Need some help from you Florida people...

[carole wiley]

I have never been to Fl and I desperately want to make the trip. I am planning on something between mid March and Mid April of 2009. Now the problem....Fl. is huge. I want to be able to photograph birds (of course) and I am thinking I need to got to Gatorland to take advantage of the photo pass but...., maybe St. Augustines would be better? Is there anything else in the area of St. Augustines OR gatorland?....I would love to see borrowing owls. Should I think in terms of the Orlando area? the Tampa area? I have no idea where to begin. I am not much interested in theme parks, just nature and wildlife since time will be limited to about 5 days.

Any help/suggestions you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Judd Patterson]

Hello Carole, it's great that you'll be giving Florida a visit. I am a Kansan transplanted temporarily in the Miami area. I have visited several areas of the state, but I am still exploring (I've never been to St. Augustine yet). In a typical spring you'll see lots of birds (wading birds especially) wherever you go in the state, so don't worry...you'll find birds!

In the Orlando area you could easily visit Gatorland, Vierra Wetlands, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, and the Lake Kissimmee area to see a bunch of birds.

Alternatively a Tampa option could include more of the Gulf Coast locations such as Fort DeSoto, Dunedin Causway, Oscar Scherer State Park, and James Shadle's great tours of the bay for spoonbills and more (and Cape Coral, Little Estero Lagoon, and Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge with a 2 hour drive). Cape Coral would be a great Burrowing Owl spot.

Yet another idea is the Miami area. You could then visit Everglades National Park's famous Anhinga Trail, Big Cypress loop road for a wild ride through the swamp, and even Green Cay and Wakodahatchee up north an hour or so if you wanted to have more close-up views with birds.

There are just so many suggestions that I could make and so many options that it will create for you. It might just be easier to find which plane ticket (Orlando, Tampa, or Miami) is cheapest and then base your trip off of that. In 5 days you could see a lot in any of these areas. Good luck and feel free to ask questions if you have specific species you want to see.

[Maxis Gamez]

Judd said it all.

Thank you for that Judd!!

Hope to see you here Carole!

[Cheryl Flory]

Judd, you mentioned burrowing owls, is there a particular time of the year which is better to get images of them? Is Cape Coral the only spot you would recommend?

Thanks!

[Maxis Gamez]

Judd, you mentioned burrowing owls, is there a particular time of the year which is better to get images of them? Is Cape Coral the only spot you would recommend?

Thanks!

April - May is a good time for Burrowing Owls, including chicks. Click here (http://www.********.org/Photographer's_Guide.html) for more information as how to find them.

Thanks!

[Cheryl Flory]

Thanks, Maxis

[carole wiley]

Thanks Judd and Maxis for your input. Sounds like Tampa might be the spot. I never gave a trip with James Shadle a thought, didn't realize it was an option. Thanks Judd, for breaking things down by region for me, it is a big help.