I had to stay close to home on the second day so once again went to the Lyonia Preserve before returning home to get Wilson and then we went down to Gemini Spring Preserve. Gemini Spring produced a new species for the year with a Northern Waterthrush.
For the third day (Wednesday) I went a little further afield with a trip north to Lake Woodruff NWR where I arrived to find the area quite foggy. Nonetheless I could hear warblers right away with tons of Yellow rumped Warblers as well as Palm Warblers and Northern Waterthrush in the woods and swampy areas before making it to the open marsh areas that featured lots of Common Yellowthroats. I ended up with half a dozen species for that stop. I then made a late morning stop back to Gemini Spring and had more warblers but nothing new for the day.
Thursday I explored a few small parks to the south and east of our lodging and had some decent luck with warblers including my first Northern Parula plus an Orange crowned Warbler that was much more yellow than the more gray subspecies that typically overwinter in the area. Overall a total of seven species of warblers for the morning...my highest daily total so far.
On Friday I headed to Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive where I spent nearly four and a half hours exploring the area. Although the main draw in the area is the huge numbers and variety of waterfowl and waders there were still warblers to be seen with the highlight by far being two Northern Yellow Warblers, which became a new species of warbler for me in Florida (I had previously seen a Yellow Warbler in the keys in January 2024 but that was a Mangrove subspecies that was recently upgraded to full species status). This brought my warbler species total in Florida to 27 species. The main warblers on the drive were Common Yellowthroats and Palm Warblers with just a few Yellow rumped Warblers thrown in.
My Saturday planes were to start off before dawn at Seminole State Forest but when I arrived the area was closed for some type of hunt so I had to change my plans and instead went to nearby Black Bear Wilderness Area. I was the first one on the trails when the gates opened and managed to eventually run across a small mixed species flock and got some photos of a few of the seven species present. The area quickly got very crowded so I headed east with stops at Thornby Park and Lyonia Preserve trying to see if I could reach ten species of warbler for the day. I fell just short with a total of nine.
To end out the weekend I headed south to the always productive Orlando Wetlands Park where I spent a couple hours before headed to Hal Scott Regional Park and Preserve and then made a return trip to Orlando Wetlands Park for another few hours. I had just half a dozen species of warblers between the two locations so not a spectacular warbler day although I did get my first photos of Pine Warblers for the trip.
Overall for the first week in Florida I have had a dozen species of warblers as I enjoyed the sun and heat.
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