Sixteen eager birders came out on a gray, overcast morning, but all were ready to see what species Apopka had in store. What beginning specie could have been more appropriate than the Gray-headed Swamphen. Birds were everywhere.  I think that this year has been one of the most active. There were American Coots in all the ponds and numbered in the thousands. Anhingas, Cormorants, and Great Blue, Green,  & Little Blue, Tri-colored Herons, and Snowy, Great, & Cattle Egrets. Yellow, Orange-crowned, Palm, & Yellow-rumped Warblers.  Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, Wrens. Sharp-shinned, Red-shouldered, Red-tailed & Cooper's Hawks. Northern Shoveler, Blue-winged Teal, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Mottled, Canvasback, Ring-necked,  Black-bellied & Fulvous Whistling Ducks. Nothing like having all your ducks in a row.. The Fulvous were in great numbers as well as the Black-bellied. We watched as this juvenile Bald Eagle snatched a coot out of a pond. The American Bittern devoured a large snake and stretched his neck to get it down. Soras, Wilson Snipe and even 2 American White Pelicans. The Common Yellowthroat was happy to pose as was the Painted Bunting. The best way to make a gray day sunny. 66 species counted
​All photos by Fred Hileman