BIRDS AS ART SITE Guides are designed to be the next best thing to joining an IPT. When you arrive at a location covered in a Site Guide, the plan is for you to know where to go when and what to expect, to know what equipment and techniques will be effective, and to know what winds and tides are best. Though this guide is 15 years old, the good spots are for the most part, still the good spots. The SW Florida Site Guide covers the following locations:
Ding Darling NWR then and now — hint, it is a far cry from what it was 15 years ago, entirely due to mis-management. Blind Pass Beach. The Sanibel Fishing Pier. The East Gulf Beaches. Little Estero Lagoon — another spot that has gone downhill due to changes in the lagoon. In most years there are nesting skimmers, Least Terns, and small plovers in spring. A little-known spot to try on really bad mornings on Sanibel. The Sanibel Causeway. The Venice Rookery. A Great White Pelican spot— head shots with a 300mm lens plus flight and action. Note: Captain Marian Schneider of Grande Tours has retired. The two best Burrowing Owl sites on Cape Coral. Note: Norman Bateman does not get out much any more.
Little Estero Lagoon with info on parking. And a short over-view on Tigertail Beach on Marco Island and the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.
If you head to SW Florida this winter without a copy of our new Site Guide, you will waste several days at a minimum trying to learn the hotspots. Why not go prepared?