Day two of my April 1-4 exploration of Polk County, Florida.
I am a keen birdwatcher so it was great to explore Circle B Bar Reserve, a 1,267 acre property designated as a reserve in December, 2000. Until that time, it was a cattle ranch – hence its name.
Volunteer guide Benny Bindschadler led our group through the live oak hammock draped with Spanish moss to a freshwater marsh. Here we found roseate spoonbills, great and little blue herons, tricoloured herons, osprey, bald eagles (mature and immature), Caspian tern, limpkins, blue-winged teal, red-shouldered hawks, boat-tailed grackles, black-necked stilts, black buzzards, turkey vultures, sandhill cranes (with bronze-coloured, fluffy chicks), eastern meadowlarks, northern cardinals, glossy ibis, wood ibis, cattle egrets (in mating finery), northern shovellers, mallards – and more.
Benny also pointed out “hog rootings” – areas where the earth had been overturned by wild hogs. Anyone seeing these clumps of exposed roots can well imagine how gardeners and landscapers must consider the feral pigs real pests. “They’re ornery, too,” said Benny.
Unfortunately we couldn’t linger – such is the hassle of travelling in a group at times! However, Circle B Bar Reserve is firmly on my list of places to revisit: I’d like to bike and hike its trails so as to discover more.
Oh, and did I mention Benny introduced us to “Bubba” the extremely large alligator?
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