Lake Wales & Circle B Bar

A greatly anticipated trip took place last weekend - We hit the road early Sunday and headed to Lake Wales where a pair of Whooping Cranes were being reported - a life bird for Elaine and I - so....come along and see....

Right on! In a field with Cows!

A beautiful territorial pair - we observed them as they chased the Sandhill Cranes away.

They were fun to watch as they danced and stretched their necks up while singing - well, a crane song, that is.

In the meantime this Mockingbird had his eyes on us - I wonder how our song sounded to its ears.

In any event, it was fun to watch and a pleasure to add this 'lifer'.....so......joyfully, we reclaimed the road and headed to Circle B Bar.

A well protected Great Horned Owl sits high while cars enters the preserve - it draws quite the attention.....so much so that there is a yellow caution tape barrier to prevent people from crowding this Owl.

A Snowy Egret with its breeding lores reminded me that it's soon to be breeding season.

This wild Pig already had its breeding season.....

by the look of these piglets.

I think this heaven should be called the Limpkin Preserve because they could be seen and heard everywhere we went - drawing a smile on our faces.

In the meantime this Snapping Turtle was busy laying eggs on the edge of the walkway....

while the Red-winged Blackbird entertained us with its song.

There's eye candy everywhere you look.

Haha, they seemed to be amused

And then there's the condos - with nests on many levels, we counted 9 at one point....

a pair of Great Blue Heron chicks were behaving while waiting patiently for more food.

Another condo....

Great Blue Heron, Anhingas, Cormorants oh my.

And then the king nest of them all....the Bald Eagles.

This Limpkin was actually too close for me to capture the entire bird!

The Black-bellied Whistling Ducks were found as well as.....

this Mallard peeking up from the tall grasses and...

a Purple Gallinule right out in the open!

This Anhinga was dressed to the nine with its jet black coat and....

turquoise spectacles.

A little Kinglet exercised our brain for a while with good looks and ample time we finally figured out what we were looking at.

And so, my friends, this concludes our yearly trip to Circle B Bar - it started with a Great Horned Owl and ended with a Barred Owl - I'd say that was a pretty great day Hoot Hoot!!