Hi fellow UHH members. As usual, I’m reaching out to people I can trust for advice. Florida members, I’m counting on you!

My husband has finally agreed to go with me to Florida this spring so I can follow my passion of photographing birds. He’ll more than likely be hanging out on the beach, reading, and watching the girls go by.

I really don’t know the best time to go, where to go, or where to stay. We are both retired, so we are open as to how long we can be away from home. Home is as far south in NJ as you can get. We will be driving down rather than flying and renting a car once there. Once in Florida, we would rather stay in one location with fairly easy access to great locations for birds. I am not averse to basing out of one place. My preference would be to observe and photograph the mating and nesting behavior of birds we do not usually see in southern NJ. I’m thinking Burrowing Owls, Spoonbills, Pelicans (white abd brown), Woodstorks, Reddish Egrets, etc. Open to other suggestions.

This will be our first trip to Florida for this purpose so any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. If there is a “must-see! spot on the way down, please feel free to bring it to my attention.

Thanks in advance!

I suggest you set up residence in Cape Coral and travel from there. Rental houses are more plentiful in Cape Coral than any other city in Florida, unless you are planning to stay in a village of trailers. Some of those are pretty nice.

Cape Coral-Burrowing Owls.

Travel to Sanibel Island (Ding Darling National Park) for spoonbills, pelicans, reddish egrets, big blue herons, and others. Of course, seeing all of these is hit and miss.

Travel to Shark Valley south on Hyway 41 for a variety of birds.

Travel to Venice (north of Cape Coral) to the Venice Rookery. Go early for sunrise to see the birds leave the roost, or go about 4pm to see them come in for the evening. (I prefer the evening). You may get to see some chicks here.

Travel east to the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary to see the painted bunting, hawks, possibly an owl or two, ibises, great egrets, and others.

The Six Mile Cypress Sough Preserve is in Fort Myers if you don't want to travel to far. It has a nice boardwalk. Takes an hour or two depending upon what you run into. The rest of the trips are day trips, but Cape Coral is a nice base for travel.

And one more issue--it is very car and restaurant crowded in the winter in Florida, but maybe since you are from New Jersey, it will be no big deal. Hope this helps.

PM me if you want some suggestions on renting a house. We have worked with a couple real estate companies. You want to make sure you work with someone with a good reputation.

I will try and make this succinct - I would stay at one place on the West coast and one place on the East coast. I would go thru the everglades on US41 when going from the East coast to the West coast or vice-versa. I am not intimately familiar with the West coast - but there are lots of GOOD places. In addition to those already mentioned I would add Myakka river state park airboat rides and the celery fields. There are good STA's ( storm water treatment areas) towards the center of the state.

I am familiar with the East coast - Wakodahatchee is a must. The Palm Beach Zoo is also very good. I am in Stuart which is sort of the middle of the East coast and there are a couple of good local Stuart places.

Some other places to look at are Viera, Black Point Merrit Is., Christmas Fla. Orlando wetlands, Gatorland, St. Augustine Alligator Farm, Fellsmere Rookery, Blue Cypress lake, Joe Overstreet Rd.

Some good people to PM would be DaveO, Gregoryd45, and Mark Smith. Mark Smith knows some GREAT places - not sure he will divulge them tho.

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I cannot recommend Wakodahatchee enough!! I have been to zoos where the conditions are not as good as at this location. Easy parking (except at high mating season), easy access (boardwalk) VERY close to many bird species of many kinds, and a group of photographers who are regulars who can be very helpful. Also in that area are Green Key (about 4 miles away and set up very similarly) and Laxodahatchee (this is a National park so the visitor center may be closed) . There is a "side entrance" on the west side of Boca Raton that is self pay park ($5.00) then you can simply walk into the Everglades. Really cool.

This area is close to the beaches and an easy drive back and forth from the wildlife so you can access golden hour light, go join your husband for mid-day activities, then back for evening golden hour.

https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-570886-1.html

just a few of the hundreds of images I kept from 4 days visiting this area

Florida has 175 State Parks, and most offer excellent opportunities for bird watching. You can't go wrong with any. Unfortunately most are very busy on weekends and holidays and those with water, fresh or salt, are often at capacity. Under those conditions wildlife retreats to less popular and/or unreachable places. Many parks have well groomed trails or even boardwalks to take you "back-country". If you can find parking most Florida beaches are nice even on weekends and holidays, but if you are not staying at a hotel parking is a problem. Kayaking on some north Fl rivers is wonderful but the water is always COLD. Again, avoid weekends and holidays.