Felt's Audubon Preserve Ellenton, FL

Sparky has been going to Celery Fields in Sarasota a LOT, but there are other wonderful places to visit to see beautiful birds in the area, besides the Celery Fields. One of them is Felts Audubon Preserve, in Ellenton, FL. You know anything with Audubon in the name means some nice birding. It's free at the Celery Fields, and it's free at the Felts Preserve.

Felts Audubon Preserve is a 30 acre parcel managed by Manatee County Aubudon Society. There are wooded fields, a bird blind (they keep the glass viewing wall really clean and clear), a small pond and open fields. Over 100 bird species have been recorded. 

Sparky has been there twice. There are PAINTED BUNTINGS there! And Indigo Buntings! Today we saw pairs of both painted buntings, indigo buntings, and juvenile buntings. Sorry for the low quality photos today. The bird blind has a large glass viewing wall right in the front, so shooting through the glass into a dark, forested glen using a long zoom makes lighting conditions difficult. You can stand off to either side of the bird blind behind short partitioned wooden walls with open viewing windows but then you have to contend with the mosquitoes finding you when you might not be finding any birds at the moment! Wear insect repellent spray if you go in the early morning or late afternoon. If there are quite a few people there in the viewing room, and sometimes there are, it's too difficult to set up a tripod, so Sparky's photos are also a little bit blurry. 

These are immature indigo buntings, we think. The one on the left might be a female. They start out as brownish tan and as they mature, they lose the tan, and the blue starts coming in as you can see on the bird on the right.

It was a thrill to see BOTH the indigo bunting and the painted buntings come in to feed. They would stay for a few minutes then fly off. 
Some knowledgeable lady viewing there said, "Oh, they will be back in about ten minutes." And sure enough, they came back, this time with more friends.

Not only is this a great place to see buntings, but you might also see butterflies or great horned owls (we did)....

This is a JUVENILE great horned owl...his sibling was right next to him in a big ole tree wa-a-a-a-y up high. The sun was in the wrong place, but at least you can see the two of them, headed for sleepy time.

They blend into the trees so well! And they are so BIG for being young!

Heading back to our car, we spotted some beautiful wildflowers. Have no idea what they are, but they sure were pretty....

If you are thinking that you'd like to go visit this small preserve, we highly recommend it. 

Directions: From I-75, take exit 224, Ellenton. Go west on SR-301, turn right on Ellenton-Gillette Rd. Travel north for about 2 miles. Turn left on 49th Street East for 0.25 miles to 24th Avenue, and turn left.  The entrance gate is on the left about 100 yards from the corner. You have to park on the sides of the road at the preserve. 

It's definitely headed straight from winter to summer here in the Sarasota, Bradenton area. We've definitely had a nice cool spell for awhile back in February, making it more pleasant to get out and enjoy nature. Temps will be cool next week, in the seventies, during Sparky's spring break, so she's going to really enjoy that. Might get another posting in, we shall see! But then temps are climbing back into the eighties....as usual......Bye for now......

Hunting Island State Park SC

Wait till you see this park! It's fantastic! It's gorgeous! It's lush with verdant foliage everywhere! (Good grief, Sparky, speak English!) Well, I was just trying to get away from being redundant with the word beautiful. :-) What I was trying to say was, this is one of the most beautiful state parks we have seen. It's thick with trees and abundant palms and ferns everywhere under the trees. The entrance coming into the park is like going into a primordial forest...like the forests from eons ago....(Can you tell she likes it? asks E.) Eldo does, too....

First of all, it's on the Atlantic Ocean, so there's a beach...Not a pretty beach with white sand, but a beach ravaged by previous hurricanes, brown sand, palm trees uprooted, dead and brown, but still cool. Turtles come to nest in the DUNES...These are like the beaches we grew up with in the midwest...And we like them just as much as the perfect beach with white sand.....

Second, it has a LIGHTHOUSE....

Sparky paid a paltry 2.00 to climb the 167 steps to see the great view from the top!

And third, Hunting State Park has a nature center with a wonderful variety of birds flitting around...Sparky has always wanted to see some different birds other than the usual robins, sparrows, finches, and woodpeckers you see in a midwest backyard. Her dream was to see a painted bunting..They are such a BEAUTIFUL bird! Here's a picture from the nature center billboard.

There were at least three buntings flitting around the nature center. Sparky forgot her zoom, so not very good photos of them today, but SHE SAW THEM! They were BEAUTIFUL, uh, GORGEOUS! and next time she WILL have the zoom with her!

And she saw a summer tanager! That was a pretty bird, too!

Sparky is a very happy camper, having seen a painted bunting, and more than one! (If Sparky is a happy camper, Eldo is a happy camper!) What a life we have together........and it's not just for the birds!

On the way home, we stopped at a beautiful church ruins not too far from our RV park. It was about eight miles from The Oaks at Point South at the exit off highway 21 onto 17 south. There is a sign just a few yards beyond the exit for Old Sheldon Church Road. The historical site is called the "Old Sheldon Church Ruins"....free admission to walk in and roam and take in the splendor of this old church and think about what it might have looked like in its day.....It was built in the Greek Revival style between 1745 and 1753. It was burned by the British in 1779 during the Revolutionary War. In 1826, it was rebuilt. In 1865, the locals panicked over the Civil War ending, and it was pillaged and burnt again. The ruins lie among massive old oaks and scattered graves. Colonel William Bull, one of the early governors of South Carolina, and the surveyor who helped Oglethorpe plan the Savannah city layout of grids and squares, is buried inside the church ruins.

They still hold an annual service here, and many weddings take place as well....It was beautiful!