Trip Report: Orlando Wetlands
Orlando Wetlands is one of the premier birding and wildlife hotspots in Florida. From the Orlando Wetlands history:
“The open waters mixed marsh and lake attract many year-round and migratory birds to the wetlands. Over 230 bird species have been documented including blue-winged teal, green-winged teal, black-bellied whistling duck, roseate spoonbill, black-crowned night heron, American bittern, wood stork, sandhill crane, bald eagle and more. Some common year-round residents include great-blue heron, red-shouldered hawk, osprey, common gallinule and coot. Raccoon, river otter, white-tailed deer, bobcat and alligator can occasionally be seen along the roads and hiking trails. The Orlando Wetlands is home to over eighteen species of wildlife that are federally or state listed as threatened, endangered or protected.”(1)
If you’ve never been to Orlando Wetlands, I recommend you check out this video from Badgerland Birding which gives a great overview of what birding is like there.
I arrived at the park Saturday, 15 February, at 7 am. The sky was gray and cloudy, but the light coming from the sunrise looked promising. There was no wind, and darker rain clouds were in the distance. Although no rain was in the forecast, I could see we were going to get wet. And we did.
I walked along the trail to the boardwalk and along the way saw plenty of Palm and Yellow-rumped Warblers. Northern Parula could be heard singing high in the canopy. An unseen male Limpkin was giving its characteristic loud kreow call from the marsh. The silhouettes of a few gators could be seen on the surface of the water, remaining completely still.
As I walked onto the boardwalk, I could see pink splotches in the trees a hundred yards down the boardwalk. I started to get excited as I knew these were Roseate Spoonbills. The first one I came across was atop a dead palm tree, flapping its wings for balance. It was still pre-sunrise, but I thought the silhouette might look nice.
Roseate Spoonbill. Nikon Z8 with monopod-mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/1250 sec, ISO 900.
I shared my other Roseate Spoonbills photos in my last post, so I won’t repeat them here, but it was absolutely spectacular seeing the spoonies. Some were already nesting, while others will be soon. Mixed in with the Roseate Spoonbills were a few pairs of Great Egrets. They were already nesting and sitting on eggs. These birds, although they had the long bridal veil plumes and green lores, were not displaying and there wasn’t a clear shot on them. Here was my best for the day, a Great Egret standing in its nest. It is, unfortunately, a typical rookery shot with a lot of vegetation mess in the fore- and background. Nice looking bird though.
Great Egret. Nikon Z8 with monopod-mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/800 sec, ISO 1100.
Further down the boardwalk there was two pairs of Great Blue Herons nesting close to one another. Like the Great Egret shot, the vegetation makes for a cluttered mess, but at least the two were standing and looked fantastic in the breeding plumages.
Great Blue Heron. It was dark and a slight rain was coming down when I took this shot. The birds were being very still so I dropped my shutter all the way down to 1/400 sec to keep the ISO at 3200. Nikon Z8 with monopod-mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/400 sec, ISO 3200.
A few wading birds were also feeding in the area. A Glossy Ibis was successfully gathering small snails and tadpoles, a Wood Stork was digging up crayfish, and a Limpkin jumped up on the boardwalk railing and came so close I struggled to focus on it.
Glossy Ibis. Nikon Z8 with monopod-mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/3200 sec, ISO 8000.
Wood Stork. A Wood Stork wading in the shallow marsh and finding a crayfish. Nikon Z8 with monopod-mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/2000 sec, ISO 1100.
Limpkin. This Limpkin flew in so close I struggled to compose a shot and focus on it. Then it started walking towards me. I had to give up when it got a dozen feet from me then flew back into the marsh. This is full-frame, uncropped. Nikon Z8 with monopod-mounted Nikkor Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/2500 sec, ISO 4500.
Other than the Roseate Spoonbills, one of the highlights of this particular trip was a young Purple Gallinule that had its wings spread out towards the board walk. It was as if it was sunning itself, perhaps to dry off. It was close and being still, so I stopped down to f/8 and took four shots changing the focus point each time, working my way from the head down to the end of the wings. I then focus-stacked the images in Photoshop to create one photo with the whole bird in focus.
Purple Gallinule. Four-shot focus-stacked image.Nikon Z8 with monopod-mounted Nikkor Z800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/8, 1/2000 sec, ISO 900.
My last image was one that I almost didn’t take. While the lure of hot-pink Roseate Spoonbills was overwhelming, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Turkey Vultures. They circled overhead and there were plenty perched on dead trees and sunning their wings. If only this was a Bald Eagle….
Turkey Vulture. Nikon Z8 with monopod-mounted Nikkor Z800mm f/6.3 VR S lens at f/6.3, 1/1250 sec, ISO 3600.
I did not keep an e-Bird list nor did I count the number of birds I saw. However, here is a comprehensive list of birds I saw Saturday at Orlando Wetlands:
Roseate Spoonbill
Limpkin
Anhinga
Wood Stork
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Great Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Black-crowned Night Heron
Glossy Ibis
Blue-winged Teal
American Coot
Pied-billed Grebe
Common Gallinule
Purple Gallinule
Palm Warbler
Red-winged Blackbird
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Total time at Orlando Wetlands was about 2.5 hours. The drive back to Tampa was a nightmare with bumper-to-bumper traffic on I-4, but even bad traffic could not damper my good mood after a good day of birding.
Happy birding!
Footnotes:
Orlando Wetlands History. https://www.orlando.gov/Our-Government/Departments-Offices/Public-Works/Water-Reclamation-Division/Orlando-Wetlands/Orlando-Wetlands-History#section-4, accessed 16 Feb 2025.
