Unintentional Birding in Disney

You would think going to Walt Disney World you would just be seeing Mickey Mouse, riding thrill rides, and relaxing by the pool. Not for a birder. Whether you think about or not, you will always be turning your head at every chirp and taking photos of every bird possible to see what it is. That is what happened to me while I was at Disney in January 2026. Yes, I enjoyed being in the Disney bubble and not thinking about the world outside Disney, but the birds….were….EVERYWHERE! I am not talking about the captive birds in Animal Kingdom, the seagulls from Finding Nemo (MINE!), or the menagerie of tropical parrots found in the Tiki Tiki Room (as shown below). I am talking about the WILD birds!

The first park day we went to was EPCOT and from our resort we hopped on the skyliner, which is kinda like a ski lift, and it takes you to a main station. When there you then switch over to one of two skyliner tracks which will take you to a park, EPCOT or Hollywood Studios. We got off at the main station and then followed the crowd onto the next skyliner. As we were on there, I was looking ahead and noticed we were getting awfully close to the Tower of Terror which is NOT at EPCOT. It is at Hollywood Studios. Well, turns out the crowd we followed were not going where we were. So we got off and found out we can just take a boat between the two parks so we opted to do that. While on the boat, I noticed a couple birds which I had seen many times and were able to identify right away which were Mallards and an American Coot. Nothing that interesting and I didn’t even take a photo. I didn’t bring my birding camera either because I didn’t come to Disney to bird and they were too far away for a decent phone photo. I didn’t intend to look for birds while on vacation. It just happens. While at EPCOT, the only other wild birds I saw were Boat-tailed Grackles and lots of Mallards. Maybe some Canada Geese.

The second day was Magic Kingdom and outside of the birds you see on It’s a Small World and Jungle Cruise, I didn’t see a whole lot. I saw a white ibis in a pond in the evening, but I didn’t take a photo. However, the next day was our resort day where things went a little differently with seeing birds. We went mini golfing, explored the boardwalk, and went to Disney Springs. While waiting for the boat to go to mini golf, one of those American Coots came up pretty close to the dock so I got a fun photo. They still have the ugliest feet a bird could have.

Mini golfing was a lot of fun, but at the course we got to see a really cool bird: A Great Egret. It is a large white bird with similar features as a Great Blue Heron. A long-necked wading bird who eats fish and bugs. I didn’t look for the egret. It was just there. It was very cool to see and it was one of many we would see on our trip.

We then went to the boardwalk to eat lunch and with an outdoor eating area comes outdoor birds who want a piece of that delicious sandwich you are munching on. The two main birds we saw while eating was a House Sparrow (which are commonly found up in Alberta) and also more Boat-Tailed Grackles. This time I did take a photo because I got to get fairly close and get a nice detailed picture. Like our Canadian grackles, they also have an iridescent shine to them which makes them pretty look at despite being pests.

When we were done eating, we went to the dock to wait for the boat to take us back to the skyliner to go back to the hotel for a bit and decide on dinner. While waiting on the dock, I noticed a big black bird fairly close to the walkway. I thought it was a Cormorant and I thought it was cool to see it very up close. So I took a photo and sent it through Merlin Bird ID App to check. Turned out it was actually an Anhinga. It is very similar in appearance to a Cormorant though so easy to mistake. All I had prior to this was a terrible photo from 20 years ago, so I was pretty stoked to get some amazing shots of this bird.

Then we went back to the hotel before heading to Disney Springs. Disney Springs is a massive outdoor shopping mall with all kinds of stores and restaurants. I didn’t see anything spectacular there bird-wise and it was getting dark anyway. They did have some cool Christmas decor up like all the parks.

On the third day we went to Hollywood Studios and we didn’t really see a whole lot there in terms of birds. But the Galaxy’s Edge (Star Wars) area was very cool to see.

On the last park day, we went to Animal Kingdom. And we did see lots of birds there. Most were of course part of the park, but we saw lots of wild birds as well. The one bird we saw that there were a lot of, which I had briefly seen before in Magic Kingdom, (and is also considered a pest) is the White Ibis. They are their garbage bird; Picking food out of trash bins and eating food dropped by guests. I got quite a few photos of these guys who were “invading” the flamingo habitat. But they were all over the park as well so I saw them often.

Another bird I saw at Animal Kingdom, which I thought was funny to see, were a pair of Common Mergansers. I didn’t see the sign to show which birds were in this pond and when I was looking and I saw the male. It didn’t click right away which bird it was so I was trying to get a photo of it, but then I saw the female which is a little easier to identify. I then decided I wouldn’t bother to try to get terrible phone photos of them because I can get much better photos at home. I see them often all year round and parks in Calgary. I laughed at myself for not realizing right away and seeing them among all these other birds that are much cooler to look at. And yes, there were a lot of white ibis in among all these birds too. I had included a photo of the male Common Merganser in Calgary as it is a much better photo for you to see what it looks like.

On our final day, and the day we flew out, I got to see a couple more birds. One I hadn’t seen before as well so that was pretty awesome. As I was exploring the neighbouring resort with my son, we got to see another Great Egret. This one got pretty close to us so we got to have a really up close look and was fascinating to watch. It must have been scouring the plants for some tasty bugs to eat.

The other bird we saw, which I was pretty excited to see, was the Northern Mockingbird. This bird has a funny story to it: So, before I left for Florida, a few of my birding friends were going to a park near downtown Calgary where the Northern Mockingbird had been seen. I didn’t really want to go as I was busy getting ready for the trip and I don’t like to go that close to downtown because it just gets so busy. It was quite a rare bird to find, so it was all the rage in the birding community. Well, that day my friends never found it. Fast forward to when I saw it in Florida where I got photo of it on my phone. It was an okay photo, but good enough that Merlin identified it as the Northern Mockingbird. I wasn’t 100% sure it was correct (as it will sometimes get it wrong), so I sent it to my friends. They said that Merlin is correct and then continued by saying, “So that’s where that bird went! Patrick took it with him to Florida!” So, discovering it just randomly while walking around turned out to be quite a rare find.

Well, that was my Disney trip where I ended up unintentionally birding. All in all, it was quite a successful time in finding birds I didn’t have decent (or any) photos of even though I wasn’t even seeking them out. I wish I had luck like that here at home for some of the birds I want to find (I’m looking at you Northern Pygmy Owl!). My next blog post is TBD, so I guess it will be a surprise as to what it will be. Most likely a shorter one from a trip to Carburn Park.