A dozen members of the Photo Adventures Camera Club traveled to Placida for a photo outing.  We met at 2:30 at the Gulf Coast Marina located on 776 just before the Myakka River.  We then continued west on 776 and turned south on 771.  We continued southward to the Placida fishing pier, located adjacent to the Fishery Restaurant.

A dozen members of the Peace River Audubon Society traveled to the Venice Rookery, arriving there about 8:15.  There were Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, and Anhingas on the island.  We saw only two nests with chicks, both Great Blue Herons.  The Egrets were in breeding plumage, but we didn’t see any young ones.  We walked around the pond and saw a few more species including a Black-crowned Night Heron, Little Blue Heron, Cormorants, Cattle Egrets, Pied-billed Grebes, Glossy Ibis, Killdeer, Wood Stork, and Purple Martins.

We then drove to Shamrock Park.  Our main goal was to see some Scrub Jays, which we did.  In addition, we observed Ground Doves, an immature Bald Eagle, Herons (Great Blue, Little Blue, and Tricolored), a Belted Kingfisher, Spotted Sandpiper, and several Mockingbirds.  As we traveled back to Port Charlotte we stopped at the Harbor Cove mobile park in North Port.  We went to the small pond where we observed about 40 Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. 

A full busload (46) of Venice Auduboners left the Venice Community Center at 7:00 on Tuesday morning.  The destination was birding areas around Titusville.  Although the skies were overcast and the temperature was quite cool, we were fortunate to have no rain.  We arrived at our first stop, the Blue Heron Water Reclamation Facility, around 10:45.  We birded the several ponds for a little over one hour.  We saw most of the usual wading birds, a Bald Eagle, Sandhill Cranes, Blue-winged Teal, Forster’s Terns, and a couple of Gull-billed Terns, a lifer for several of us.

After lunch at a local park adjacent to the Indian River Lagoon, we had a two-hour boat tour in a pontoon boat around Indian River Lagoon.  This boat, named the Skimmer, featured both a gas-powered motor and two electric motors.  The electric motors were used whenever in the vicinity of birds.  Although we didn’t see to many different species in the Lagoon, we saw several uncommon species, including a Bonaparte’s Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, several Common Loons, several Horned Grebes, and a Bufflehead.

After checking in at the Best Western Space Shuttle Inn, we had an “attitude adjustment” get together featuring wine and cheese.  After a round of introductions, the official birding checklist was updated for the day.  We ended the day with a great dinner at the Dixie Crossroads restaurant.

The next morning we left at 7:00 for our visit to Merritt Island NWR.   It turned out to be a sunny, but cold and windy day.   At the Visitor’s Center we split into two groups.  Two vans were available to take each group on a drive around Black Point Drive.  While one group was doing the Black Point tour, the other group was taken via the bus to do some birding along the main road to the island.   Many water birds were observed including thousands of Coots, Northern Pintails, Northern Shovelers, Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, Hooded and Red-breasted Mergansers, all of the common Egrets including the Reddish Egret, all of the common Herons, Spoonbills, Storks, and a variety of shorebirds, including American Avocets.  

We then traveled to the Enchanted Forest Sanctuary, located in southern Titusville, to eat our box lunches.  After lunch we drove southward to the Johnnie Johnson Nature Center, located in Cocoa Beach, which provided good access to the beach.  The goal was to see Northern Gannets, which we did, but they were too far out to obtain good views.  Other then a few Laughing Gulls, Ring-billed Gulls, and a Brown Pelican that seemed to like flying along a wave crestline, the beach had very few birds.  The group arrived back at the motel a little after 5:00.  At 6:00, there was a short get together to update the official birding checklist.  Most of us then went to the Durango Steakhouse for an excellent steak dinner.

On Thursday morning, we checked out and departed around 7:00.  Our next stop was the Brevard County South Central Wetlands, also known as the Viera Wetlands.  We birded the area from around 8:00 to 10:30.  Although we saw a lot of different species, we didn’t pick up to many new ones.  The new ones we did see included a Caracara and three Wilson’s Snipe. 

We then departed for our last stop, the Brevard Zoo.  We had time for a brief tour of the zoo and then lunch, box lunches again provided by the Best Western motel.  This day was the nicest weather-wise, being sunny and much warmer than the day before.We departed for home around 1:15 and arrived back in Venice around 5:30.  All together, the group tallied 104 different species of birds during the trip.  Many thanks to Lynne Bobb-Koths and Pic Bailey for organizing and leading this well planned trip.

Fourteen members of the Peace River Audubon Society departed Punta Gorda around 7:30 on a clear Saturday morning.  We arrived at our first stop, Eagle Lakes Community Park, southeast of Naples, around 8:45.  We hiked around the three mitigation ponds observing quite a variety of birds.  About two dozen Bronzed Cowbirds were together in a clump of bushes, which provided excellent views of the differences between the males and females.  A Sora was also seen in this area, but, unfortunately, not by everyone, including myself.  Another highlight was a Great White Heron, which also posed for everyone, including the photographers of the group.    We saw most of the usual wading birds, such as Egrets, Herons, Ibises, and Storks.  The only ducks seen were Blue-winged Teal and the Mottled.

About 11:30, we drove about three miles north on US41 until we reached Sugden Park, where we ate our lunch.  We than walked along the path through the wooded area surrounding the lake.  Although we were now into the early part of the afternoon, we still managed to tally some birds.  In addition to the usual wading birds along the shore of the lake, we also saw a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, American Goldfinch, Blue Jay, Kestrel, Northern Parula, Savannah Sparrow, Black and White Warbler, and Palm Warblers.  Altogether, we observed a little over 50 different species at the two sites.