Oh man, so excited. After a TITANIC struggle with Expedia website for a
few days(they always treacherously raised the amount at the last moment,
about $30 lol. Did this time for flight as well, but my points finally
got applied to Hotel today, so..!), finally nailed the cheapest possible
combination.
3 nights for $193 and that includes roundtrip airfare! I'm not using a
car rental this time. Why should I, when(just like NY, say, but
tragically then I didn't know about birding)you can take a rail/ride to
Birding hotspots at the Lakefronts :)
The date is, absolutely tailored to my birding needs; to see
Mourning and Connecticut warblers,
this time(last year at south of Houston at High Island, my target
species were Kentucky, Worming and Swainson's warblers. It's all about
timing, migration timing!). They only arrive at the Lakes in Mid May,
especially Connecticut. So, 18-21, and hence, won't be able to attend
NCAA at Lake Nona.
Those 2 plus Golden-winged, Cerulean, Kirtland's warblers would be my
top 'hunting' list. Plus I haven't seen Chestnut-sided warbler, American
Restart, Magnolia warbler, Black-throated Blue warbler, Blackpoll
warbler, Blackburnian warbler, Canada warbler in alternate male plumage.
Other birds I haven't seen yet but hoping are thrushes like Veery and
Grey-cheeked Thrush, also American Woodcock and Northern
Bobwhite, Black-billed Cuckoo, King Rail, Henslow's
Sparrow(maybe too late for this species, but one can hope!), Scarlet
Tanager, Winter Wren and Sedge Wren(haven't actually seen it at Bolivar
Flats last year), Black-capped Chickadee, American Bittern, White-rumped
Sandpiper, Blue-headed and Philadelphia Vireo, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Alder Flycatcher, Nelson's sparrow..
So theoretically, could snag about 20 more new species, that's actually
comparable to Rio Grande Valley last winter. Couldn't go
there(Golden-crowned warbler is no longer spotted, although
Crimson-collared Grosbeak is still being reported), too bad.
So if you see a haggard-looking
petite Asian guy tramping around
the Magic Hedge during that time wielding a bino, do say hello! Let us
pray, for a successful and safe journey! Hoping for that warbler Fallout Jon Feenstra explained it to me...!
