Archive 2019 · Ft. Lauderdale

ardvorak
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Ft. Lauderdale

Looking for any recommendations on great spots around Ft. Laud for bird photography. Will be down there for two days the first week of February. I'm tracking a few spots in relation to some birds I'd love to see (below), but would love to visit parks where the birds are close. As opposed to seen from a huge distance!

Plantation Preserve
Smooth-billed Ani

Winding waters Nature Area
Groove-billed Ani

STA-5/6
Caracara and many others

Jonathan Dickenson
Scrub Jays

Also looking at Loxahatchee, Wakodahatchee, maybe Crandon Park? Would also love scissortailed flycatchers!

Any first-hand thoughts would be awesome!

Edited on Jan 19, 2019 at 09:40 PM · View previous versions

Jan 19, 2019 at 06:24 PM

BauerPower
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Ft. Lauderdale

Loxahatchee wildlife management area, not too far north of Ft. Lauderdale, has not only boarded walkways but also open trails along canals. Should see some alligators there.

Jan 19, 2019 at 09:30 PM

stanparker
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Ft. Lauderdale

Green Cay is another good place nearby.

Jan 19, 2019 at 10:11 PM

ardvorak
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Ft. Lauderdale

Thanks! Will def take a look.

Jan 20, 2019 at 06:39 PM

RandyR
Offline
• • • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Ft. Lauderdale

Brian piccolo park for burrowing owls

Jan 21, 2019 at 03:32 AM

ted33021
Offline
•
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Ft. Lauderdale

Well, I'm a local photographer and some good spots were shared but would like to add the following given your short stay and wanting close proximity to birds...who doesn't? :-)

Wakodahatchee (Wako) or Green Cay (GC) for sure and they are within 1/2 mile of each other, separated by Jog Rd. Green Cay has been slow lately but Wako in the lat week was flooded (again) by Wood Storks (100+). Some Great Blue Herons (GBH) with young one/s on occasion fighting off the Wood Storks for precious space around their nests. Also, tri-colored herons, cattle egrets, green herons, snowy egrets and quite a few Anhingas/Cormorants in good plumage. Bring your 70-200mm at Wako as you may be too close in some cases :-)

Loxahatchee (Lox) is about 10 minutes from Wako/GC. I went 2 weekends ago and we counted 7 female Snail Kites that were active and I managed to get some nice photos with a snail. A smooth billed Ani was there about 1 month ago but not on my last visit. Two pairs of red-shouldered hawks were flying around with nesting material. Several Limpkins around as well.

Brian Piccolo is 10 min. from my house and definitely has burrowing owls. Since it's a park, they are very use to people but find the backgrounds to be challenging. For perched shots, try an f/4 (shallow DOF) lens to blur backgrounds...never tried capturing them in flight.
Another burrowing owls location is Vista View Park, about 15-20 minutes from Brian Piccolo park.

Visited STA-5/6 several times with a friend but have yet to have any memorable "keepers". IMHO, better for borders than photographers...most skiddish of birds!

Dinner Island Ranch is a bit of a drive from FLL but may be better than STA-5/6. Some post/perched shots of red-shouldered hawks, Caracaras, meadowlarks amongst others. It's half-way between East and West Coast of FL on I-75 (Alligator Alley, mile-marker 49). If you go, be careful of the speed traps approaching and going thru Big Cypress (Seminole Indian Village)...we got away with a warning :-)

Hope this helps and IM me if you need more info. I'm not sure I'll be able to navigate back to this page to respond...Good Luck :-)

Jan 23, 2019 at 08:26 PM

shadow9d9
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Ft. Lauderdale

ardvorak wrote:
Looking for any recommendations on great spots around Ft. Laud for bird photography. Will be down there for two days the first week of February. I'm tracking a few spots in relation to some birds I'd love to see (below), but would love to visit parks where the birds are close. As opposed to seen from a huge distance!

Plantation Preserve
Smooth-billed Ani

Winding waters Nature Area
Groove-billed Ani

STA-5/6
Caracara and many others

Jonathan Dickenson
Scrub Jays

Also looking at Loxahatchee, Wakodahatchee, maybe Crandon Park? Would also love scissortailed flycatchers!

Any first-hand thoughts would be awesome!

I live in Boca Raton, which is decently north of Fort Lauderdale. You mentioned Wakodahatchee though, which is a great place for birds, alligators, and even some lizards. 5 minutes away is Green Cay, which has less birds in my opinion, but still nice. Going farther nice and there is Peaceful Waters.

Jan 24, 2019 at 12:09 AM

ardvorak
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Ft. Lauderdale

Thanks so much! SUPER helpful. I didn't realize that Green Cay was so close to Wako; will definitely have to visit both. Also, great feedback on STA-5/6. My goal there was really the caracara, but I hear that if I'm out zipping along highways 835 or 833, I should come across a couple feeding on carrion, which may bring them closer for photos. We shall see.

ted33021 wrote:
Well, I'm a local photographer and some good spots were shared but would like to add the following given your short stay and wanting close proximity to birds...who doesn't? :-)

Jan 24, 2019 at 11:11 AM

Jeff Self
Offline
• •
Upload & Sell: Off

p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Ft. Lauderdale

Bookmarking this for my next time down in Fort Lauderdale!

Jan 29, 2019 at 01:54 PM

ardvorak
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: On

p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Ft. Lauderdale

Then I'll be sure to double back and share my experiences!

Jeff Self wrote:
Bookmarking this for my next time down in Fort Lauderdale!

Jan 29, 2019 at 06:07 PM


FM Forums \| Nature & Wildlife \| Join Upload & Sell

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.