Nine members of the Photo Adventures Camera Club (North Port, Port Charlotte, & Punta Gorda area) traveled to the southeast coast for a weekend photo outing.  We traveled south on I-75 and then east on US41 along the Everglades.  Our first stop was the Clyde Butcher Gallery located about half way across.  In addition to viewing some of Butcher’s black & white prints, we had an opportunity to shoot some wildlife in the marsh adjacent to the Gallery.

We then continued on to Homestead with a stop at Soroa Orchids to photograph some Orchids.  We had obtained permission to take photos using tripods earlier.  After a quick lunch, we traveled south on US 1 to the Bird Sanctuary and Rehabilitation Center in Key Largo.  We arrived at feeding time, 3:30, which seems to attract a lot of the wild native birds, such as Pelicans, Herons, and Egrets.  This Sanctuary is located at the water’s edge, which also helps to attract birds.  We observed at least four Great White Herons (no Great Blues).  We also observed an almost white Turkey Vulture flying over.

After an overnight stay in a local Homestead motel, we started at daybreak for the Anhinga Trail, located in the Everglades National Park.  We arrived just as the sun appeared over the horizon.  We spent close to four hours walking the trail and taking photos of the local birds and wildlife.  Birds observed included Egrets (Great and Snowy), Herons (Great White, Great Blue, Little Blue, many Greens, and a Yellow-Crowned Night), Purple Gallinule, Anhingas, Cormorants, Palm Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, and Swallow-tailed Kites.  We started home in the afternoon with one final stop at Soroa Orchids for more photos and purchases.

On Tuesday, twenty one Peace River Auduboners spent a gorgeous Florida day looking for birds, wildlife and wild flowers in the Babcock/Webb Wildlife Management Area outside of Punta Gorda.   Target birds were the Red Cockaded Woodpecker (RCW), Brown Headed Nuthatch, Blue Birds, Brown Thrasher and Bachman's Sparrows.   Ranger Jenny of the Webb joined us and showed us two new RCW spots-- and gave us an informative  brochure on the RCW.  We ended the day in the Webb with 61 species of birds (missing only the Bachman's Sparrow of the target birds), seven deer, and five alligators and many beautiful wildflowers.

After a picnic lunch at the Jones Loop rest stop, a few hardy souls ventured to two burrowing owl sites in Punta Gorda--Success!  and we added five more species for a day count of 66 species. --- A SUPER DAY.   Thanks to Dillys Randall for leading today's field trip.

On Friday, April 9th, I made a trip up to Fort DeSoto with the express purpose of capturing some images of migrating Warblers.  I spent most of the time around the mulberry bushes; however, I did hike the East Woods, the area around the radio tower, and made a quick trip to see the Great Horned Owls.

The mulberry bush area was the most productive.  I was able to obtain images of several Warblers, including Black and White, Hooded, Palm, Prothonotary, and Prairie.  I also captured images of several different Orchard Orioles, (male, juv male, and female), and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

On Wednesday, April14th, after hearing the forecast for a very windy day, I made another run to Fort DeSoto to see some migrants.  It proved to be a good day. I managed to capture good images of the Scarlet Tanager (m & f), Summer Tanager, Orchard Oriole, Indigo Buntings, Blue Grosbeaks, Eastern Wood Pewees, Hooded Warblers, and a Hummingbird.  I spent all of my time around the mulberry bush area and the east woods area (side towards the bay).

Two dozen birders from the Peace River Audubon Society traveled north to Emerson Point Park.  After a slow start, the birding activity picked up when we explored the area around the Portavant Temple Mound near the Park entrance.  Quite a number of migrants were observed including Gray Catbirds, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Indigo Buntings, a Baltimore Oriole, Scarlet Tanagers, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, several Warblers (Hooded, Palm, and Prairie), a Northern Parula, and Red-eyed Vireos.  A Red-shouldered Hawk nest with two young chicks was located directly above the Mound.  We observed 47 different species at the Park.

Quite a number of different butterfly species were observed at the Park.  These included the Zebra, Gulf Fritillary, American Lady, Mangrove Skippers, Tropical-checkered Skippers, and many others we were not able to identify.

On the way home, ten of us made a short stop at the Celery Fields.  Within 45 minutes we observed 24 different species.  The most notable species observed were the Black-necked Stilt, Lesser Yellowlegs, Shrike, Blue-winged Teal, and several Monk Parakeets in the process of building their nests. 

A few members of the Peace River Nature Photography Group traveled north to Fort DeSoto to try to capture some images of migrants that are now returning north.  We spent most of our time around the mulberry tree area and the east woods.  Birds observed included Indigo Buntings, Catbirds, Frigatebirds, Orchard Orioles, American Redstart, Scarlet Tanager, Summer Tanager, Warblers (Blackpoll, Black-throated Blue, Hooded, Palm, Prairie), Wood Thrush, and the Louisiana Waterthrush.

Note: After hearing about sightings of Bobolinks at the Celery Fields, I made a run up there on Sunday morning (April 25).  I found the field across from a farmer's pond, about 0.7 mile east on Raymond Road, that had the Bobolinks.  There appeared to be two or three small flocks numbering about 10-30 birds each, that would flit in and out of the field.  Posted two images of a male Bobolink below.

Two fellow Auduboners and myself traveled south to an area known as the CREW Marsh Trails.  (For directions, go to the Birding page and look under Collier County.) The 5,000-acre Corkscrew Marsh is part of the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed (CREW) located in the northwest section of Collier County.  The Marsh Trail System consists of three interconnected trails that traverse a part of the Marsh.  These trails vary in length from 0.16 mile to 0.90 mile.  The trails are wide and well maintained.

Unfortunately, we only observed 20 different species of birds.  More notable birds observed included Great–crested Flycatchers, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, a Red-shouldered Hawk, several Swallow-tailed Kites (overhead), an Eastern Towhee, several White-eyed Vireos, a Pileated Woodpecker, and several Red-bellied Woodpeckers.  The marsh is quite dry now, which may account for the absence of birds.  There were quite a variety of wild flowers observed along with several different species of butterflies.