A "Bird-iful" Day in Sanibel

Yesterday we spent the day on Sanibel Island "birding".  Our first stop was at Periwinkle Park and Campground Aviary.  Periwinkle Park includes mobile home park models and campsites.  In the center of the park is an aviary for rescued tropical birds.  These are birds that were taken into captivity as pets, and then after the owners could or would no longer care for them, were taken in by the park owner Jerry, as rescue birds.  This rescue aviary was started over 40 years ago. There are about 20 large birds and countless smaller birds.  There are also ducks, swans, ibis, egrets and doves that make the aviary and pond home.  Adjacent to the aviary there are monkeys, lemurs, and other exotic animals.

"Pumpkin"; Catalina Macaw in her cage

Swans and more on the pond

On Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 10am Libby gives a free ("The only thing free on Sanibel" she quipped at the beginning of the show) talk about the birds.  Libby is a park resident who took an interest in the birds and has been doing her bird talk for over 25 years.  Her self-taught knowledge of the birds, their breed, region of origin, and stories of their life in the park was astounding.  She sends a clear message that exotic birds are not meant to be domesticated and if you want a pet, get a cat or dog.  

Libby with Cockatoo (whose name I don't remember)

Libby with "Dusty Rose"

A conure from South America

Libby talked non-stop for an hour, taking each bird out and giving information about the bird and often offering the chance to have the bird sit on your arm or shoulder to folks in the audience.  

Libby with "Rico", a male Eclectus parrot from Australia

"Rico" on a young girls arm

"Rico" on my shoulder

One of the stories Libby told, which I found remarkable, was how the Australian subspecies of Eclectus parrot was only discovered in 1913.  These birds are dimorphic, meaning the male and female look different, and in this case so different that when the first of this breed was taken into captivity they didn't breed for 75 years as the breeder had put the males together (green) and the females together (red) not realizing that the very different colored birds were mates.  

This is a stock photo of a pair of Australian Eclectus parrots.   I wanted you to see the magnificent coloring of the female.
"Ruby", the female mate of "Rico" is not fond of being handled, so Libby did not bring her out of the cage to show her magnificent color and the pictures I tried to take through the cage didn't come out well. 

Carol and "Woody"

Being a Green Bay Packer's fan, Carol was delighted to get to hold "Woody".  It was hard to tell who was more excited, Carol or this little guy holding "Axel".  "Axel" is one of the talking parrots in this bird sanctuary.  His repertoire included, "Hi pretty bird", "Hello", a catcall whistle, "Come on" and "Hi Axel".

Carol and "Woody" ~ little guy with "Axel"

Magnificent in size and coloring were two different Macaws.  I don't remember the name of the blue and gold one.  I do remember Libby talking about how she only puts him with men because his owner of 40 years was a man and since he died, the bird is only comfortable with men.  

"Pumpkin" a Catalina Macaw

Carol and "Pumpkin"

Blue and gold macaw

It was delightful to get to meet all of these birds up close.  But it was also sad to know that they were all going back into cages for the rest of their lives.  Libby explained that once tropical birds have been taken into homes as pets, even if returned to the wild, 90% don't survive.  They need to remain captive to be kept alive.  

"Peaches" a Moluccan Cockatoo from the South Pacific

"Peaches" mate "Piper" and Carol

I'm only including a couple pictures I took through cages because the pictures aren't clear.  Suffice it to say that this was a very memorable and enjoyable place to visit.  For the most part people learn about the park by word of mouth.  The park is located at 1119 Periwinkle Way.  If you go, there is a small area to park on the left, before you reach the park gate.  Guests are asked to walk or bike into the park, not drive.  You can leave a donation for the cost of feeding the birds and Libby sells post cards of the birds for her time teaching about the birds.  

Miniature monkey in the primate exhibit

Ring-tailed lemur in the primate exhibit

Blue Crowned Pigeon from New Guinea

Our second destination was JN "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge.  This is known as one of America's birding hotspots.  Home to more than 245 species of residential and migratory birds, this is another gorgeous spot to spend an afternoon.  There is a beautiful Visitors' Education Center, which is the perfect spot to start your visit.  Pick up a free map and get suggestions from one of the guides on where to stop during your visit.  We were pleasantly surprised to discover there is a Clyde Butcher photography exhibit in the center at this time.  Known as the Ansel Adams of the Everglades, the exhibit featured magnificent black and white photos of the beauty of the Everglades.  

Butcher looked to nature for solace after the loss of his son.

Butcher photographs exclusively in black and white.

While associated with the Everglades, Butcher photographs landscapes throughout the world.

Visitors to the JN "Ding" Darling Nature Preserve travel a four mile one-way road, by car ($5), bike ($2) or foot ($1).  The preserve covers half of Sanibel Island and the nature trail runs along Pine Island Sound.  There are side trails, overlooks and a tower to view the various waterways.  Sadly, we forgot to bring our binoculars.  It was still a tranquil setting and we did see multitudes of water birds.

Roseate Spoonbills 

Pied-billed Grebe

White Pelicans

Little Blue Heron

Hardworking Bayou

As you may have gathered from reading this blog, we do love a good nature walk, also known as a "nature bath". The idea of nature baths comes from a Japanese concept called shinrin-yoku, which means “forest bathing” or “relaxing in a forest atmosphere“, "bathing” in the energy and clean air of the woods.  Like meditation, you’re relaxing and reflecting while improving your focus and immune system in a soothing setting. Studies increasingly show the health benefits of "forest bathing".  There really is nothing like it.  I never regret a day spent in nature!  As a little girl, the woods was my favorite place to spend time.  We had a "crick" in our backyard, and I'd cross the little bridge and be in nature's playground.  It was the place I felt most comfortable, it knit me back together when I needed mending, it delighted me when I needed entertaining and most of all it held me while I figured things out.  It still does.

As with most of my blog posts, I should give photo credit to Carol.  She's got a great eye and often captures better pictures than I do.  When I sit down to do a post I go through her pictures and mine to find the ones that best showcase our experience.  She's also my first reader and editor.  It's a team effort and I'm grateful for the assist. 
💚💛💜

Peace River Botanical and Sculpture Gardens

Tamiami RV Park at Dusk

We are settled in for the winter at Tamiami Village RV Park in North Fort Myers, Florida.  We stayed here last year for a month, but spent a part of that month back in NY when my dad was in the hospital.  We were here long enough to know we really felt comfortable here and would like to return.  While we were in the area last year we visited several (at least 10-12) other RV parks in the Fort Myers' area.  We found only one we liked as well or better, and several I'd rank from somewhat sketchy to downright scary.  Getting a seasonal spot means putting in a request by the beginning of March.  Those requests are sorted by date received, length of requested stay and whether you have been on that site previously.  In other words, it's a competitive process.  We were offered a spot this year, but not the spot we requested (the one we were on last year).  But we took what we could get and were happy to be able to stay put for a while to enjoy the warm Florida sunshine.

Home Sweet Home

Carol really wanted to be on our old site.  Every time we spoke to someone in the office about anything, she'd want to know if our old site was available.  As it turned out, last week our former neighbor on that site, came by to let us know that the present occupant would be moving to a new site because he got a larger camper that would no longer fit on the site - so low and behold our old site was available.  And yes, we moved down the row to Carol's great delight!  We will be here until late April when we start the trek north for the summer.

Now that we are settled, we have time to get out and explore the area.  Yesterday we visited Peace River Botanical and Sculpture Gardens in Punta Gorda, about 30 minutes to the north.  We had a spectacular time!  This is my idea of the perfect way to spend an afternoon.

One of the first installations you see is the Tree Trellises.  These three rebar sculptures each have a different color bougainvillea climbing the structure.

"Tree Trellises" by Cary Stefani

On the path near the trellises is "Yellow Andy" one of twenty identical life size sculptures of Andy Warhol.  These were created to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Warhol's death.  All 20 were painted all black with the exception of the hands, face and hair which were painted in Warhol's signature bright colors.

"Yellow Andy" by Jack Dowd

One of our favorite botanical features in the garden were these Traveler's Palms.  The unique fan shape palms are so captivating.  We especially loved them because they are fellow travelers 😉.

Traveler's Palms with one of Laurie Tennent's "Botanicals" on exhibit in the garden.

As we were driving into the gardens we drove past this tree and I said, "Wow, look at that tree!  It looks like it's covered with orchids."  When we were able to walk up to it, it is in fact an Orchid Tree!

Hong Kong Orchid Tree

Hong Kong Orchid blossom

There were so many unique plants in this garden, it was impossible to attempt to capture them all.  This was one of those makes you go "WOW" plants that was irresistible.  

Dwarf Pineapple Bromeliad

Close up of the dwarf pineapple on the bromeliad above.

The gardens are located on both sides of the road, so as you walk you cross the road to the other half of the property.  One of the first sculptures you see as you cross is this 18 foot high pair of computer generated graphic designs on metal.

"Ostriches" by Yu Zhaoyang

Many of the sculpture pieces in the garden are works by Carole Feuerman, a pioneer in the Hyperrealism movement, making sculptures portraying models in a life-like manner.  Works by Carole Feuerman:

"New York City Slicker" by Carole Feuerman

"Bibi on the Ball" by Carole Feuerman

"Next Summer" by Carole Feuerman

"Monumental Fire and Harmony" by Carole Feuerman

Meanwhile back in the garden, I didn't do a great job capturing the names of every cool plant and flower I took photos of, but this gives you a sense of the wonderful range of beauty this garden has to offer.

Cycad

Panda Plant

Unnamed orchid

Bromeliad and unnamed plants

"Cherry Cola"

Exquisite compound flower blossoms

Buddha's Belly Bamboo

Unnamed succulent

There is a boardwalk out to Peace River.  This sculpture, made from 23 different pieces of lava rock is visible from the boardwalk.

"The Keel" by Kemal Tufan

Boardwalk over Peace River

Kel and Carol, Peace River 

Looking down the boardwalk towards the gardens.

"Steel Palm" by Jacob Kulin

"Steel Palm" viewed from the side.

The peacefulness of wandering in a garden is one of my favorite past times.  The combination of the beautiful art of nature and the beautiful art of man truly soothes my soul.  This was my favorite piece in the entire garden.  "Rondelet" by Lin Emery.  

I have not captured the entirety of the Peace River Gardens experience in part because our trip was cut short by an unexpected animal rescue.  As I mentioned, the gardens cross the road.  As we were leaving one side to cross the road to go to the other, we met "Buster" (I named him after Edith Ann's dog Buster.)  This dog was by the road, with his leash trailing behind and no owner in sight.  We took ahold of the leash and "Buster" was very happy to see us, hang with us, rub on us, and wait with us for his human.  The problem was, we had no idea who his human was as he was not wearing a tag or ID of any sort.  We called Animal Control and they said it would take an hour to get an officer out to us.  So we sat and waited.  

"Buster" waiting patiently

We kept hoping that while we sat and waited for Animal Control to arrive the owner would drive by looking for their dog.  After an hour, that wasn't looking very likely when a guy came by on a bike.  He passed us and then turned back and said, "Is that my dog?"  (I don't know, is it your dog?)  He comes over and says, "Hey that's my dog... he must have gotten away from my mom."  

Spike and Carol 

Turns out Buster's name was really Spike.  Less than a minute after he rides off with Spike running behind him on the bike, the Animal Control officer arrives.  We tell her what happened and she goes to offer to drive the dog home so he doesn't have to run behind the bike.  Rescue mission accomplished.  Time for a beer.  Fortunately, Peace River Brewery was just down the road.  We'll be back; to the gardens and the brewery. 🌿🍺