July 16 – Florida Road Trip

In preparation for an upcoming program, I scheduled a trip to south Florida to check out some hot birding and photography spots. My friend, Eric Horan, joined me for a whirlwind, three day journey into the middle of the state below Lake Okeechobee to look for endangered snail kites, limpkins, and other Florida birds.
Both places we visited are a little off the beaten path but are spectacular. The Circle B Bar in Lakeland is a mixture of freshwater marsh, swamp, oak forests, and lakeshore habitat. We were there in the middle of summer and the birding was good and promises to be much better when we plan our program in November. The migration in the fall is purported to be spectacular and from what we saw and with the proximity to the lake, it should be amazing.
The second place was a place called Devil’s Garden Bird Park. This large property is privately owned but under conservation easement with Florida DNR and other agencies. The couple that own the property are bird lovers and have done a fantastic job of providing access to some great birding and photographic opportunities. They actively manage the area, including flooding the fields in early fall, attracting thousands of birds, from endangered snail kites, limpkins, and sandhill cranes to roseate spoonbills, raptors, ducks, wading birds, and even burrowing owls! The property is traversed using 4 wheel drive carts and opportunities to see endangered wildlife, photograph many subjects at close range make this a “must see” experience. Check out the “Images of Florida” gallery on my gallery page for more images of this great place!
If you’re interested in joining Eric Horan and myself for a Florida Birding Photo Safari, for more information, please contact me at mbnaturenook@yahoo.com and view Eric’s link at http://lowcountryphototours.blogspot.com/2011/07/florida-photographic-road-trip-planned.html.   Unbelievable photo opportunities!  – Marvin

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 16th, 2011 at 3:44 pm and is filed under July 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.