Category: Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive

Circle of life: Breakfast with Peregrine Falcon

Roger Simmons, November 18, 2024November 18, 2024

Yards in front of my car, a Peregrine Falcon swooped down and grabbed a Common Gallinule, taking the bird to the top of a power pole for breakfast.

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Why Central Florida is a birding paradise

Roger Simmons, October 28, 2024October 28, 2024

With some much geographic diversity, no wonder there’s so much birding diversity in our region.

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Rewarding mid-morning visit to Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive

Roger Simmons, September 20, 2024September 20, 2024

This visit was going to be much later than my usual early morning trips to LAWD. I wasn’t sure what I might find there at mid-morning.

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Appreciating Lake Apopka’s road to recovery

Roger Simmons, September 12, 2024September 13, 2024

The variety of birds and other wildlife that you can see at Lake Apopka is pretty amazing, especially considering its sorry state just a few years ago.

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Finding ducks, other birds at Lake Apopka

Roger Simmons, August 17, 2024August 17, 2024

I went to Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive hoping to see some early migrating warblers, but I settled for photographing some other pretty birds.

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Focusing on Barn Swallows at Lake Apopka

Roger Simmons, July 11, 2024July 11, 2024

The Barn Swallows at Lake Apopka usually hang out around a bridge where they nest. Sometimes they might sit on a railing or a nearby bush.

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Summertime along Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive

Roger Simmons, July 8, 2024July 8, 2024

The 11-mile drive is a great place for birding, and that includes during the dog days of summer.

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Swallow-tailed kites: Eating in the air and on the go

Roger Simmons, June 24, 2024July 8, 2024

These striking black-and-white raptors fly to Florida in the summer from South America. To paraphrase an old Delta Airlines commercial, these birds love to fly and it shows.

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Photographing darting Barn Swallows at Lake Apopka

Roger Simmons, June 23, 2024June 23, 2024

As the seasons change in Florida (as much as seasons change here), the birds in the area change too. And it’s the time of year for seeing Barn Swallows at Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive. I came across a group of them on Saturday. From my experience last year, I knew…

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American Flamingos – close but not close enough

Roger Simmons, June 23, 2024June 25, 2024

When I heard some flamingos were spotted next to the road to Playalinda Beach, I drove over to see if they might be close enough for some photos. But …