Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2002 22:58:05 EDT Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Joel Martin Subject: RFI: Central Florida MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit During the week of June 22-29, my family and I will be in the Kissimmee area for the obligatory Disney World vacation. Part of the deal is that I get to do some exploring and birding while we're there. I have a target list and I know about places like Orlando Wetlands Park and Merritt Island. I also have the ABA guide, which is great, but sometimes it's hard to tell whether a location is just OK for a species or a real hotspot. If any MDOspreyers would like to share personal experiences or hot tips about any birds or locations, it would be greatly appreciated. Naturally my birding time will be limited, so the closer to Disney World the better, but I'm willing to make a 2-3 hour drive for something good. Some of the most-wanted species I'm unsure about are: Reddish Egret - easy at Merritt? Roseate Spoonbill - ditto? Swallow-tailed Kite - watch for flyovers? Snail Kite - reliable locations short of Okeechobee? Short-tailed Hawk - a long shot, but how does one look for it? Caracara Purple Gallinule & Limpkin - are they pretty much everywhere? Burrowing Owl Red-cockaded Woodpecker - easy at ABA-recommended cluster sites? Gray Kingbird - everywhere coastally? Black-whiskered Vireo - another long shot Bachman's Sparrow - will they still be singing? best locations? Many thanks in advance. We will be driving down, so if you know of any must-see spots along the I-95 corridor (Painted Bunting, etc.), I'd be anxious to hear about them. Please reply off-list. Joel Martin Catonsville, MD jcdlmartin@aol.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================