Our Tuesday morning birding group (8 people this morning) headed up to the Circle B Bar Reserve, which is located on the southeast corner of Lakeland in Polk County.  We arrived at the Reserve at 9:30.  We chose to walk the following loop: Heron Hideout, Eagle Roost, Wading Bird Way and Marsh Rabbit Run, a distance of about 2.5 miles.  As we started along the Heron Hideout trail, we noticed wave after wave of White Pelicans flying over.  Eventually we discovered that they were landing on the west edge of the Reserve.  There were well over a thousand Pelicans in the area.

Other notable sightings included an American Bittern, several Roseate Spoonbills, Northern Shovelers, Kestrel, Purple Gallinule, two Wilson’s Snipes, Caspian Terns, American Goldfinches, and a Common Yellowthroat.  Altogether we had about 45 species.

After a brown bag lunch, we headed over to Joe Misiasek’s house, located in south Lakeland.  He has several hummingbird and other feeders in his yard that has attracted both Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and a lone male Allen’s Hummingbird.  We all had great view of the Allen’s.  There were also two Carolina Wrens on one of his other feeders.

This morning, a photographer friend and I left Punta Gorda at 6:30 and drove to STA 5, which is located about 20 miles south of Clewiston.  We arrived there and met Margaret England about 8:20.  Since we were interested in photography, she left us go in and drive around the two cells (1B & 2B) by ourselves, rather than wait and join the caravan of cars.  It was quite windy, dusty, and overcast when we started.  After about an hour the sun did appear and it became partly cloudy.  The dust was horrendous.

The place was really full of birds, such as Egrets, Herons, Moorhens, Coots, Ducks, and Ibises.  Some of the notable birds seen included a White-tailed Kite, American Wigeons, a lone Eurasian Wigeon, Whistling Ducks (Black-bellied & Fulvous), White Pelicans, Purple Swamphens, Purple Gallinules, Spoonbills, Yellowlegs (G & L), Skimmers, and a Limpkin.  We saw about 50 species without using a scope.

This morning I traveled with a Peace River Audubon Group to Palm Island, which is only reachable by boat.  Arrangements had been made through the Palm Island Resort to ferry our cars across to the island.  We then drove to the Resort parking lot.  From there, Resort personnel transported us via golf carts to the north part of the island by the beach.

We walked along the beach to Stump Pass.  Although there were not many birds around, we did have excellent views of four Snowy Plovers.  Part of the area was fenced off in preparation for their breeding season.  Other birds seen along the beach included Sanderlings, Royal Terns, Sandwich Terns, Forster’s Terns, Brown Pelicans, Laughing Gulls, Ring-billed Gulls, and an injured Herring Gull that was transported to a local rehab center.  In the enclosed lagoon, there was a lone male Red-breasted Merganser, a Spotted Sandpiper, Great Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, and a Great Egret.  We also observed several Ospreys and a Bald Eagle.

After walking back to our pickup point, we were transported to another section of the beach where Red Knots have been hanging around.  Unfortunately, not a bird was seen, probably due to a man walking his unleashed dog.  We were then transported back to our cars, and ferried back across to the mainland.  Thanks to Kevin Edwards and Palm Island Resort for arranging this trip.

On the way back to Port Charlotte, we stopped in the Gulf Cove area, where we saw a Great Horned Owl nest with two chicks and one adult in it.  We also saw several Scrub Jays on the way.