by Snail Kite on January 18, 2012
Devils Garden Bird Park, Hendry, US-FL
Jan 17, 2012 8:30 AM – 2:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
15.0 mile(s)
47 species
Participants: 4
Species Observed:
Wood Stork
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron
Cattle Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
White Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Snail Kite
Northern Harrier
Red-shouldered Hawk
American Kestrel
Soraheard
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Limpkin
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Mourning Dove
Common Ground-Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Western Kingbird
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Loggerhead Shrike
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Carolina Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Northern Mockingbird
Black-and-white Warbler
Palm Warbler
Yellow-throated Warbler
Savannah Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Boat-tailed Grackle
by Snail Kite on January 10, 2012
BIRDING REPORT! Jose’s bird report as of 1-6-11. The following birds were spotted at Devils Garden Bird Park yesterday. Jose saw a Snail Kite, Wood storks, Cara Caras, Limpkins, Glossy Ibis, White Ibis, Black Crown Night Heron, Sandhill Cranes, Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, Savannah Sparrows, Yellow rumped Warblers, Red bellied woodpeckers, Pied billed Grebe, Meadowlarks, Red Showdered Hawks, Red Tailed Hawk, American Bitterns and as a bonus one deer, 6 hogs and 2 alligators. Season is in full swing: book a visit or share with a friend
by Snail Kite on December 17, 2011
by Libby McMillan on April 11, 2011
Have you discovered Wild Bird Magazine and its online version, WildBirdMagazine.com?
The editors at Wild Bird have pulled together a fantastic website for birders and birding enthusiasts. At Devils Garden Bird Park, we like to know what our guests are reading and using for resources. This website comes highly recommended by us!
Currently, you can get some killer new computer/phone wallpapers and screensavers, all created from award-winning bird photos!
You can also win a fabulous five-day birding trip, take birding quizzes, learn birding hotspots … even create your own wild bird jigsaw puzzle. The list of reasons to check out this site goes on and on. Let us know your favorite feature.
Who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky and have our park featured there someday. Our fingers and feathers are crossed!
by Libby McMillan on March 31, 2011
Airtran Airlines GO Guide listed us this month
It’s been a fun month for us. Several birders have told us they booked their tour of Devils Garden after reading about it on the airplane coming to southwest Florida.
They were flying Airtran, which featured us in the March issue’s Destination Guide for Fort Myers. Thank you, Airtran! We love your low-cost fares and how you bring birders in from all over America, to sunny SWFL. Hey, we’re both all about “flying” . . . . 
The weather has been gorgeous, just magnificent for wild bird spotting, and as usual, we are blessed with an abundance of birds, including our migratory friends, which are, for the most part, still with us.
If spring isn’t springing fast enough where you are, we encourage you to check flight schedules (www.airtran.com) and COME ON DOWN. Doesn’t matter if you opt to stay in Naples, Lauderdale, Fort Myers Beach or beautiful Sanibel Island . . . you’re just a short drive from us. The birding is fantastic, and you know how good it feels to have sun on your skin after a long winter. Ahhhhh.
by Libby McMillan on March 15, 2011
Wild Bird magazine has a cool Search feature on its website . . . one which allows you to search for a birding festival: http://www.aba.org/festivals/
ABA website
Birding festivals are a cool way to meet other birding enthusiasts and learn more about our feathered friends. They’re also a great excuse to go for a beautiful drive, and by taking the back roads, you never know what wild birds you might stumble across. Keep those binocs handy!
At Devils Garden Bird Park, we like to hear about your favorite birding festivals or events, so please share them with us.
by Libby McMillan on February 28, 2011
Valentine’s Day may have passed, but love is in the air at Florida’s newest birding destination.
Hawks eggs are everywhere
Here are Devils Garden Bird Park, we are seeing eggs, eggs, eggs. The owner reports that many birds are focued on mating rituals. “A lot of pairing up is going on,” he says with a smile.
Tour guides have found the first hawk eggs on the property, and several other species are following suit. In fact, all the romance has not been limited to birds. The property is teeming with baby otters, a bonus for nature photographers, animal lovers and school field trips.
But the birds, of course, are the main focus here at Devils Garden Bird Park - from the endangered snail kite to all the wonderful migratory birds calling our site home this winter.
To come see eggs-actly what’s going on in nest after nest, call to reserve your tour today. Spring has sprung and love is in the air.
by Libby McMillan on February 13, 2011
At Devils Garden Bird Park, we have one tiny resident of whom we’ve grown quite fond. Called the “least bittern” this fine little fellow has amazing traits which far outweigh his humble name.
For starters, despite being 2.5″ wide, the least bittern can squeeze through a space only 1.5″ in width! None other than John James Audubon chronicled this peculiar near-disappearing-act. What a feat . . . if only we humans could manage that neat little trick after the holidays!
The least bittern is also quite nimble when it comes to feeding. He can actually straddle reeds, allowing him to feed in water too deep for other birds. In fact, this clever bird can even make himself resemble the reeds in which he feeds, by freezing in place with its bill pointed upward.
Found year-round in south Florida (and at our wild bird park), the least bittern is, thankfully, a bird of least concern, when it comes to endangered species. We hope to show you ours someday soon!
by Libby McMillan on February 1, 2011
Photo Copyright: Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center
Volunteers are needed to map the Rusty Blackbird, a rapidly declining species.
The North American population of the Rusty Blackbird species has plunged an estimated 85 to 99 percent over the past 40 years. To help pinpoint where the remaining birds can be found, volunteers are needed for the third annual Rusty Blackbird Blitz taking place January 29 through February 13. This is when Rusty Blackbirds become easier to find and the population is relatively sedentary.
Join Birds of Devils Garden in volunteering to report the presence or absence of Rusty Blackbirds at www.ebird.org. Data gathered during the blitz will be used to create a map of wintering Rusty Blackbird “hot spots” and will help focus research, monitoring, and conservation efforts. We have posted these hot spots in a previous blog post; it’s a cool program.
According to Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which alerted us to the Blitz event, “Rusty Blackbirds have pale “staring” eyes. In late January and early February, males will appear mostly black and females will have rusty edges on their wings and body. The Rusty Blackbird spends its winters in bottomland wooded-wetlands, primarily in American midwestern and southeastern states.” This includes Florida, so we’ll be on the lookout.
The eBird program is led by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and our friends at the National Audubon Society. The blitz is coordinated by the International Rusty Blackbird Technical Working Group at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center along with the Cornell Lab and Audubon. (Say that five times fast!)
by Libby McMillan on January 27, 2011
Did you see the cool birding story on the news last night?
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2011/01/jefferson_the_hawk_leaves_the.html
Apparently a Cooper’s hawk flew into the reading room at the Library of Congress in D.C. It was speculated that a few tasty doves may have lured him in (we don’t like to think too much about that, though). At any rate, visitors were actually birdwatching with binocs from INSIDE this national treasure. Not your every day occurence!
The story had a happy ending, when the hawk was captured. Turns out he badly needed hydration, and was tended to by the Raptor Conservancy of Northern Virginia, which facilitated the rescue.
The Cooper’s hawk was nicknamed Jefferson, which we’re sure Thomas would have liked.
Your friends at Devils Garden Bird Park just wanted to make sure you didn’t miss this great story.
Have you found the trail? The Great Florida Birding and Wildlife Trail that is…
