On the 3rd October we visited Orlando, Florida for two weeks. We love going on holiday to Orlando for the pure escapism of the theme parks and, of course, the warm weather. Since visting two years ago our interest in nature and wildlife has grown massively and although Mickey Mouse looked very exciting, the actual osprey that was flying overhead looked even more so!
Florida is full of amazing wildlife, the largest native reptile is the alligator so it doesn't get more impressive than that. This blog will show some of the wildlife that we saw on our travels around the Orlando area. We never went looking for them, they were just there and too awesome to pass by without getting a picture.
Birds
There were birds literally everywhere! Not just small song birds, but big pelicans and herons. Orlando is a densely populated area all year round with tourists and these birds didn't seem the least bit bothered with people getting quite near to them. The highlight of the holiday though was seeing an Osprey fly over Downtown Disney (now called Disney's Springs).
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| American white ibis in Disney's Hollywood Studio |
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| A member of the sparrow family in Disney's Hollywood Studio |
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| Northern Mockingbird on International Drive |
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| Osprey flying over Disney Springs |
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Anhinga in Disney's Epcot
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| White Egret in Disney's Magic Kingdom |
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| Turkey vulture flying over Disney's Magic Kingdom (Photo by @DanTurner23) |
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| Wood Stork near Walmart (apologies for bad phone image) |
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| Brown pelican near Universal Studios (Photo by @DanTurner23) |
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| Little blue heron near Universal Studios (Photo by @DanTurner23) |
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| Double crested cormorant near Universal Studios (Photo by @DanTurner23) |
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| Snowy egret near Universal Studios (Photo by @DanTurner23) |
Insects
There were lots of dragonflies and butterflies around but it was very difficult to get pics of them. I was gutted not to get a picture of a swallowtail in Epcot, one of the most beautiful butterflies of all.
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| A Gulf Fritillary on International Drive |
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| White Peacock butterfly on International Drive |
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| Huge grasshopper spotted whilst playing crazy golf in Universal Studios |
Reptiles
Lizards are everywhere! Just walking down International Drive you see literally hundreds - they are so cute and I need to identify them all correctly...if you guys know their names can you let me know :)
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| Lizard on the floor on International Drive |
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| Lizard in Disney's Epcot |
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| Lizard on the miniature village in Disney's Epcot |
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| Lizard on tree in Disney's Hollywood Studio (photo by @DanTurner23) |
Mammals
The only mammals we really saw were grey squirrels. There were lots of them around.
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| Squirrel with nut outside Denny's, International Drive |
Our holiday was fantastic and we did visit a place called 'Wild Florida' where we took an air boat ride through the Florida everglades. We got to see the amazing bald eagle in the wild. I am working on a individual blog for that one...
