Some friends of Kay and Roger (Craig's parents) told them about a nature reserve in Lakeland Florida where they enjoy visiting. Knowing I would like this place we went on Saturday afternoon. What an amazing place! Wow, I would love to live close to this reserve so I could visit more often. The name of this place is Circle B Bar Reserve. If you ever get to Florida and have an opportunity to visit here it is a must see.
The reserve is over 1200 acres and used to be a cattle ranch. In 2000 the land was acquired by the county and they are returning it to it's original state as a nature reserve for wildlife. There is just something special about seeing an animal/bird in it's natural habitat. All the photos you see in this post were taken at the reserve and all the birds were wild.
I just couldn't get enough of this place. We didn't arrive until mid afternoon so we only had a few hours of daylight before having to leave. There were a lot more trails and areas to see that we didn't get to.
This guy was my favorite! His head was featherless and all scaly. I looked him up and he's a "Wood Stork", the only north american stork and he's only found in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Texas.
I've never had an appreciation for wading birds. I guess mostly because there is rarely such birds here in Michigan but after visiting this place I have a new fondness for them. They are beautiful!
There were a lot of hawks flying around.
Even bald eagles were there! The trails to their nesting area was blocked off so we couldn't get very close to them.
Rosetta Spoonbills.
Looking forward to my next visit to the "Circle B Bar Reserve", whenever that shall be.
5 comments:
We went there last November;my sister-in law has a condo there.
It sure wasn't buzzing with activity like what you saw.
Great pictures.
Really Jen? When we were there we saw hundreds and hundreds of birds wherever we looked. I figured it was like that all the time.
The later it gets into fall, the more birds you will see. If they migrate from the north early --- we get them earlier.
If you ever get the chance, Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge is a wonderful place for birding (and alligator-ing). We've also seen boar, but that's a little rarer. It's a wonderful place to see in the deep winter.
Hi Dee.... My brother lives on Merritt Island. The last time I was there visiting was last Feb. I had plans to visit the refuge but it didn't work out. I was really disappointed as I really wanted to it. Hopefully soon I can visit there.
looks like a wonderful place.Let's see,I would need a large capacity memory card and many hours to enjoy this place.Thanks for sharing this.
Blessings,Ruth
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