Kissimmee Prairie - May 28, 2017

Final stop of the day, and frst time visiting this park to look for the rare white-tailed kites that have been reported.  Getting there so late in the afternoon with a 5-mile hike round trip to get there and no exact location in mind, I am not surprised we didn't see them...until I got back and looked at my photos and saw one in a distant tree!  Now I will need to come back ASAP to look in that tree again!

We did see nesting swallow-tailed kites, which was almost as good, and very rare to me to see.  One parent did however try to attack me as I was photographing the nest, so that was when it was time to move on.  That is the second time now I have been attacked by a nesting bird.  The first time was a black skimmer at Redington beach.

Eventually we were chased out of the park by the ranger because they had already closed by the time we got back from the very long trail.  However, it really was the perfect time to be there.  On the way out, the car was surrounded by several dozen 50 nighthawks, dozens of bobwhites running everywhere in front of the car, several deer in the road, and probably a lot more I could have seen if we had been able to go slower and look.  It was amazing!  Probably how many areas of Florida used to be before all the people moved in.

Great visit and hoping to get back very soon... like next week!