On Sunday, I attended the FCCC Convention in Bradenton.  One of the photo ops was a group of five birds (Barn Owl, Great Horned Owl, Screech Owl, Kestrel, and Caracara) brought over by the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation folks on Anna Maria Island.  Photographers were able to obtain good close-up images of these birds.

On Monday, March 1st, I found the pair of Sandhill Cranes with their chick that frequents the area on Kingsway, just north of I-75.  They are apparently quite used to people, which allowed me to obtain good close-up images of the three birds.

Two dozen members of the Peace River Audubon Society traveled north to Fort De Soto.  We had a cool, but sunny day.  We observed several species of ducks at the Viera ponds, including Ring-necked Ducks, Redheads, Northern Shovelers, Blue-winged Teal and a lone American Wigeon.  Both Monk and Black-hooded Parakeets were observed along the road.

At Fort De Soto, our first stop was the North Beach lagoon.  The tide was out, so almost the whole area was above water.  The shorebirds were scattered, although we did see Western Sandpipers, Dunlins, Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plovers, a Reddish Egret, and the usual Gulls (Laughing, Ring-necked, Herring).  We also observed several smaller birds in the oak trees, including Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher and several Warblers (Palm, Pine, Black and White, Yellow-rumped).  Our most exciting observation was a pair of Great Horned Owls with two nestlings.

We ate our lunch on the tables by the East Beach.  The Heerman’s Gull was not present.  However, in addition to the Laughing and Ring-billed Gulls, there were numerous Terns (Royal, Forster’s, and Sandwich).  A large number of shorebirds were clustered together by the East Beach turn-around.  These included Black-bellied, Semipalmated, and Wilson’s Plovers, Least and Western Sandpipers, Sanderlings, Dunlins, Short-billed Dowitchers, and Willets.  We ended the day with 61 different species of birds.

Bill Marr and I made a combined birding/photo trip to Emerson Point Park, arriving there about 9:00.  We stopped at all of the normal spots, including taking a fairly long hike along the south Restoration Trail.  We saw the usual wading birds (Great, Snowy and Cattle Egrets and Great Blue, Little Blue, and Tricolored Herons).  A couple of Spotted Sandpipers posed for us.  We also saw three Woodpecker species (Downy, Pileated, and Red-bellied), as well as some Spoonbills, Wood Storks, Killdeer, Blue- and Green-winged Teal, Palm and Yellow-rumped Warblers, and several Kingfishers.  Altogether, we saw 31 species of birds at the Park.  Just a passing note; by the large Indian Mound near the Park entrance, there is a large area of wild flowers adjacent to some citrus trees that had some butterflies.

Since we would pass the Celery fields on the way home, we decided to make a stop there.  We arrived around 1:30 and left about 3:00.  We saw 27 different species in that short time period.  Some of the more notable observations included a Lesser Yellowlegs in breeding plumage, Pied-billed Grebes, Glossy Ibis, Kingfisher, Monk Parakeets, Black-necked Stilts, and a Savannah Sparrow.

Following are a few images taken during the trip.  (For a larger view, double click on the desired image.)  

I attended the George Lepp Nature Photography seminars sponsored by Johnson Photo Imaging in Sarasota on Saturday and Sunday, March 20-21.  There was a photo outing on Sunday morning at the New College campus located along the Sarasota Bay shoreline.  We arrived for the photo shoot a little before sunrise, which occurred at 6:40.  Although there were other subjects planned for the photo shoot, these were soon forgotten when we discovered over a thousand birds feeding along the shoreline.  There was a flock of at least one thousand Red-breasted Mergansers, about 100 Pelicans (mostly white) and an assorted mixture of wading birds and shorebirds, including Egrets (Great & Snowy), Herons (Great Blue, Little Blue, & Tricolored), Ibises, Willets, Western Sandpipers, Gulls (Laughing & Ring-billed), and Terns (Forster’s).

A school of bait fish would be located and all of the birds would swim or fly to the location and participate in about a 5-minute feeding frenzy.  About 15 or 20 minutes later, another school would be found and the feeding frenzy continued.  This cycle continued for the next hour or so.  What a spectacle.  The photo shoot ended a little after 8:00, when we had to get back for the beginning of the day’s seminar.

A friend and I drove up to Lakeland, about a 2-hour drive, for a day of photo shooting.  Our first stop was the Circle B Bar Reserve, located south of Lakeland.  This is a new Polk County Reserve consisting of 1267 acres purchased in December of 2000.  It was opened to the public last year.  The Reserve includes the Banana Creek Marsh, which is a haven for many species of birds.  The Reserve also borders Lake Hancock.

This was our first visit to the Reserve.  Be prepared to walk.  The Marsh is about 0.75 mile from where you park.  The Oak Hammock Trail, which goes around the Marsh and a portion of Lake Hancock, is 3.4 miles long.  There were a large number of birds in the Marsh, including Egrets (Great & Snowy), Herons (Green, Little Blue, & Tricolored), Ibises (Glossy & White), Wood Storks, and Black-necked Stilts.  We saw six Eagles and a number of White Pelicans along the shore of Lake Hancock.  The birds were very skittish, not allowing close approaches, so taking pictures was not easy.  There are Alligators along the path around the Marsh, so one has to be careful.  We also saw a River Otter, which was a nice surprise.

We then continued into Lakeland with a stop at Lake Morton, where we photographed the Swans.  Our final stop was Lake Hunter , where we found about a dozen Purple Gallinules.