Rain does not always ruin a birding day. I recently came back from a photographic trip in Florida where the weather started out very iffy. We arrived early on Saturday and went right into bird-mode. One of our stops for the day was Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, which recently opened up last summer. We decided to go there when the skies started to darken. It was the perfect stop for a rainy afternoon since we could stay protected in the car.
Most of the birds just continued with their normal routines, feeding in the marsh.
Others waited outside of the water for the rain to stop.
The rain started to calm down not long after we began the drive, but was still falling enough to get our gear wet if we left the car, so many shots were taken from a higher angle.
It did eventually stop, however, the skies remained overcast for the rest of the drive. That certainly did not stop us from getting low to photograph birds for the remainder of the drive.
I was able to get some great photo ops with some birds that I could not get close enough to last year. I took tons of photos of this Osprey and Red-shouldered Hawk, which may end up getting blog posts of their own in the future.
Not all of them were fully cooperative though.
I even saw a life bird on the drive – the Fulvous Whistling Duck. Our first looks at them were all in flight until a single duck flew in, landed nearby, and interrupted our photo session with the Red-shouldered Hawk.
I even photographed a new sub-species life bird, the Eastern Towhee with white eyes. The ones I am used to seeing have red eyes. The white-eyed ones are found in the Southeast and Florida.
Some young birds made an appearance, too.
We also photographed two American Bitterns out in the open – one was found toward the beginning of the drive and the other at the end.
And, of course, there were Alligators. I photographed this one below the Osprey.
I highly recommend this wildlife drive for anyone who finds themselves birding around Lake Apopka. The different habitats bring all kinds of great birds!