Harn's Marsh Preserve - A Treasure For Birders (Off the Beaten Path)

Lehigh Acres, FL (86 degrees, sunny, less humid)

Harn's Marsh Preserve

Located in a Ft. Myers neighborhood (Lehigh Acres) is a storm retention facility at the headwaters of the Orange River. It would seem to be an unlikely location for birds,  however, no one told them.  We have not been birding lately due to all the rain and very humid weather. Our friend, France, invited us to join her in the wee hours of the morning to check out this place.  Two birds hang out here which are not on our "list", the Limpkin and the Snail Kite. They munch on enormous island apple snails, an invasive species from South America.

As we got out of the car a chorus of frogs were serenading us and we quickly saw several Limpkins. Cool!  They are very vocal birds. Click on this link to hear what I'm talking about.

Limpkin

Limpkin

France brought along her scope.  This is the first time we have used one.  They are amazing and you can almost see a birds tonsils with them.  :)  

Our friend France

This site is roughly one square mile and in 2007 the north marsh was dredged and cleared of invasive species.  At this time there are not any picnic areas or bathrooms.  So be sure to plan accordingly. We'd recommend arriving early this time of year.  One blogger wrote to France and suggested  to "ideally arrive there about 20-30 minutes before sunrise any time of year.  At that time in particular, you will see a surprising amount of overflight activity though not best for photography.  The Preserve often sounds like a jungle just before sunrise with the Limpkins calling from seeming every direction."

We were surprised to see several Sandhill Cranes.  I really like these birds.

Sandhill Cranes

Common Moorhen

 We saw lots of Red-winged Blackbirds.  

Red-winged Blackbird

However, we were not sure what the  two birds below were at the time of walk.  After some research we were surprised to find out they are female Red-winged Blackbirds.  They certainly do not look at all similar.  

Female Red-winged Blackbirds (France's picture)

The Loggerhead Shrike has a mask like face and is also known as the "butcherbird" due to its use of barbed wire and chain-link fence to impales its prey.  Yikes!

Loggerhead Shrike

We enjoyed our visit to the Preserve even though we did not find the Snail Kite.  A good reason to go back again soon.   If you are interested in going click this link for directions provided by the Caloosa Bird Club.  It is definitely worth a stop.  We saw a lot of birds even during the off season.  Our E-Bird list can be seen here.