Diana and I visited south west Florida for a two week holiday with our daughter and son in law and our two grandchildren in August of this year.

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1 Holiday and Birding in Southern Florida August 2007 by Sam Shippey Diana and I visited south west Florida for a two week holiday with our daughter and son in law and our two grandchildren in August of this year. We have been lucky enough to have visited Florida on several occasions before always with our family, and had some great holidays. Initially in the Kissimmee area doing all the things that are a must with grandchildren. Disney World, MGM, Sea World etc. Our personal favourite was always Sea World. We always tried to see the last whale performance just as it was getting dark and I watched a host of herons and storks coming into roost in the trees within the resort. Birds like wood storks, white ibis, glossy ibis, snowy and great egret and roseate spoonbills. I always felt that I got two great performances. This year as a couple of years ago we stayed in Naples. This town is situated in south west Florida on the Gulf coast. We flew from Gatwick to Sandford, Orlando. We picked up a hired car mini van that held the six of us then drove to Naples. With the driving shared it wasn t too bad, but still a four hour drive on the interstate freeway with a stop for refreshments. The other option would mean an overnight stay in the Orlando area and arrival in Naples the following day. After a good nights sleep, which was needed by us all, we surfaced late-ish morning and visited the cafe over the road (First Watch) for our breakfast - excellent, the full works and very reasonably priced. They looked after us very well, and we hardly needed anything for the rest of the day. The day time temperature averaged 96 degrees whilst we were there. Bright clear and hot sun during the morning with cloud and humidity building after lunch, which generated on most days very heavy but local rain showers. These lasted for only about thirty minutes, then the sun was out again and all dried up - very quickly. This area of Florida is great for both family holidays and birding. There is a coast line that has miles of white sand, approximately 200 miles or so of inshore tidal waterways, lots of which have been developed with properties along the edges. Many of the inland gated developments again are built around water as was

2 our accommodation. Despite all the property surrounding this lake it did attract some interesting birds. Our Villa Some of the species seen whist relaxing, drinking coffee round the pool included - loggerhead shrike, northern mocking bird, tree swallow, turkey vulture, tri-coloured heron, green heron, little blue heron, snowy and great egret, osprey and double crested cormorant to name a few. Not too bad whilst not even moving out of your chair. Tri-coloured Heron

3 Loggerhead Shrike Well - only to set up the scope and camera!! The Naples area doesn t have the theme parks as Orlando has, but there are still plenty of things to do both for adults and children. The beach is fantastic and brilliant for children with white sand and shallow warm water. The old wooden pier attracts the fishing fanatics and every evening lots of locals and visitors walk to the end of the pier for the sunsets which are beautiful. Sunset on the pier

4 Naples beach As would be expected there is plenty of opportunity for shopping The Coastland Mall, lots of the usual shops, Tin City which is collection touristy shops and cafes, Tin City because it is built of corrugated iron and painted different colours. Situated on the waterfront around the dock area with outside dining a good place to eat, very popular. You can also book for boat cruises out into the Gulf for sunsets and dolphin watches from here. For those interested there are plenty of golf courses, a good water park within easy driving distance, great day out for families and very reasonably priced. Guided cruises around the waterways, air boat rides out into the edge of the Everglades. Naples also has its own zoo. There are plenty of places to eat and as I am sure that some of you know the helpings are very generous. As our holiday was a family one, my time was not totally spent birding but as Diana is very understanding I did get more than my fair share of getting out and seeing some of the birds and wild life in the area, both by myself and with my wife and family. A must if you are staying in this area is Corkscrew swamp. A pretty impressive reserve, with a huge visitor centre. The trail through the reserve is all board walk and meanders through woodland swamp and sometimes through fairly open grassland.

5 Corkscrew Swamp Trail You could quite easily spend the whole day there but I limited myself to mornings only. During our two weeks there I managed to visit three times and on my very first visit was lucky enough to be there to see the very rare ghost orchid in full bloom.

6 Ghost Orchid. Besides the birds there are many other things that are of interest including frogs, lizards, alligators, deer and butterflies to name just a few. Tiger swallowtail

7 Ruddy Daggerwing Young alligator Butterflies come in all sizes from the huge swallowtails to the much smaller skipper types. The birds are great, and at times it is difficult to know just where to focus your attention as there seems to be several HOT spots as you wander along the board walks. Nevertheless species that can readily be seen are: red shouldered hawk, turkey and black vultures and if you are lucky sharp shinned and coopers hawk.

8 Red-shouldered Hawk Red bellied woodpeckers are common and also to be seen are pileated woodpecker as well as downy woodpecker. Red-bellied Woodpecker

9 Pileated Woodpecker Great blue, little blue and green heron as well as cattle, snowy and great egret. Green Heron

10 Little Blue Heron A hot spot for warblers seemed to be in and around what is known as the lettuce bed, and during these three visits I managed to find black and white warbler, yellow throated warbler, parula warbler, american redstart, prothonotary warbler, northern waterthrush, white eyed and red eyed vireos, carolina wren, blue grey gnatcatcher, tufted titmouse, black capped chickadee, northern cardinals. Northern Waterthrush

11 Prothonotary Warbler Sometimes it is difficult to know just where to look first and not only that the air is full of lots of strange calls and not all of these are birds. I enquired of a reserve ranger what some of these were as I could not find the owner in the canopy only to be told that they were tree frogs, and several different species at that. Extremely vocal little devils and very difficult to find. Early in the year there is a diversion on the boardwalk so as not to disturb the breeding colony of wood storks there. The Naples beach, as well as being quite beautiful especially if you go to the southern end where the Gordon River exits into the Gulf. The walk along this beach early morning is something else, very few people, white sand, and the gentle lap of warm water. Whether with the family or not, don t forget to take your bins. you never know what you are going to see. In our walks along this beach some of the birds I have seen are laughing gulls, royal terns, sandwich terns, common terns, willets, sanderlings, snowy and great egrets, triccoloured heron and yellow crowned night heron as well as wilson s, piping and semi-palmated plover and not forgetting brown pelican, double crested cormorants, osprey magnificent frigate bird etc etc.

12 Laughing Gull Osprey Just north up the coast there are other great places to visit both for the family and for birds. Bonita Beach for one and Sanibel Island which is just captivating. A wonderful drive over the bridge onto the island. It has just one main road through from south west to north east. A large part of the Island is given over to the Ding Darling Reserve a must place to visit for birders. There are guided walks if you want or you can do your own thing either in the car or on foot. A lovely state park just before getting onto Sanibel is Lovers Key. Here can be seen wild Manatees in the sheltered creeks as well as the birds.

13 Sanibel Island On this holiday I visited another great birding venue. I was told about this by someone that some of you may know, Chris Slade. It is Tiger Tail Beach on Marco Island. This Island is just south of Naples and this public beach is about a couple of miles after crossing the bridge and is sign posted to the right. There is a small car parking charge which is for the day, then after crossing the boardwalk over the dunes you are confronted by a large shallow tidal lagoon just inland of the beach and the sea, ideal for waders. The beach is great for families but it is a bit of a walk if you are carrying cool boxes chairs etc. The beach beyond the lagoon is reached by heading left and a large part is cordoned of for breeding birds. Tiger Tail Beach and Lagoon Some of the birds breeding on this beach were black skimmers, sandwich and royal terns, least terns, snowy and wilson s plovers.

14 Snowy Plover Wilson s Plover The lagoon was a haven for waders and all giving very close views. These included besides the above, willets, long billed dowitchers, least and western sandpipers, piping and semi-palmated plovers, sanderling, turnstone, greater yellowlegs, knot and grey plover. There were also many herons feeding, snowy, great and reddish egrets, tricoloured and little blue herons and a wood stork and roseate spoonbills.

15 Roseate Spoonbill Black Skimmer Long-billed Dowitcher

16 All the while there are masses of dragonflies of all sizes and colours hawking for insects. Trying to get to grips with all of these as well as the birds and butterflies is a bit mind blowing. You definitely need more than a couple of weeks. There are lovely places to visit all along this Gulf coast and we found new places to visit, all equally exciting, all of which you wanted to spend much more time there than we had. Places like Cocoahatchee river where we took a boat trip out to the Gulf and were lucky enough to see both dolphins and manatees. Clam beach is another which you walk out to from the car park over a long board walk through the mangroves and this finishes with a beach-side restaurant. Yellow crowned night heron, reddish egret, anhinga were seen Clam Beach

17 Anhinga on the way. Both of these are north of Naples and not very far up the coast. Alternatively you can drive south and west out along the US41 to the southern end of the Everglades passing the 1000 islands area where there are boat rides around the islands or further on into Everglade City, not a city as we would know it but a small spread out community. Further along (west) on the US41 is Big Cypress Bend National Park another great place to visit with a board walk trail. I didn t manage to get there on this visit -too much to see and do with too little time. However it is always worth keeping your bins with you, I managed to find grey king bird in the middle of town as well as chimney swifts. I hope that I have wetted your appetite and given you the reader a flavour of what this part of Florida is like both for the family and birding. The thing to remember is that Florida is a big place and although the distances do not look too far on the map - they are, and if you are not too careful you can spend more time in the car than actually exploring. I will now give you several web sites that you can visit. The first one is very comprehensive with information on all aspects, just follow the links. These others are specifically about individual sites. The Ding darling reserve on Sanibel island or Corkscrew Swamp

18 BIRDS SEEN DURING TRIP TO FLORIDA AUGUST 2007 SPECIES SPECIES DOUBLE CRESTED CORMORANT ANHINGA MUTE SWAN CANADA GOOSE MALLARD BROWN PELICAN MAGNIFICIENT FRIGATE BIRD RINGED BILLED GULL LAUGHING GULL AMERICAN HERRING GULL SOOTY TERN SANDWICH TERN ROYAL TERN CASPIAN TERN LEAST TERN BLACK SKIMMER SANDHILL CRANE GREAT BLUE HERON LITTLE BLUE HERON YELLOW CROWNED NIGHT HERON TRI COLOURED HERON REDDISH EGRET GREAT WHITE EGRET SNOWY EGRET GREEN HERON WOOD STORK WHITE IBIS ROSEATE SPOONBILL AMERICAN COOT COMMON GALLINULE GREY PLOVER TURNSTONE SEMI PALMATED PLOVER PIPING PLOVER WILLET GREATER YELLOWLEGS SANDERLING LEAST SANDPIPER WESTERN SANDPIPER SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER SNAIL KITE COOPERS HAWK RED SHOULDERED HAWK RED TAILED HAWK BALD EAGLE OSPREY TURKEY VULTURE BLACK VULTURE MOURNING DOVE GROUND DOVE BELTED KINGFISHER RED BELLIED WOODPECKER PILEATED WOODPECKER GREY KINGBIRD PURPLE MARTIN BARN SWALLOW TREE SWALLOW CHIMNEY SWIFT FISH CROW AMERICAN CROW BLUE JAY TUFTED TITMOUSE CAROLINA WREN BLUE GREY GNATCATCHER NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE RED EYED VIREO WHITE EYED VIREO

19 SNOWY PLOVER KILDEER PLOVER LONG BILLED DOWITCHER SHORT BILLED DOWITCHER KNOT MARBLED GODWIT RED WINGED BLACKBIRD COMMON GRACKLE BOAT TAILED GRACKLE EASTERN MEADOWLARK STARLING HOUSE SPARROW NORTHERN CARDINAL NORTHERN PARULA YELLOW THROATED WARBLER BLACK AND WHITE WARBLER AMERICAN REDSTART EPIDONIX FLYCATCHER sp NORTHERN WATER THRUSH And the sunsets are always amazing!

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