Closer to Home . . .

My new favorite (closer to home) place for birding is Lake Apopka North Shore.Before late May, this was a walking and biking trail only. Biking was more doable but walking was difficult due to the expanse of property. You pretty much had to just walk so far and then turn around and go back. Of course, the walk back was always farther! In late May a section was opened up to vehicles from Friday through Sunday. This may not be the ideal time of year for birding, but the birds were plentiful even though the variety was limited. Green herons, great white egrets, great blue herons and osprey were seen in numbers. Most of my "shooting" was done from the car. It was extremely hot and getting out of the car usually scared them off. A new sighting was the stilt families. One had only one youngster but the other had two. Next year, I hope to catch them a little earlier.