Orlando Wetlands Park 2nd trip review
The wetlands part like Circle B in Winter Haven/Lakeland is the finishing stages of the waste water treatment process. Water pumped into the system is pretty darn clear when it enters the roughly 10 sq mile marsh. The marsh is divided by a number of berms into ponds and the water winds its way through them to exit cleaner than the water flowing in the river in which the water drains.
In my first trip, a little over a year ago, I was able to get a golf cart tour with a volunteer at the site who was also a Canon Photo enthusiast. He knew his birds. There where two other photographers on the 8 person capacity cart. The 4 of us did the circumference. Glad we had the cart.
Yesterday I went and walked the western loop ( 6 miles +/-).... wish the cart was around. I would seriously consider biking - I am going to bring my wife out and bike around it as there are no cars on the berms. Fair number of birds, but it comes up short compared to Merritt Island. Typically, I do 2-4 and sometimes 5 loops in Merritt Island - find out where the birds are, etc - a second loop unless on bike is simply out of the question for this aged, pear shaped human. (I am in shape - pear is a shape).
It would pretty cool astro site for central FL, if you could get permission and had adequate bug repellant. There was a gentle breeze so it was nice for us, but you could just feel all the vibes from the mosquitoes wanting for the wind to die and nightfall.
Also played around w/ my friends new 80D - man that thing has a lot of features. Some of which need the clamps to be released (HDR for example). And it also needs 4k video. It does have the 3-10 "zoom" direct pixel read which was fun to play with the 150-600 at 600 and 10x. Holey spy cam. Tripod stability and atmospheric conditions quickly challenge the FOV of 6,000 mm (direct read pixel 4k would be about a 3x "digital zoom" and that would be cool too).
It opens/closes at sunrise/sunset - though we got there a bit early and it was already open. Either way after hiking six miles, lunch and the day heating up, we called it at 1 pm. They do have a nice covered pavilion, with charcoal grills available (bring your own charcoal)
I will post some pics as soon as I get done fiddling with them.
Is a very good birding spot - just Black Water Drive on Merritt Island is arguably in the top 10 in the world (my guess I have no idea but it is stunning) so close by.
Mike
