Day 88: March 28 – Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area

       In the little town of Christmas, Florida, lie two extraordinary birding areas…Orlando Wetlands Park and Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area.

      I’ve have not been to Tosohatchee in quite a few years, so when I heard reports from several birding friends down here that there was a good opportunity to get great photos of King rails at the site, I jumped at it.  Alan will be leaving Florida and heading back to New York in just a couple of days, so it was one more chance to get out birding with him before he leaves.  We hit the road with great anticipation and confidence, sure that we would both score some great shots of an elusive bird.  In addition to the rail, we had two other targets….Bachman’s sparrow and the rare Sherman fox squirrel.  All that being said, today’s “shot of the day” is a cow.  Granted the cow is surrounded by a neat little egret called the Cattle egret, but basically, it’s a cow.  Things don’t always go according to plan, and although we heard a good number of King rails and Bachman’s sparrows, we failed to see the Bachman’s entirely, and we only caught a fleeting glimpse of the rail.  As for the squirrel, Alan and I contemplated photographing a gray squirrel and then working some magic upon the image to turn it into a “funky” Sherman’s. 

       Tosohatchee WMA is wonderful, and it is huge - 30,701 acres to be exact.  We spent the entire day searching for our targets, and in the process, we did get some nice views of a Bald eagle near its nest,......

and two neat little Brown-headed nuthatches which mirrored one another on an overhanging pine bough.  

       At day’s end, in one more last ditch effort to capture an image of the rail, we drove across Route 50 from Tosohatchee over to Orlando Wetlands Park and the adjoining Seminole Rest Preserve.  Again, we heard the rail, but the bird was not about to have its image captured.  We did capture a nice group of Cattle egrets popping up from the marsh grasses and taking flight, 

and then captured another set of images of the egrets in their classic setting……alongside a cow.  As the cows graze, they kick up various insects which the egrets promptly dispose of as a quick snack.  Hence, the name, Cattle egret. 

       And so, as we’ve said before, there is no such thing as a sure thing in the world of birding.  We were reminded of that today as all our primary targets evaded our lenses.  Still, it was a beautiful day and a great day to be out exploring new birding grounds which we will surely visit again in the future.