, the gulls move at dusk to settle beyond the breakers offshore. Fast-flying Pomerine and Parastic Jaegers try to pick off the less aware individuals. Michael Brothers, gull expert and retired director of the Marine Science Center in Ponce Inlet, discovered this amazing phenomenon over 10 years ago and has been monitoring the gulls every winter evening since. Possible sightings: Laughing, Ring-billed, Herring and Great Black-backed are common, with Bonaparte’s and Lesser Black-backed gulls also expected. Glaucous, Iceland, Thayer’s, Franklin's, Heermann's and California gulls are also possible. Vega, European Herring, Yellow-legged and Slaty-backed gulls are rarities that have turned up.

Date: December 5 - 9, 2024