Combining a Disney World vacation with birdwatching part 1: Disney World birding overview

Two of the many exotic birds you can see at Disney World. Photo by Brad Sylvester

 Birdwatching vacations can be great fun for those interested in the hobby. Travelling to locations far from your home gives you an opportunity to see birds that simply don’t exist in your area and to record a number of new life birds. Let’s face it though, if you have children, then a birdwatching vacation is probably not their first choice. They’d rather go somewhere like Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Disney World is certainly a fun vacation destination for the whole family, and it turns out that Walt Disney World also provides some world class birdwatching opportunities as well.

Birdwatching daytrips to the Everglades or the Kennedy Space Center

First of all, just travelling to Florida from New England or any place far away gives you the opportunity to see birds and wildlife native to Florida. You can plan a daytrip to locations like the Everglades with visit to an alligator farm to keep the kids interested, or perhaps to the Kennedy Space Center which has many, many acres of unspoiled bird habitat.

Birdwatching at Disney's Animal Kingdom Resort Hotel

One way to make sure that you get an opportunity to see not only new life birds that are native to Florida, but also some that live in Africa, is to stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. At this Disney Resort hotel, you can look out from your room’s balcony or one of the many observation areas to see a great variety of African birds and animals. During the evening after a long day at the other parks, you can relax on the balcony and watch the giraffes, or many exotic birds including the rare South African Blue Crane or Rupell’s Griffon Vultures among many others.  Click here to read the complete article and review the picture slideshow of birds at Disney World's Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Birds at Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park

Of course, the Animal Kingdom theme park also offers several birding experiences. There is an enclosed aviary which features a variety of extraordinarily colorful songbirds, as well as a savannah tour with great views of water birds and others. You’ll also find a number of native Florida birds enjoying the animal preserve on this ride as well. Near the entrance there are additional exotic bird exhibits. Other Disney hotels are located on lakes or waterways. At any of these you’ll find waterfowl, and even some of Florida’s sea birds. Almost all of the Disney World resorts are surrounded by either wetlands, wooded areas, open fields, or other wonderful bird habitat. As you walk around the resorts look and listen for Florida’s native birds.

Waterfowl in Disney World's lagoons and waterways

A number of the Disney World theme parks have large water features that are home to several species of Florida’s native waterfowl. Keep an eye on the water as you walk around the World Showcase Lagoon at Epcot or along Disney’s Boardwalk or Downtown Disney.

Disneyworld offers free transport to and from its theme parks from all of its resort hotels, but a number of the Disney hotels are located along waterways and offer boat transportation. The boat ride to and from the theme parks each day offers yet another exciting chance to observe Florida’s native waterfowl and other birds.

Subsequent articles in this series will offer detailed looks at each one of these Disney World birding opportunities along with collections of birding photographs taken at Disney World.

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