Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive

Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive (LAWD) never fails to disappoint. While it wasn’t super busy, it was a good day for raptors…

An immature Red Shouldered Hawk was there to greet us as the sun was coming up

Song Sparrow sitting still for a moment

The Song Sparrow sees you!

A pair of Song Sparrows

Merlin trying to hide from me. It needs to find some bigger branches!

I think the Merlin knows I’m watching

Osprey flying in to see what everyone was looking at

The sun came out to show off the Merlin’s colors better

Purple Gallinule looking for breakfast

Peregrine Falcon resting on a power pole

Rest time is over, time to fly!

Peregrine Flacon flying almost right at me

Peregrine Falcon gliding towards me

A second Peregrine Falcon flew onto the same pole moments after the first one left. This one is smaller then the first

Scratching that itch

Liftoff! This time the Peregrine didn’t fly towards me, but at least it didn’t jump away

Peregrine Flacon flying off

Peregrine Flacon

Caspian Tern with a descent sized fish

It didn’t take long for the Caspian Tern to get chased by a Ring-billed Gull that wanted to seal its fish

The Caspian Tern evaded the Gull but then almost dropped its fish…

…it did recapture it

The Northern Harriers seem to be staying farther out from the trails this year.

This 8 foot Alligator was winding behind the little flowers

A Bald Eagle made a flyby towards the end of the drive

Another fun day! It’s the start of a vacation week so there will be more to come… Stay tuned!