Friday, February 25, 2022

Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, FL

 We drove over three hours from Key Largo to central Florida. This is cowboy country, and the home of the darkest park in Florida: Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park. We were there for the morning, and birds were our main focus.



The open land with palmetto and grass and the occasional shady live oak and palm oasis is bird rich. It's the home to the elusive Grasshopper Sparrow and Bachman's Sparrow. We weren't fortunate enough to find these birds but we did see quite a lot of species,  some of whom don't make an appearance up in northern Virginia until late April.

The first bird we saw was a Red-shouldered Hawk (the paler Florida variety) perched on top of a cabbage palm.



 

Five miles from the park entrance was the campground area and it was very productive. In one large live oak we saw three warblers. Our photos weren't that great as they were up high and very active.

Northern Parula:

Pine Warbler:

And also the Prairie Warbler and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.

In a near by live oak, American Crow with young made a big racket.

 

A Red-bellied Woodpecker searched for a meal on the same tree.


As did a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker:

 

Wild turkey roamed the ground under the trees.


 

Chipping Sparrows took advantage of the shade and searched the ground for tasty treats.

 

Out in the prairie we drove the five mile dusty road and spotted over a dozen Eastern Meadowlarks along the road side. They were calling out from the tops of the scrubby bushes.


 

We saw Loggerhead Shrike, Turkey Vulture, Northern Bobwhite scampering across the road, and Northern Mockingbird singing from pence posts. Cattle Egrets walked at the hooves of black cows searching for the insects these big animals exposed with each step.

The park was a great habitat to visit in Florida. Not one that many tourists think of when they think about Florida landscapes or beachscapes. We are already making plans to reserve a camping spot and return during spring migration next year!






1 comment:

  1. Ah, very nice. As you point out, this shows an aspect of Florida that is not commonly in people's minds.

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