Florida Marsh Birds on Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive

[@barrettwork8062]

So many cool birds in Florida

[@BritHikesOntario]

Sure are! Thanks for watching 😊

[@MrTmiket0007]

Thanks so much for sharing another wonderful video like always 🤗👍

[@BritHikesOntario]

Thank you 😊

[@brighteyedbirding]

Congrats on getting the Least Bittern on camera! I know that’s not any easy thing to do! Great video!

[@BritHikesOntario]

Thank you!

[@erniescabin4256]

I love the birds They make me aware of everything around the trees the type and clarity of the water the seasons and even warn you if danger is around The wourld would be a lot better place if birds were considered more Thanks for the videos they are for the birds, A phrase that should mean the opposite😊💕🌴🦤🌳✌

[@BritHikesOntario]

Birds are awesome :) Fun, beautiful, interesting, smart. Unique animals.

[@markshen3280]

Here in the semi-rural area in the New Territories of Hong Kong SAR, we occasionally see a Yellow Bittern combing the mangroves area at the beachfront promenade.

[@cliffhawley1768]

I wasn't lucky on Red-cockaded Woodpecker when I visited Florida. I did get Pinewoods (Bachman's) Sparrow at Hal Scott Regional Preserve and Park on that trip.

[@BritHikesOntario]

Nice. We didn't have much luck with the several Sparrow species of Florida. Not sure if it was timing or, more likely, our attention being drawn to the slightly more "exotic" species 😆

[@Hummingbirder1]

Bummer with the Red-cockaded, and no Bachman's Sparrow either it seems 😞But you got your cute ducks and good views of the Least Bittern, and since there's one more video left, maybe there's hope still for those Pine forest specialists🤞

[@BritHikesOntario]

We didn't have much luck with sparrows. In addition to Bachmans, Florida opened up the opportunity for Henslow's, Saltmarsh and Seaside as well as a couple of others that are also in Ontario but perhaps a bit harder. Oh well! Hopefully we can still make 300. Summer tends to be a harder time for us to get out birding, so we will see.

[@TheDutchBirder]

Very cool shots of the bittern! Love the florida video's!

[@BritHikesOntario]

Thank you! Nice to see its beady eye! 😂

[@HaydenEpp]

Lake Apopka was a highlight spot for me when I was around there in March. I arrived on a day when the wildlife drive was closed, so I ended up just walking part of it. Kinda unnerving with the alligators around, but they didn't bother me. I didn't see Least Bitterns there, but I did briefly see an American Bittern there! I've never been fortunate enough to get photos of either Bittern species so it was very cool that you did...twice! And the fulvous whistling duck is awesome too! I didn't catch that when I was there.

[@BritHikesOntario]

I'm guessing you turned back at some point? It's a pretty big area and we didn't even drive all of it. We were really lucky with the Least Bitterns. There's actually three..haha. I didn't notice this until I was editing, but if you watch back the first clip with the initial sighting, towards the end, you can see movement to the left in the reeds - another Bittern. We had no idea at the time.

[@HaydenEpp]

@@BritHikesOntario yes I walked about 4km and turned back. I thought I saw movement in that shot but didn’t look closely. Very cool!! 3 least bitterns is more least bitterns than I’ve ever seen 😅

[@marcussmith1768]

Least Bittern... Swamp Sparrow.... Epic! I've seen a Fulvous, but it was considered as a probable escapee. When you have seen so many previous It is awesome to get just one lifer in a day! Just an off the cuff question. Do you believe that the Ivory Billed Woodpecker might still survive in perhaps the deepest of the Louisiana swamps?

[@BritHikesOntario]

I'm afraid to say I don't. But I've joked with birder friends about making a series of videos in Louisiana looking for it and dragging it out for years... kinda like "The Curse of Oak Island" (if you've heard of that). I think there's enough experts around who have been looking for it for years, enough ebirders, enough people with various types of camera from mobile phone, to stationary wildlife, to high end cameras and everything inbetween.... that it's likely we'd know about it by now. I've never been to Louisiana to know exactly how much of it is relatively untouched, but I'm guessing in The USA, in 2024, the answer is not much. With that latter point in mind, I did once mess around with inaturalist (if you're not familiar - it's like eBird but for any living organism) to see how much had been reported in Louisiana at all and how much unreported space there was. This is a map of sightings of any organism at all, at any time, ever reported by users in Louisiana: inaturalist.ca/observations?place_id=27&subview=map

[@TracyBirds]

+5 birds in this video, well done! What time do you start birding in the day?

[@BritHikesOntario]

Thank you Tracy. Five birds is pretty good and if we could do that every week, we'd find our way to 300 in plenty of time. Not sure it will be quite that easy, but let's see! I think the best time to bird is just after dawn. Basically, once the sun starts to hit the trees. That was pretty easy in Florida, where the sunrise is no earlier 6:30am (because it's closer to the equator). In Toronto, it can be closer to 5:30am. A bit harder!

[@richardwalker9330]

Another cool video! Is there a list somewhere of where and when you have been?

[@BritHikesOntario]

I keep meaning to do something useful with my website but never find the time for it. I don't have a list. Most of our time is in Southern Ontario, Canada. This year we have also been to Michigan and Florida.

[@richardwalker9330]

@@BritHikesOntario I'm enjoying all of the videos. Really makes me want to get to Florida. And back to Michigan, now that I am a birder.

[@l15t47]

L.U.S.T. ? Frisky, or is it randy? Video of a black and white warbler followed by “a bit disappointing”? You could show 50 videos of a black and white warbler and everyone would be oooing and ahhhing about the 51st, we’re birders for goodness sake!! 😊 love the series, your betting fiends from CA,,,

[@BritHikesOntario]

Haha just a joke about Sara and I, wasn't intended to be rude. Long time since hearing from you guys! I think we were a bit spoiled for Black and White Warblers. It's one of my favourite birds, but there's one in almost every Florida video.