Florida in October / November

Hi Guys,

Planning a visit to the sunshine State a would appreciate a few pointers. i've been looking back thro' the posts and got the impression that at this time of year the east coast is a little quiet. My plan at present is:-

Titusville 3 nights for Merritt Island and Viera Wetlands.
? 3 nights for Green Cay and Loxahatchcee.
? 3 nights for Tigertail and ?
? 7 nights plus Fort Myers for Bunche , Estero, De Soto, Circle B, Sanibel
Orlando 4 nights for Gatorland, Joe Overstreet, wife's shopping!!!!!!

We're fluid with the dates so we can travel in Oct or Nov and stay longer in any of the places mentioned, or for that matter cut any of them out. What do I want from the trip, good pix of as many species as I can get. I love Bunche and Estero and have been there at this time of year, not so sure on the rest. If any one can put me onto a photo fest or save me wasting my time on a planned visit to a poor location at this time of year I'd be much obliged. Thanks for your time
Regards
Chris Baker

Chris, sounds like you have done your research!

While this is my first year of birding, I would say that 3 days / nights for Viera & Merritt is a lot of time for those two areas. There isn't much going on there now and I have heard that it doesn't get liven up until December at the earliest. I would suggest 1 or 2 days there max. I would also entertain putting Blue Cypress Lake on your list for some Osprey shots. The only other thing I would recomend for thought would be going to Flamingo in the Everglades. Again, I am not sure what the activity is like that time of year there, but renting a canoe / kayak at the marina and going out to the sandbars where many of the birds sit during low tide can produce some nice shots!

Sounds like a fun trip! Enjoy and have fun!

Chris there is nothing going on at Gatorland at that time. Activity there does not start until Jan-Feb. The Joe Overstreet area is great if you can get a boat onto Lake Jackson for the Snail Kites. Blue Cypress as AJ mentioned is really not active with osprey's until Spring, when they are nesting, but I am not sure about what else is out there. Viera would be worth a few days with maybe a quick look at Merritt. Maybe someone elso can chime in on the west coast areas.

I'm not a Floridian, so not the best source; but spent Thanksgiving week on Sanibel last year and had moderate success at Ding, Lighthouse, Blind Pass area, as well as Bunche and Estero (check the tides first). Hoping to go again. I also thought of trying to photograph Burrowing Owls at Cape Coral, but can't seem to find the info I had stashed away last year. If anyone has information about specific directions to the best viewing/photographing spots on Cape Coral (street names, etc) as well as best times of day, that might be of interest to Chris, and certainly to me.

Thanks for the info and your time Folks. Not looking too hot is it. Bill, tide times for Bunche where do you get them from, is the area called Bunche and is the low tide best there. Anyone on the Gulf coast out there?

all the best

Chris Baker

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Originally Posted by Chris Baker

Thanks for the info and your time Folks. Not looking too hot is it. Bill, tide times for Bunche where do you get them from, is the area called Bunche and is the low tide best there. Anyone on the Gulf coast out there?

all the best

Chris Baker

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Hi Chris. The beach is called Bunche Beach Preserve. It's on the mainland halfway between the northern tip of Fort Myers Beach (an island) and the Sanibel Causeway, at the very end of John Morris road. If you type Bunche Beach Preserve into Google Maps you should find it. From my limited experience, and what I understand, low tide is best there and also at Little Estero Lagoon. I'm sure you could also Google 'tide tables little estero' or something like that to get the tide info. I purchased a great little app for my iPhone, for US$1.99, simply called Tide Graph, that gives the tides for any date at any coastal location in the US, plus some in Canada and US possessions (plus sun/moon rise/set info). Very helpful. One of the closest tide gage stations is called Matanzas Pass, which is on Ft. Myers Beach about halfway between Bunche and Little Estero.

Thanks Bill, checked it out, got the Matanzas Pass tide times from Saltwatertides.com. Dead easy once you have the area name, thanks again

Chris Baker

There are a number of places in Cape Coral to find the burrowing owls. You can get a map of some of the sites by going to www.capecoral.net. Hope this helps.