I had this morning free and it worked out about as good as I could have asked for. I started at Venice Rookery. Venice Rookery is an island in a small pond in Venice, Florida where a bunch of birds nest every year. It is mostly Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets, but there are also Anhingas, Black-Crowned Night Herons and a few others. Currently the Great Blue Herons have chicks from a few days old to a few weeks old. The Egrets are still sitting on their eggs, but are bringing in nesting material often and performing courtship activities. I spent about 45 minutes or so there and then headed down to Myakka.

After leaving Venice Rookery I drove to Myakka River State Park which is about half an hour away. I arrived not too long after it opened and hit my favorite trail right away, Canopy trail. I didn’t do the canopy walk today but it is still cool. Myakka did take a fair amount of damage from Hurricane Ian. The birdwalk was destroyed along with the shelter by the weir at the lake. There was also quite a few trees down. Myakka is still one of the best parks for seeing wildlife, especially birds. I saw a Bald Eagle, Limpkins, Black-Necked Stilts, American Avocets, Sandhill Cranes, Great Blue Herons, and a Barred Owl along with a ton of gators. I ended up leaving by 11 because it was getting crowded and I had to be home for kid pickups.