Lakes Park with the Lee County Bird Patrol

It's a beautiful sunny day here in S.W. Florida and what better time than to join the Lee County Bird Patrol on their monthly bird walk. This morning, Gail - a friend of mine - was on board to lead it....another bonus to participate.

Since we arrived 30 minutes early, we decided to take a walk in the fragrance garden - hoping to catch sight of hummingbirds

We did get to see many butterflies as well blooms, blooms and more blooms everywhere

It was time to get back and join the group.....our first sighting was

this beautiful immature Little Blue Heron which is slowly morphing from total white to total blue....don't you just love the in-between stages?

We also saw this Common Moorhen family - walking and wading/swimming together

the chicks were non-stop chatter, mom being very cool and patient

from a distance we could see a gator making his way toward the family - it didn't go unnoticed by the mom....she told her chicks to get to shore asap

In a heartbeat - the chicks moved with lightning speed while being silent - the mom on the other end started to make noise and diverted the gator to an opposite direction. The entire family was saved and the gator was fooled...this time.

Awww.....sweet.....a Red-winged Blackbird mom sitting on her eggs

proud papa keeping a close eye on us.

Then we found three juvenile Green Herons that have recently fledged the nest

A female Red-winged Blackbird.

A Loggerhead Shrike was watched while he captured his insects dish.

This little beauty .... a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher was sighted in the wooded area

On our way out - we said farewell to our lady friend - and wished her good luck....knowing very well that she knows exactly what to do. Nature is pretty spectacular, don't you agree?