Merritt Island, FL ~ Butterflies

Another check of the park area found 4 more butterfly species not seen here yesterday.  This brings my trip species to 23 which includes 4 species in South Carolina.  Really nice considering it's Day #4.  I know it won't keep up but spring must be coming!

Dainty Sulphur Butterfly

Mangrove Buckeye Butterfly

White Peacock Butterfly

Whirlabout Skipper with nectar crystals

4 Salt Marsh Skippers on Shepherd's Needle

Shingle Creek, FL ~ Head of the Everglades

At lunchtime I was able to steal some time away from the conference to walk along the nature trail.  I actually walked about a mile to the area that's the head of the Everglades which runs from Orlando, down to lower Florida.

I saw some butterflies ~ Monarch, White Peacock, Gulf Fritillary, Southern Dogface among them. Birds seen were Common Gallinule, more Limpkin, White Ibis, Red-tailed Hawk, Mottled Duck, Anhinga, Sandhill Cranes, Great Blue Herons, Great Egret and more.

Head of the Everglades

White Peacock

White Ibis

Naples, FL ~ Wildlife along Rt 846

White Peacock Butterfly

After spending about 4 hrs at Corkscrew Swamp we decided to drive down to Janes Scenic Drive - Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve, FL. Our drive took us along Rt 846 and Rt 29.  We were excited to see more butterflies and birds along the way.  bernie spotted the Wood Storks coming in for a landing in the Pine Trees.  I spotted the Tricolored Heron and group of Sandhill Cranes.  We also saw good numbers of Anhinga and Red-tailed Hawks.

Wood Stork

Sandhill Cranes

Tricolored Heron

Florida ~ Sand Key

After an awesome lunch with Cindy and her son Josh, Bernie and I took a drive along Gulf Avenue along the beaches from Treasure Island to Clearwater Beach.  Over in Clearwater Beach there were hundreds of people walking around and cruising the roads so we backtracked to Sand key Beach. Another one of the suggested sites on the Florida Birding Trail we really enjoyed out time on the beach. As we were driving out we found a fresh water pond that also had some birds so we parked and took a walk around the pond.  On the beach were Royal Terns, Sandwich Terns, Forster's Tern, Sanderlings, Semipalmated Plovers, Dunlin, Black-bellied Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, Snowy Egrets and again some unidentified peep due to distance and not having a scope.  Diving for fish were the terns and the many Brown Pelicans.  They are so much fun to watch.  Back at the parking lot we saw Palm Warblers, Mourning Doves and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.  Walking around the pond we were treated to close looks of  Egrets, Common Gallinule, Tri-colored Heron, Yellow-crowned Night Herons and Black-crowned Night Herons, Wood Stork, Eastern Phoebe, and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.  

White Peacock Butterfly

We were also treated to looks at many White Peacock Butterflies, Phoan Butterflies and Cassius Butterflies along with a Monarch Butterfly. Nature is so great!

Cassius Butterfly